What is it?
An extract of the fruit of Lycium chinense, one of two closely related shrubs whose berries are known as goji berries or wolfberries; the other, and the better studied, is Lycium barbarum. Lycium fruits have a long history as food and medicine in China. Goji berries contain polysaccharides, carotenoids such as zeaxanthin, and polyphenols. In cosmetics the extract is listed as an antioxidant.
Key information
- In a 2019 comparison, Lycium chinense fruit had lower carbohydrate and phenolic content, and weaker antioxidant activity in lab tests, than Lycium barbarum fruit.
- Goji belongs to the nightshade family, and goji allergy has been linked mainly to lipid transfer proteins that can cross-react with tomato and potato.
- Testing of eight goji berry samples found atropine at no more than 19 parts per billion, which the researchers judged far below toxic levels.
- We found no safety assessment of Lycium chinense fruit extract by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review or the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety.
More information
Goji berries come from two shrubs in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), Lycium barbarum and Lycium chinense. Lycium fruits have long been used as food and medicine in China and appear in the traditional Chinese pharmacopeia. Most research has focused on L. barbarum. A 2019 study of both species grown in Greece found that L. chinense fruit had lower carbohydrate and phenolic content and weaker antioxidant activity in lab tests; linoleic, palmitic and oleic acids were the main fatty acids in both.
Because goji is a nightshade, one worry that circulates is atropine. Earlier reports of atropine in wolfberries from India were questioned, and when researchers tested eight samples of L. barbarum berries from China and Thailand with highly sensitive methods, they found atropine at no more than 19 parts per billion, which they judged far below toxic levels.
Allergy is the better-documented issue. Goji berry allergy has been linked mainly to lipid transfer proteins, a group of plant allergens, especially among people in the Mediterranean area, and cross-reactions with tomato and potato have been described. Two cases of anaphylaxis after eating goji berries were among the first reports. We found no safety assessment of the fruit extract by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) or the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, and no reports of reactions to it in cosmetics.
On labels it appears as Lycium Chinense Fruit Extract. People who know they are allergic to goji berries can use that name to spot it.
Sources: Antioxidants (2019): Chemical Properties, Fatty-Acid Composition, and Antioxidant Activity of Goji Berry (Lycium barbarum L. and Lycium chinense Mill.) Fruits; Biomolecules (2020): Emerging Allergens in Goji Berry Superfruit: The Identification of New IgE Binding Proteins towards Allergic Patients’ Sera; Phytochemical Analysis (2006): HPLC-MS trace analysis of atropine in Lycium barbarum berries
