Current Situation And Prospect of Efficacy Exploitation of Lycium Barbarum Extract

As a natural plant with the same origin of medicine and food, wolfberry's large-scale cultivation and consumption in China can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago. Traditional Chinese medicine books, such as Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty, clearly record the efficacy of wolfberry in nourishing and improving the eyes. The development of modern science has further clarified the active ingredients and the effective material basis of wolfberry: the effective ingredients of wolfberry include zeaxanthin, carotenoids, a variety of vitamins, niacin and so on. Among the various active components, Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) is the most extensively studied biological macromolecule. Lycium barbarum glycopeptide, as a kind of immunoreactive glycoprotein among polysaccharides, has been widely reported in recent years to improve the function of multiple organs by regulating peripheral and central inflammation.

There are 7 species of Wolfberry distributed in China, among which Ningxia Wolfberry is considered to have the best medicinal value. However, the current genetic studies on different Lycium barbarum germlines lack systematic evidence to scientifically compare the chemical composition differences between varieties. There are two major challenges in the extraction process of active ingredients of Wolfberry fruit: the separation and identification of bioactive ingredients and the optimization of related processes. In the study of bioactive components, in addition to the classical Lycium barbarum polysaccharide, the isolation, extraction and functional characterization of lycium barbarum glycopeptides have also made good progress in recent years. At the same time, other components such as alkaloids in wolfberry were also summarized and prospeced. In addition, processing technology including extraction method and temperature can also affect the content of active ingredients in wolfberry. 

Therefore, it is necessary to form a standard database of active ingredients of wolfberry and corresponding process specifications in the future to promote the standardized development of wolfberry health industry. From a health science perspective, goji berries have multiple benefits. Under the scope of modern scientific research, the "clearing liver and improving eyes" pointed out in traditional classics has been fully supported by in vivo and in vitro experimental evidence: for example, lycium barbarum polysaccharide and lycium barbarum rubinin can effectively alleviate liver function damage and play a positive role in the treatment of a variety of liver diseases; And a variety of wolfberry extract ingredients can also effectively alleviate glaucoma, retinal degeneration and other eye diseases. On the other hand, studies in recent years have pointed out that wolfberry has the function of "regulating qi and promoting heart", that is, improving the nervous system. At the mechanism level, Lycium barbarum extract is believed to have a wide range of antioxidant and balanced immune effects, and can affect the proliferation and apoptosis mechanisms of cells, so as to exert its regulatory function of multiple organs. Based on the biological effects of wolfberry, the development of related health products has important translational value. Taking Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as an example, the conversion rate of wolfberry processing reached 25%, and the comprehensive output value reached 21 billion yuan; The product group mainly focuses on nourishing kidney, liver, immune regulation, anti-fatigue, brightening eyes and other aspects, and covers food, beverage, cosmetics, medicine and other fields. However, at present, there are still some problems in the deep processing and efficacy development of wolfberry, such as single category, low added value and poor transformation of results. 

In the future, there is an urgent need for the government, scientific research institutions, enterprises multi-party collaboration, innovative research and development projects, performance evaluation, achievement transformation and technology extension service system, basic research and applied research at the same time, to promote the modern wolfberry industry to rely on scientific and technological progress and industrial comprehensive benefits.