I loved Joanne Kan’s recent tour of Australia. She said one thing that really surprised me: “I get all my nutrients from my supplements. Eating food is just for fun.”

What an interesting concept. Personally, I take supplements very intentionally. I get an annual blood test, and if I’m low in a specific nutrient, I’ll take a supplement that will help me to get that nutrient up to healthy normal levels.

But where a lot of people will take a daily multivitamin, I prefer to have a food-source that’s rich in vitamins and minerals. My go-to for this is NingXia Red. It’s no wonder that it’s become Young Living’s best-selling product, even outselling our most popular essential oils.

Does this sound strange to you, given that we are an essential oil company at our core?

To me, this is a sign of how much we love NingXia Red, and how delicious and health-giving it is.

It’s no wonder it’s one of just 3 ingredients in our Red Drink. If you’re not sure how to make the Red Drink, check out last weeks’ post where I gave the simple recipe.

Let’s discover why NingXia Red is such a fabulous product, and why it makes sense to have it as one of your core daily products. Enjoy!

NingXia Red – the #1 ingredient in the Red Drink

In October 1993, Gary Young met his wife-to-be (Mary Young) in Salt Lake City. Mary was neighbours with Dr. McKell, the Dean of Natural Science at Weber State University. Dr. McKell was telling Mary about how he was working with a scientist from China (Dr. Songhou Chao), and how that scientist was studying people from the NingXia Plateau who were living to 120 years of age.

It turned out that the reason these people had such incredible longevity was primarily due to the special type of goji berries (Lycium barbarum) growing in that region. Mineral rich water runs off the glaciers onto the fields where these trees are growing…and those wonderful minerals end up in the fruits of these trees.

Did you know that the only goji berries (aka wolfberries) recognised as a superfood by the FDA and Chinese Ministry of Health are those grown in the Ningxia Province?

After Gary met with Dr. McKell, he went and visited the NingXia Province. There, he was introduced to a family of 5 generations!!! The great-great-grandmother was 120 years old and was still working on the farm.

When she came in from the field that day, Gary did the gentlemanly thing and offered his arm to help her up the stairs. She brushed his hand away, and made an abrupt comment in Chinese. Her 98 year old daughter explained to Gary that her mother wasn’t happy with his gesture, because she didn’t need help going up the stairs!

I laugh when I hear this. What a Spirit that woman had, and how wonderful to be that resilient and healthy at age 120!!!

Gary was so inspired by what he learned about the NingXia Wolfberry that he created what was initially called “Berry Young Juice”. This contained goji berry juice, and other high antioxidant juices. But Gary noticed it wasn’t having the powerful impact he expected. , so in 2005/2006 he reformulated it. and which in 2012 was rebranded as “NingXia Red”.

As Gary researched his own product, he discovered the importance of including not just the juice of the NingXia Wolfberry, but also the skin, seeds and pulp. So he reformulated in 2005/2006, renaming it NingXia Red. This time he included the skin, seeds and pulp, not just the juice. That’s why when you look at a bottle of NingXia Red, the lower 20% of the bottle is all this wonderful rich sediment.

Make sure you give your bottle a good shake up before drinking, to disperse this pulp throughout the bottle.

The ability of the NingXia Wolfberry to promote health and longevity makes a lot of sense when we understand its actions from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective. Here are some of the benefits of the NingXia Wolfberry as noted in the Materia Medica of Traditional Chinese Medicine:

NingXia Wolfberry supports the Liver & Kidneys

Lycium barbarum (the NingXia Wolfberry) is known to nourish and tonify the liver and kidney yin.

That’s why I often recommend that before undertaking any type of detox, it’s best to support the body first by drinking extra NingXia Red.

Instead of 60ml a day, increase to 120ml or even 180ml a day for 3-4 weeks.

The NingXia Wolfberries in this formula will nourish the liver and kidneys, which are major channels of elimination in any detox. Support them first, and your detox will be so much more effective.

It brightens the eyes

I love this, because our eyes and eyesight is sooooo important.

The NingXia Wolfberry is one of the richest known natural sources of a nutrient called zeaxanthin, primarily in the form of zeaxanthin dipalmitate which is highly bioavailable.

Zeaxanthin (as found in the NingXia Wolfberry) helps to increase our macular pigment optical density (MPOD), which in turn helps protect our eyes against age-related macular degeneration.

In addition to the zeaxanthin, it also contains small amounts of betacarotene and betacryptoxanthin, which also help support healthy eyesight.

Beta-carotene is a powerful precursor to Vitamin A, which helps maintain cornea health, prevents night blindness, and reduces the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. It’s also essential for eye lubrication, thus preventing dry eyes.

Beta-cryptoxanthin is a carotenoid that behaves as an antioxidant, helping to filter harmful blue light and protect our eye tissues from oxidative damage.

These are essential nutrients for our body.

