Linda Shrieves
The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. - The small red berry doesn't look like a powerhouse.

Indeed, this dried Chinese berry resembles a weak cousin to the cranberry.

Yet in the health-food industry, many are trumpeting the Chinese wolfberry, more commonly known as the goji berry, as the next great "super food" - a fruit laden with so many antioxidants that it makes other fruits and vegetables seem puny by comparison. The berry, marketers say, is an anti-aging miracle food, regularly consumed by Chinese centenarians.

The goji is earning a prominent place at health-food stores. It's showing up in juices, sodas and energy bars. At upscale California spa restaurants, the goji berry is being added to granola, trail mixes and salads.

It's getting big billing by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the author of "YOU: The Owner's Manual." On "The Oprah Winfrey Show," he called the goji berry "the most potent antioxidant fruit that we know."

How much of that is hype and hopefulness? How much is supported by science?

"We started carrying the berries back in 2005, but we started seeing gojis being used in juices and beverages in the last year and a half," says Mary Ann O'Dell, a registered dietitian with Chamberlin's Natural Foods, an Orlando chain of health-food stores.

"I think demand for it is building," O'Dell says. "We saw what happened with pomegranates - how they became popular and began showing up everywhere - well, that trend is happening with all these super fruits, goji and mangosteen and pomegranates."

The goji berry seems to be picking up steam among mainstream food makers. Anheuser-Busch launched 180 Red with Goji - a new energy drink featuring the berry.

Scientific research on the goji berry is still in its infancy.

"There is limited data on the wolfberry," said Mark Failla, chairman of the Human Nutrition Department at Ohio State University, who is studying the goji.

Based on early research on the berry, Failla says it's clear that gojis contain extremely high levels of zeaxanthin, a carotenoid that is related to beta carotene.

That might elevate the goji berry's importance in coming years, as aging baby boomers try to stave off macular degeneration. Studies of people with macular degeneration have shown they have lower levels of zeaxanthin and lutein in their eye tissue. Still, Failla cautions that there has been no proof that a lack of zeaxanthin causes macular degeneration.

"In traditional Chinese medicine, zeaxanthin has been used to treat ocular disorders," says Failla, who suspects the Chinese doctors were right. "Long before the Lord made biochemists, Chinese doctors have been using this."

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MCT

In the health-food industry, many are trumpeting the Chinese wolfberry, more commonly known as the goji berry, as the next great "super food" — a fruit laden with so many antioxidants that it makes other fruits and vegetables seem puny by comparison. The berry, say marketers, is an anti-aging miracle food, regularly consumed by Chinese centenarians. (Roberto Gonzalez/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)