Comments on: Mangosteen, Noni, Xango, Goji, Zrii Juice… What’s Next?

By: Elmar Sandyck

Elmar Sandyck — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:28:41 +0000

I think this is just due to the fact that our time now has found the appropriate knowledge and tools to acquire the best yet natural medicines that have been long set as gifts to us by nature.

Editor’s comments: Uh, did you read the article, Elmar? The fact is, there’s very little science involved here. No signs of an “emerging” body of knowledge, either. It’s about hype. It’s about M-O-N-E-Y. And a 7-level commission matrix, of course.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:15:48 +0000

Well this just means that more and more scientists are starting to discover that the best things in life are just plainly found in our surroundings. These fruits are more than potent and capable than conventional medicines.

Editor’s comments: Since you’re promoting the stuff, that hardly makes you impartial (we’ve removed the link to your “sales” site). I’d also welcome you to post some of the “science” (links to peer reviewed studies and so on) that validate your claims. There’s nothing wrong with any of the superfruits per se, it’s just the claims for their assorted benefits are exaggerated and not based on sound science.

By: katherine Holden

katherine Holden — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:56:21 +0000

Great article. Here’s my question. When does the legal listing requirement of contents come to the fore? With Zrii, we have NO idea of how much of the amalaka berry and other “super” ingredients are mixed in with the non-organic, made from concentrate grape and pear and pomegranate juice. If there were 10% of the amalaka combo, would that be enough to have to be listed? What are the rules? Seems to me people are paying about $140/lb for basically fruit juice.

By: J.R. Jackson

J.R. Jackson — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:30:39 +0000

Excellent article.

J.R.

By: Elissa

Elissa — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:12:00 +0000

Just got through reading some of the comments of people who got their feathers ruffled by the CBC Marketplace report. Goji has plenty of defenders. And then there are studies such as this one: that would – seemingly – back up at least the subjective claims of feeling better after consuming FreeLife’s Goji juice.

But this study is yet another example of what I was referring to earlier, about “stacking the deck.” The placebo used “provided no nutritional value.” So we have one group, consuming some additional calories, vitamins, minerals/electrolytes, and antioxidants, while the other gets zip. So are the results (as subjective as they are) really all that surprising…or so unique to Goji that it would be worth paying tons of extra money for it?

As noted here: berries of all kinds are considered “superfoods” by the same establishment figures decried by alties like Earl Mindell. A much better test would be to match Goji vs. less expensive berry alternatives.

In other words, “does it work?” isn’t always the right question…rather it’s: “does it work better than other options?” – a point the MLM pushers never seem to grasp. People should simply eat more berries – period. They’d probably feel a lot better if they did…and it would be a great first step to build on for improving their diets.

What a truly radical concept! But I’m sure it won’t fly, simply because it doesn’t feed people’s hunger for miracles. And the more exotic, the better it’s gotta be, right?

The other issue is simple availability. Even if goji really did turn out to be superior in some ways to other berries, it doesn’t follow that it’s necessary to pay exorbitant MLM prices for the privilege of consuming them in some form.

One need not be “anti-Goji” (or anti- other alleged superfood) to be “anti-Rip-Off.”