All over the internet you see people raving about Goji
berries having the highest Vitamin C content on earth. That is pure nonsense.
As far as I know the Acerola cherry has the highest concentration of Vitamin C
of all the fruits. It is ridiculous to see the misquoted figures on the
websites and product labels of what we thought were reputable companies.
Let’s take a closer look at the science. In my nutrient
tables we see that Wolfberry fruit raw contains only 42.60 mg per 100 gram
sample. Very few people get the chance to eat fresh raw goji. Therefore it is
fair to measure the dried fruit and compare with that. Dry goji in a vacuum has
been measured to contain 73.16 mg of Vitamin C per 100 gram sample.
Now let’s study the common orange. From the nutrient
composition tables of the U.S. Department of Agriculture at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/HG72/hg72_2002.pdf
we get the actual numbers. On page 38 of the PDF, we see that item # 327 is a whole orange weighing 131
grams. On page 39 in the second last column is Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
The truth is that a 131 gram
orange has been measured to contain 70 mg of Vitamin C. That gives us 53 mg per
100 grams.
Using the goji in vacuum
(which is the highest of 3 figures given in my table) we can see that goji
exceeds the orange by no more than 37%.
In summary I have to say
that goji is only slightly better than orange for Vitamin C content.
The Vitamin C Myth
