Goji Berry or Wolfberry? Tibet or China? Which is better?

There are websites who have wolf berries and websites who have goji berries. Some claim they have only wolf berries which are far superior to goji berries and many claim that the goji berries are the only true health-promoting, high anti-oxidant wild berry of China. In trying to understand where the truth lies, my investigation began with the genus and species of these plants. Any plant with the same genus and species is the exact same plant. When the plant is even just slightly different it is given a different species. All plants of the same genus species can cross pollinate, they can live wherever other plants of that same genus and species are found and they are indistinguishable.

There are however, subspecies. The goji berries from Tibet that grown in the wild are technically Lycium barbarum just like the goji berries that grow in the goji belt in China where Ningxia province is found. Goji berries from Tibet and the Goji belt will be called Wolfberries by some and Goji berries by others.

The real difference, most likely comes from variations between climate and soil fertility where the plants grow.

Goji bushes are in the Solanaceae family which also includes the tomato, green pepper, eggplant and potato.

Lycium barbarus (also Lycium barbarum)
Lycium barbarus grows in various regions of Asia such as Tibet and Inner Mongolia but also thrive in an area called the “goji belt”. There are several provinces of China and areas in Tibet where these vines grow in the wild.

The goji berry plant likes a soil that is slightly alkaline (pH of 8.2 to 8.6) and very fertile. Temperatures in the mountains can get very cold and very hot (102 degrees F to 16 degrees F.) It is this type of soil and climate that grows the largest, plumpest, most beautiful goji berries. The fruits are a deep red color, contain few seeds and have an exquisitely sweet taste.

So are goji berries from one area better than goji berries from another area?

Dr. Earl Mindell, R. Ph. M.H., PhD. headed up research using the FTIR to compare goji berries from all the Goji producing regions of China and Tibet. His conclusions are that for the most part all goji berries from anywhere within the “goji belt” are very, very similar. Of course, there are fluctuations from year to year, depending on rainfall, sunshine and temperatures. However, he did find for the most part goji berries growing in fertile valleys amongst the mountains had higher peaks and some extra peaks. On his FTIR scans he identified the substances causing these peaks and glycol-nutrients, predominantly glycosides or polysaccharides.

It is Dr. Mindell’s opinion that consistently there were three regions that showed higher FTIR peaks and larger berries than all the other regions. These regions were Ningxia China, Xinjiang China and areas of Tibet in the Himalayan Mountains. These 3 regions alone showed the most dramatic FTIR peaks and richest amount of phytonutrients. See Dr. Mindell’s book: Goji, The Himalayan Health Secret.

For more information on How to Select a High Quality Goji or Wolfberry, please click here.