Himalayan Goji
The Himalayan mountain range is a spectacular sight that relatively few
Westerners have seen. They seem, literally, a world apart; the highest mountains
on planet earth, Mount Everest, and the legendary Yeti make the Himalayas the
object of fantasy and imagination. For pilots stationed in India during World
War II, “the hump,” as the mountains were called, were a daunting, perilous trek
over peaks more than 20,000 feet high.
In these incredible mountains grows a Central Asian treasure; the Himalayan goji
plant. In Mongolia, Tibet and Nepal, this simple plant and its berries is among
the most revered medicinal sources. The
Himalayan goji
was discovered in about 800 A.D. by Buddhist monks; they found an unknown plant
growing near their well and noticed that the berries had fallen into the well
water.
As they drank the water, the monks noticed an increase in health and longevity
that they attributed to the Himalayan goji. Over the centuries, the goji berry
proved extremely beneficial in Asian natural medicine, and the unusual manner in
which the plant was identified by the Buddhist monks makes Himalayan goji
revered as a gift from the gods.
Goji is a newcomer in American and European herbal medicine. Like other
alternative healing products such as aloe vera juice, bee royal jelly, and
seaweed or kelp extracts, goji has scores of die-hard fans and just as many
skeptics. What can’t be denied is that Himalayan goji has been undergoing
scientific studies about its properties and abilities to heal for the past two
years.
The goji plant
has been found to have beneficial health effects in both healing and prevention;
cancer, tuberculosis, allergies, digestive problems, hypertension, sexual
dysfunction, fertility, anti-aging, and many more benefits have been thoroughly
observed and documented. These clinical trials continue, and Himalayan goji may
well prove to have a prominent place in healthcare.
What’s Special about Himalayan Goji?
As word spread about the healing benefits of
goji,
consumer demand in non-Asian countries increased a thousand-fold. To meet these
demands some producers of goji have gone into high gear and mass-produced the
plant in various countries, America in particular. Add to the mix the fact that
there is more than one variety of the goji plant, and consumers often don’t know
exactly what they’re buying and where it’s from.
It comes down to this: Himalayan goji is the “definite article.” In Tibet alone,
there are 41 sub-species of the plant. Several decades ago, the Coca Cola
Company decided to change its recipe and unveiled “New Coke.” It was a
spectacular failure, the public demanded “real” Coke, and they got it back. The
same is true of Himalayan goji. Variations of the plant are found in Norway,
Outer Patagonia and Arizona of all places but true believers sneer at any goji
not grown in its native land.
Himalayan goji is traditionally grown and harvested “wild” rather than “farmed.”
Dedicated users note that the mountains of their origin are the only place where
the berries are considered to have full beneficial properties. Inner Mongolia,
the provinces of Ningxia and Xingjian, and the Heavenly Mountains of western
China contain the primary growing grounds for “real” Himalayan goji.
If you want to try authentic
Himalayan-grown
goji, you can find numerous web sites that claim their products are made
only of berries grown in the world’s highest mountains.
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