It’s a rare high-protein fruit that’s low GI

Did you know that the NingXia Wolfberry is loaded with amino acids (protein building blocks)? In fact, it has 18 of the 22 key amino acids that our body needs. That’s extraordinary!!!

This makes it a high protein, alkalising fruit. That’s so rare to find a fruit that is high in protein. In fact, it has more protein than bee pollen!

Now, this is amazing. I’ve noticed my own protein levels are a little below where they need to be. Consuming NingXia Wolfberries is such a great and easy protein source.

When we reach for animal protein sources, these will raise our protein levels, but they are naturally acidic.

We don’t want to make our body overly acidic, as this paves the way for disease and degeneration.

That’s why the NingXia Wolfberry is such a rare find.

Dried NingXia Wolfberries contain approximately 12% to 13% protein by weight. That means you’ll get about 4g of protein from a 28g (approx. 5 tablespoon) serving.

And being low GI, it doesn’t spike your blood sugar the way many other fruits will. This is an added bonus when you are on an anti-candida diet.

It calms the Spirit and improves sleep

Well, that makes sense, given the recent study done on NingXia Red (which contains 16% NingXia Wolfberry puree).

In 2020 they conducted a clinical trial where 160 healthy adults were randomized into a treatment group (who drank 60ml of NingXia Red a day for two months), and a control group (who didn’t drink NingXia Red). The results showed that consuming NingXia Red for two months showed significant support for overall health in the treatment group compared to the control group.

By the end of the 60 day study, on average the NingXia Red group fell asleep 6 minutes faster than the control group, and slept 21 minutes longer per night than they had at the start of the study.

These improved sleep patterns in turn improved productivity by 37.9%. But the great results didn’t stop there…

The control group (ie. those NOT drinking NingXia Red) were over 5 times more likely to develop moderate to severe respiratory infections than those who were drinking NingXia Red. Wow!!!!

Out of the 23 respiratory illnesses that occurred in participants during the trial, the

group drinking NingXia Red experienced symptoms for only 1 to 2 days, compared to the control group who experienced symptoms for 1 to 9 days. This difference was not considered statistically significant, and the researchers stated this was “likely due to the small number of illnesses in the overall sample”. But it certainly warrants further investigation.

But it certainly warrants further investigation.

And the participants who were drinking NingXia Red each day boasted a 27% reduction in somatic symptom scores (ie. “feeling crappy”) compared to the control group, in the arenas of:

• Gastrointestinal health
• Sleep quality
• Headaches
• Respiratory function

The study provided clear evidence that daily consumption of 60ml of NingXia Red allows the body to stay in optimal immune health for both men and women.

In fact, those who drank NingXia Red daily saw improvements to their overall health which dramatically exceeded those of the control group.

It strengthens the immune system

I still remember Mark Schroeder’s visit to Australia in 2013, where he shared with us the wonders of the NingXia Wolfberry.

He mentioned that of all the different types of goji berry in the world, the NingXia Wolfberry has the highest levels of immune-stimulating polysaccharides.

It’s also a very powerful antioxidant.

By helping to eliminate free radicals from our body, it gives our immune system more opportunity to deal with other foreign invaders in our body (rather than our body needing to spending all its energy tackling the free radicals that come in through our food, lifestyle and exercise).

In the scientific study mentioned above, the scientists noted that strengthening and maintaining a healthy immune system through consuming a nutrient-rich diet high in antioxidants is central to preventing infection. They found that supplementation with NingXia Red supports immune health and even helps maintain a healthy and strong respiratory system.

What about NingXia Red’s other ingredients?

NingXia Red doesn’t only have NingXia Wolfberry puree in it. It’s also rich in other high antioxidant, low GI fruits.

It’s combined with grape seed extract, 4 citrus essential oils (Orange, Yuzu, Lemon and Tangerine), and the juice of these scrumptious high-antioxidant fruits:

In her presentation, Joanne Kan shared with us how she teaches people to drink 2 x 60ml sachets of NingXia Red a day, for 90 days.

What she observes is that the skin pores around the eyes become smaller, the whites of the eyes shine brighter, and there’s a noticeable improvement in the skin’s complexion.

It’s so noticeable, that Joanne told us she can easily tell when someone is not following this regime, because these signs of vibrant health are not as visible.

There are so many reasons to incorporate NingXia Red into your daily regime, and even better to use it in the form of the Red Drink, where 30 to 60ml of NingXia Red is mixed with 750ml water, 3-6 capsules of Sulfurzyme, and 3 drops of Lime oil (with two of these drinks to be consumed each day).

Here’s How to Order

If you already have your own wholesale account with Young Living, you can order through the shopping cart on your virtual office, or via phone or live chat with your local Young Living office.

If you already have your own wholesale account with Young Living, you can order through the shopping cart on your virtual

office, or via phone or live chat with your local Young Living office. You will need their member number when you place your first order.

If you have lost touch with them, or need any other assistance, we are here to help. Simply click on the button below, and we’ll be in touch to assist you and help answer your questions.