Italian Lycium barbarum L. Berry: Chemical Characterization and Nutraceutical Value

Abstract

Lycium barbarum L. has received considerable attention in recent years also in western countries because of the interesting healthy value of these berries. In this paper, goji samples cultivated in Southern Italy were analyzed for their chemical composition and nutritional profile in order to characterize fruits of Italian origin and to increase the awareness about their nutraceutical value. Lipid fraction was characterized by high percentages of unsaturated fatty acids, in particular oleic and linoleic acids, and very low values of atherogenic and thrombogenic indexes (0.1 and 0.2, respectively). In addition, goji berry was an interesting source of phytosterols (41.5 mg/100 g), essentially represented by β-sitosterol. Carotenoid analysis showed the presence of zeaxanthin, in esterified form, with high content of zeaxanthin dipalmitate (277.9 mg/100 g). Finally, in vitro antioxidant capacity and phenolic compounds were investigated. The results suggested that goji hydro-alcoholic extract possessed the ability to scavenge free radicals. Phenolic acids were clearly the most abundant compounds followed by flavonols and favanols. The results reported in this study confirm that Italian L. barbarum berry is a rich source of bioactive molecules with nutraceutical properties.

Chemical Characterization, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties of Goji Berries Cultivated in Serbia

“…The most abundant fatty acids were linoleic (C18:2n-6), oleic (C18:1n-9), palmitic (C16:0), and stearic (C18:0) acid, accounting for about 95% of total fatty acids. Similar results were reported for red goji berry cultivated in Italy [40,41], Greece [42], Turkey [43], North Macedonia [44] and for Chinese black goji berries [24,45]. Table 2.…”

“…The red goji berries contained 15.7% of the RDA for iron and could be recommended as a source of this valuable microelement. In this study, the iron content in red goji berry was about 5-fold higher than found in fresh red goji berries of Italian origin [38,41].…”

“…Donno et al [48] showed that average vitamin C content in fresh red goji berries was 48.94 mg/100 g, which makes up approximately 60% of the RDA [20]. Most of the other studies have reported that vitamin C of L. barbarum berries ranged from 30 to 60 mg/100 g FW [16,38,41,49,50], depending on the goji berry cultivars and their growing regions. However, some authors found a ten times lower vitamin C content in some goji berry varieties [51,52].…”

Characterization of Lycium barbarum L. berry cultivated in North Macedonia: A chemometric approach

“…The TPC of 5906 ± 1262 mg GAE/kg in Macedonian Goji berry was not significantly different from 6220 mg GAE/kg in Lycium chinense M. (p > 0.05). TPC in Goji of Macedonian origin was lower than in selected Goji cultivars in Romania (11600-15700 mg GAE/kg) [12], higher than in Goji cultivars in Switzerland (710-2940 mg GAE/kg) [11] and Italian Goji (7600 mg GAE/kg) [49]. The differences could be attributed to ecophysiological conditions, altitude and soil composition.…”

Potential of galled leaves of Goji (Lycium chinense) as functional food

“…The Goji fruit, also known as the wolfberry or Goji berry, is the main product commercialized as health food. Goji berry contains high amount of functional components, including sugars [3], carotenoids [4], and essential fatty acids [5].The polysaccharides extracted from wolfberries contain high antioxidative properties and have the ability to treat and prevent multiple chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and male infertility [6][7][8][9]. The root bark of Goji (Lycii Radicis Cortex) has been used in treating hypertension and reducing serum glucose and lipids [10][11][12].…”