April 6, 2007
I’m gonna buy me a rat
I promised you several weeks ago that I would look into the research being done on the Goji Berry and report back to you. I haven’t forgotten my promise, but if you’ve ever read a scientific research article, you know it is tough going. So with the help of Dictionary.com and Wikipedia I am working my way through.
I glanced through several articles and most of the work is being done on rats. This is pretty typical of the research process. Medical research begins with test tube trials, then moves on to rats, then to primates and if all goes well, human trials. It is a process that takes years to develop a pharmaceutical.
The report I am working through (Hot water-extracted Lycium Barbarum and Rehmannia Glutinosa inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells) was published July of 2006 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology. The research was done at Taipei Medical University, as a joint effort between the School of Nutrition and Health Sciences, the School of Pharmacy, and the Division of Internal Medicine. The research is part of a trend to study with modern methods the many traditional medicines of China. This particular study was done to determine the effects of the Goji Berry (Lycium Barbarum) and Chinese Foxglove (Rehmannia glutinosa) on liver cancer arising from Hepatitis C. The researchers made a “tea” of the two herbs and from this, extracted the polysaccharides (a long string of sugar molecules). Thus, they created substances referred to as LBE (lycium barbarum extract) and RGE (rehmannia glutinosa extract).
You may have read elsewhere on the web that the Goji Berry contains a unique polysaccharide. From reading this article it is my understanding that it is indeed unique. Nowhere have I been able to find (yet) the monosaccharides that comprise this polysaccharide. They are referred to throughout the article simply as LBE polysaccharides.
The testing was performed on rats in trials using only LBE, only RGE and a combination of LBE and RGE. The results of the research were quite positive. LBE, from the Goji Berry, outperformed RGE, and combined they performed even better.
The researchers stated this conclusion, “Hot water-extracted crude LBE (2-5 g/L) and RGE (5-10 g/L) inhibit proliferation and stimulate p53-mediated apoptosis in HCC cells.”
No doubt, in the next few years the giant pharmaceutical companies will go with this research and create a pill that will cost a thousand dollars a pop. Personally, I prefer to munch on my Goji Berries and enjoy the benefit of all the nutrients it provides.
Eating Healthy,
Tim