What’s in a name? More than just a labeling and marketing change according to Freelife International (also known as The Himalayan Goji Juice Company). On January 8, 2008, a major announcement was made to introduce a new product, GoChi. There has been some confusion about the naming of the new product and people have written us saying that they believe the change is purely for marketing purposes.

But according to Freelife, GoChi is “a new and improved version of Himalayan Goji Juice with no preservatives and more active ingredient”. So far we have not yet heard of any distributors attempting to market and sell the new product with unsupported and outrageous medical claims so perhaps the new GoChi product is an improvement on more than one level.

There is an ongoing debate about the Lycium barbarum L. (the Goji Berry) and its benefits versus the use of the berry in a juice product. It will be interesting to see more research on the juice products created from the berry because the Goji Berry has been reported on many times in the media.

On July 18th, 2005, the Los Angeles Times published an article titled “Lycium may repress some cancer cells.” and in 2006, TIME magazine called the “Himalayan Goji Berry the Superfruit of the Year!” . In 2007, The Oprah Winfrey Show recommended goji to Chicago Bulls leading scorer Ben Gordon to maintain high energy levels and prevent post-workout crashes, calling the Goji Berry “…the most potent antioxidant fruit that we know,”. America’s Doctor, Dr. Mehmet Oz, author of the bestselling YOU: The Owners Manual, and Vice Chairman of Surgery at Columbia University, gave the recommendation on the October 1 episode