Dr. Marcus Ettinger - Our "Goji Garden" Ningxia, China

Question: Hello, I was wondering where your goji berries are grown. Thank you for your time.

Answer: Teague,

Our USDA certified, organic goji berries are grown in our “Goji Garden” in Northwest China. In case the next questions are, “why not Tibet?” Never has a goji berry come from Tibet – too cold and dry to support goji berries. “But I heard some come from Mongolia and Tibet.” Sorry, but not true – it’s an urban myth.

What in particular were you looking for or wanted to hear from me. I’m just curious because I get that question a lot.

Please check out these pages from one of our trips. Page 1 , 2, 3, 4 and 5

Sincerely,

Dr. Marcus Ettinger

Response Back: Thanks for your response,

Actually, I was looking for some goji berries that do not come from China (if they exist at all). I have read and seen a lot of reports about foods from China containing the USDA seal. Apparently, there is a lot of corruption in the system, a lot of foods with that seal are certified by 2nd or 3rd party inspectors that sometimes get paid off when the food is not organic. I’m not suggesting that this is the case with your berries. I am just saying that I am concerned.

I got a different brand of goji that is certified USDA and I swear I taste chemicals on them, while other people wrote reviews saying that this brand I bought caused intense nausea and diarrhea.

Thanks again.

My Response: Teague,

We use an FDA certified laboratory to have all of our berries tested. This is a mandatory process for us. Each batch that enters the country has to be tested for dyes, additives, lead, chemicals, fungus/mold, animal feces and artificial sugars. Our products are as clean as it gets.

Dr. Marcus Ettinger

Questions: Do you have raw Cacao Nibs?

I thought Goji berries came from Tibet? and how are your Goji berries compared to the Himalayan ones at Henrys?

I know there is a dramatic price difference, Henry’s $6.00 yours $ 21.00.

Elizabeth

Answer: Goji berries do not come from Tibet nor are they grown in the Himalayas. MLM company Freelife and others started this myth and it seems to have stuck – but it is just hype.  Goji berries are mentioned in Tibetan Medicine – but they are not grown in any marketable quantity in Tibet or the Himalaya’s  – The altitude and aridness would not support the plants.  We have been there – we know!

I think the berries in Henrys come in 4 oz bags vs 18 oz – I can’t remember if the ones in Henrys are organic?

Also if you buy 2 the price is $19.99 per 18 oz bag.

Our berries are high quality and certified organic.  We think our pricing is pretty good when you take that into account.  You get what you pay for.   Example: look at the cost of Henrys Goji, Acai, Noni and Mangosteen juice prices and compare to ours.  All our juices far exceed the quality found in anything on Henry’s shelves!

Lastly, we do not have Cacao Nibs.

Related Products

Goji Fusion, Absolute Goji & Goji Berries
Acai Max & Absolute Acai
Mangosteen Elixir & Absolute Mangosteen
Naked Noni & Almost Naked Noni

Small Red Berry from Tibet Is Attracting a Lot of Attention

By BRITTANY OAT

July 14, 2006 – Although Ponce de Leon never found what he was looking for, the human quest for longevity continued.

Now nutritionist Earl Mindell, author of the bestselling book “The New Vitamin Bible,” believes he has discovered an anti-aging secret in the juice of a tiny, red berry called goji.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Mindell said.

Despite the fact that goji has only been tested on humans in one published study, a simple Internet search reveals hundreds of websites selling goji juice, dried goji berries and even goji plants.

Goji is now available in products on your supermarket shelves and has recently become the subject of some experimental cancer treatments. But does it work?

“We Are A Sick Nation”

Mindell said he learned about the medicinal properties of goji, also known as Lycium Barbarum, from an Asian healer he met on a visit to the Himalayan Mountains in 1996.

For more than 6,000 years, herbalists in China, Tibet and India have used goji because they believe it helps them regulate their blood pressure, prevent cancer, balance blood sugar levels and protect their body from premature aging, he said.

“In that part of the world it is not unusual for people to live to be 100 years old, Mindell said.

In Bapan Village, a remote town in Bama County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China, seven of its 515 residents are centenarians, according to China’s 2000 census -  that’s 1.4 percent of the population. As comparison, only about two-hundredths of a percent of Americans become centenarians, according to Census figures.

“We’re not dying of old age in this country, we’re dying of degenerative diseases,” Mindell said. “Wake up America: We are a sick nation.”

A 1994 study in the Chinese Journal of Oncology found that 79 cancer patients responded better to their cancer treatments when goji was added to their regimen.

Dr. Victor Marcial-Vega, an oncologist from Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, said that he agrees with those findings, and has been using goji to ease the side effects chemotherapy and radiation is his own cancer patients.

In his 2005 study, which has not been published, 80 percent of his patients who took goji while undergoing cancer treatment maintained a healthy blood count, and 87 percent experienced changes that indicated their immune systems may have improved, he said. “The results are so dramatic that the doctors will never go back to saying never use antioxidants with chemotherapy,” he said.

Commentary: I agree with Dr. Mindell 100%, I have never seen anything like it either. The testimonials we receive from happy customers are phenomenal. Since we [California Academy of Health] added camu-camu fruit to the juice the phones won’t stop ringing with orders for the juice. Consumers are becoming more educated about the health products available to them and that’s a good thing. “C.A.O.H. offers a superior goji juice product that today’s educated consumer is looking for, at an affordable price.” Dr. Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc.