The most commercially consequential paper on this list, and it is not about a benefit — it is a documented drug interaction case report. Anyone formulating goji into supplements or ready-to-drink beverages should know about it.
How the study was done
A clinical case report published in Pharmacotherapy. A 71-year-old woman stabilised on warfarin after knee surgery was hospitalised with a markedly elevated, indeterminate INR (prothrombin time > 120 seconds) after drinking goji juice for four days. She reported no other dietary or lifestyle changes.
What it found
She presented with epistaxis, bruising and rectal bleeding. After the goji juice and warfarin were stopped and phytonadione given, her INR fell to 2.6 over two days. The Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale scored 6, indicating a probable relationship. The authors note two other published reports of similar interactions with L. barbarum-containing teas.
Limitations worth stating
A single case report plus two prior reports is a signal, not proof of a general effect, and the mechanism is not established.
Why this matters when sourcing goji berries
This is the paper to hand your regulatory or labelling team. If goji is going into a consumer product — juice, tea, supplement — a warfarin interaction signal is the kind of thing that drives a label warning or a contraindication statement in some markets. Raising it early is better commercial practice than having a customer discover it during their own dossier review.
Source
Rivera CA, Ferro CL, Bursua AJ, Gerber BS. Pharmacotherapy, 2012 — read the original paper.
Research summary. This page summarises independently published research on Lycium barbarum for reference. It is not a health claim and not a statement about any product we supply. Union-Sure supplies goji berries as a food ingredient; we make no medical or therapeutic claims.
