I couldn't decide where to park this so please move if appropriate :)   Food as Medicine,  Kitchen,   Market Gardening,  Plants

I planted a couple goji berry bushes last year after experiencing them for the first time in a store bought trail mix.  They're the latest thing in anti-oxidant foods in America,  but long used in Chinese medicine.  Then I learned they are nightshades so I explored Lectins, the anti-nutrient in all nightshades.  There are no scientific health studies on the fruit that I could find but lots of anecdotal arguments on both sides of whether to eat or avoid.    The conclusion I've come to is that eating large quantities of them raw could create inflammation and gut problems for sensitive people.   Cooking seems to eliminate most of the problem

Sarah Pope, The Healthy Home Economist talks about this for all nightshades like potatoes and eggplant and tomatoes - I've started parboiling all my potatoes before final preparation, and de-seeding tomatoes before eating fresh or drying.   Apparently the seeds and skin are highest in lectins, and someone said that's why Italians prefer the meaty Roma tomatoes for their sauces.   Kind of hard to de-seed an eggplant though!  

Luckily I don't have any gut or arthritis problems but I'd feel guilty if I don't caution buyers.    I'm going to proceed to propagate more bushes (very easy)  and offer them for sale locally as the only source I can find for dried berries is online at $16 a pound!   And no local source for fresh at all.   They're virtually no maintenance, easy to harvest, and actually spread pretty rapidly through roots (like all asian bamboo type plants).  I'll plant a long double row to form a tunnel for my chickens to enjoy.     It's really all about the happy chickens here :)

I'm wondering what other people here know about this fruit before I start consuming and selling mass quantities of them.   This is one article I found by my fave Dr. John Bergman     https://www.drjohnbergman.com/lectins-in-goji-berries-good-or-bad/   and a permaculture gardening Youtuber I follow     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6A2mA6Bp2Q

Everything is toxic in high enough doses, even water, even oxygen.  This fact has been known for centuries:
"All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison."  - Paracelsus, 1538

Tollerance (the point where something becomes too much) varies from person to person.  For some people even small amounts of leafy greens (spinach chard, etc.) are toxic.  For others even tiny amounts of wheat are toxic.

If eating large quantities of Goji causes you problems, then eat smaller amounts or don't eat any (your choice)

I agree with you Peter.    We need to ignore the 'health scare du jour' and concentrate on bringing more diversity and whole organic foods in.   Prevent arthritis rather than baby it.

I don't think eating Goji berries in moderation will cause any health problem.

On nightshades...
We have been told to avoid the foilage, as it is poisonous, but in some places it is eaten as a pot green!

I don't believe there is a natural grown food devoid of downsides. Most things don't evolve to be eaten,and those that do are getting something(propagation) in return.