About Gochi Juice

GoChi® juice, from FreeLife International, Inc, is the second generation of its original Himalayan Goji® Juice. There are one published and two unpublished studies concerning its health benefits. The participants in the published study provided subjective responses to a questionnaire on how drinking the juice affected them. At least two sources have detailed criticisms of FreeLife's claims regarding this research and the health effects of GoChi® juice.

History

• FreeLife International, according to its own website, studied the nutritional benefits of goji berries, also known as wolf berries, for seven years beginning in 1996. It labels the berries' polysaccharides "Master Molecules," which facilitate intracellular communication and play an essential role in proper cellular functioning. The company claims to have found a "fingerprint" belonging to Himalayan goji berries and to have isolated for its juice those berries producing the most potent effects. It introduced Himalayan Goji® Juice commercially in 2003.

  FreeLife now offers GoChi®, named with "go" from goji berries and "chi" from the Chinese term for the life force. GoChi® juice is marketed as the improved second generation of Himalayan Goji® Juice. The improvements, according to FreeLife, come from more powerful polysaccharides.

GoChi Juice Ingredients

• GoChi® juice is actually a blend of reconstituted goji juice with white and red grape and pomegranate juice concentrates. It's been treated with what FreeLife calls the company's proprietary LBP or Spectral Signature Process. What does that mean? FreeLife posts on its site a graph supposedly revealing the spectral signature of its Goji and GoChi juices. An authentic spectral signature is obtained with a spectrometer which analyzes the degree to which an object either reflects or absorbs electromagnetic energy. The most sophisticated spectrograpy analysis identifies the specific types of molecules within a compound.

  According to "The Goji Book," spectral signatures can be used to determine the exact Himalayan valleys from which specific goji berries come, and even the vines on which they grew. "The Goji Book" states that goji berries with the highest "peaks" on their spectral signatures proved to be those with the highest concentrations of polysaccharides.

Published Research

• The only clinical research published on the health benefits of GoChi® juice is that performed by Freelife International's own researchers. Published in the May 2008 issue of "Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine," the study asked 35 of the company's own employees to drink 4 oz. of GoChi® juice, or a placebo, for 14 days. The subjects then filled out a questionnaire, rating their responses concerning the juice's health benefits on a scale of 1 to 5. The study found that participants drinking the GoChi® juice reported having higher energy levels, sleeping more soundly and awakening more refreshed, having better mental clarity, being calmer, and simply feeling healthier, happier and more content. They also felt less stressed and fatigued and reported better digestion. The placebo group noticed changes only in their levels of heartburn and feelings of happiness. Neither group experienced any differences in their cardiovascular or muscular and skeletal problems. Nor were there any significant changes in weight, BMI, pulse rate, vision or blood pressure.

Unpublished Research

• FreeLife also presents the findings of two additional 30-day studies of GoChi®, each done at an unspecified Asian medical center. Participants in both studies drank 4 oz. of either GoChi® juice or a placebo each day. The first study states that at its conclusion, the GoChi® drinkers had significantly greater blood levels of "two key antioxidants," and significantly lower levels of a free radical activity marker than the placebo group. The second claims that after 30 days its participants were measured for "key immune marker" levels. The GoChi® group, according to FreeLife, had significantly improved immune system function while the placebo group showed no such change.

Warnings

• At least two critics have stepped forward to question the scientific authenticity both of FreeLife's published study and of its advertising claims. Paul M. Gross, Ph.D. and one of the authors of "Wolfberry: Natures Bounty of Nutrition and Health," takes serious issue with the scientific substantiation used in the study, stating that science currently supports none of its findings concerning the effects of goji berries on humans.
  The nonprofit health watchdog organization Breathe.org states that FreeLife's chief products officer Rick Handel admitted at a Kauai, Hawaii meeting that the spectral signature graph presented on FreeLife's website is merely an artist's rendering and not a true analysis of GoChi®'s polysaccharide content.