1. I am a seller of Goji Juice from Freelife International. In regards to this recent news article, it is such a bummer when you have people out there making outrageous claims just to sell a product. I agree that Goji Juice does have its set of health benefits or else I wouldn't be selling it. But ultimately these types of natural supplements, not approved by the FDA, should be considered carefully for those suffering from major health problems. What I mean by this is that people should always consult with their doctor when taking something for their health.

To simply consume somethng based on unfounded claims is careless and irresponsible. But then again, I thought I read in the news article that it was a doctor who recommended Goji Juice to his/her patients.

This is certainly a tough arena since those who sell alternative health supplements are bound from making any health claims. With that said, what is it that we are selling if we can't tell people what it may be able to do for them? Obviously these products exist for a reason and for the most part, there are legitimate companies out there who spend a lot of money researching the potential health benefits their product(s) may offer.

But you have to admit, some of these people on these natural supplements wouldn't continue to repeatedly purchase them if it wasn't doing something for their health. Heck, this market wouldn't exist if these types of products were ineffective.

Just my two cents.

Posted at 11:40AM on Jun 9th 2006 by Jamie

2. I am a cancer victim, and when reading the many extravagant claims regarding that disease ("Prevents Cancer" was just one), I remembered a quote from the online "Quack Watch," which said, "False hope for the seriously ill is the cruelest form of quackery, because it can lure victims away from effective treatment." Shame on anyone who sells a product making the claims that Goji Juice does!

Posted at 1:27PM on Jun 16th 2006 by Ken Peek

3. When my wife was diagnosed with thymic cancer, we sought the opinion of a doctor in Hong Kong who recommended Goji Juice along with amino acid therapy. He sold us a case of the juice for US$250.

Since that time, I have researched the active ingredient in Goji Juice, a berry called lyceum barabum. There are indeed several research papers at the medical publisher, PubMed that cite this agent in experiments with cancer cells 'in vitro' (in test tubes).

HOWEVER, there a number of things that will kill cancer cells 'in vitro', including Vitamin C. The number of PubMed papers are so few to be inconsequential in light of the thousands on any one of the serious anti-cancer therapeutic agents.

Xango another fadish juice is doing the same thing as Goji Juice but with mangosteen juice. Despite only a couple of research papers on it, people are buying it on hope and unfortunately ignorance.

Ralph Moss, a recognized authority on cancer therapies (both conventional and alternative) wrote about these kind of juices (juices with antioxidants and their cancer-killing properties) in one of his newsletters that is available at his website - www.cancerdecisions.com. He exposes the marketing for what it is, an attempt to scare consumers, particularly consumers wtih cancers, into buying overprices fruit juices.

There are over 200 kinds of cancers each with their own pathologies and complexities. To shamelessly offer a fruit juice as a cure is irresponsible and criminal. It degrades the entire natural health food movement and makes it harder for people to find and understand what natural foods can and cannot do for cancer.

That doctor in Hong Kong was equally irresponsible. Being a 'doctor' does not mean that they are above doing things for personal gain despite the detriment to their clients.

Posted at 11:30AM on Jun 17th 2006 by Steve Lowy

4. Hi: I would suggest not to be upset with "Goji Juice" or the company that makes it but the individual resellers of the product that are making false claims in New Zealand.

Ultimately the company that makes the product will have to establish some rules about what it's distributors can and cannot say and take severe action against those who make false claims and then do damage control with the press.

In the mean time, I agree that common sense should be the rule combined with careful study and good quality medical advice.

Then I would say, drink Goji and promote it in the right, legal manner - it does do a lot of good things (especially for eye sight improvement, arthitis and diabetics) and to cloud that with false claims is detrimental.

JayTee

Posted at 7:30AM on Jun 24th 2006 by Jay Taylor

5. Contrary to the original poster of this blog, there actually are proven, substantiated studies on this goji berry and their benefits for cancer patients as well as numerous other illnesses. Dr. Marcial-Vega, a radiation oncologist just published his own study in a national magazine in America. You can read all about it in Breakthrough's in Health (available at most book stores). He shows exact percentages of his study group's improvements in different areas including his finding that 90% of his patients reversed their acidity to alkalinity JUST by taking goji juice (Lycium Barbarum). Anyone who knows anything about cancer knows that an alkaline body is NOT where cancer thrives, it is in an acid body that cancer grows. That is why everyone who has cancer has a severely overly acidic body. So it stands to reason that goji would definitely help someone with cancer by keeping their body in an alkaline state. Dr. Marcial-Vega has also stated that he puts his radiation patients on Goji juice to lessen the harmful side effects of radiation like fatigue, loss of appetite and nausea. He has found his patients to be much healthier while taking Goji during treatments and he doesn't need to use as much radiation. I personally have seen many amazing results with Himalayan Goji Juice, enough to know that this is a great product, however, as with any 'natural' product that does such good things for our health, it will be attacked because the pharmaceutical companies don't want anyone getting a piece of their business. Typical big business, I wouldn't be surprised if the person who started this blog wasn't paid by a pharmaceutical company to start this garbage.

Posted at 3:21AM on Jun 27th 2006 by DJ

6. Goji juice is fast becoming the hottest health drink and manufacturing companies racing to get the largest pie piece are opening markets in almost every corner of the world at a blistering pace providing astronomic growth in sales as well as tremendous financial benefits to sales representatives with lucrative cash incentives and benefits. Each goji juice labels are claimed by manufactures to be the one and true, the authentic and the even ultimate goji juice.
Progressive physicians or doctors who combine conventional and alternative medications are slowly emerging however conscience dictates that they be responsible enough to study the possible drug interactions and exhaustively research on whatever type of alternative medication they are going to prescribe.
Manufacturing companies earning billions or may even be trillions of dollars in the future cashing on the goji craze also have a moral obligation to encourage,promote and support medical specifically clinical research and trials to authenticate their claims.The era of evidence based medicine has long since dawned. Multi-center randomized controlled double blind studies on the effect of goji juice in conjunction with conventional medications or as adjunct treatment on the different disease entities being claimed to be curable or preventable with goji should be done to determine the efficacy as well as the safety of this supplement. This would be for the benefit of all concerned.

Posted at 1:23AM on Sep 18th 2006 by Jose Roseller M Mendoza