India Herbs

Publication:  Natural Product Insider

Author: Jenifer Hunt

Date: January 16, 2007

Cleopatra and Alexander the Great had more in common than their high-profile jobs and “type A” personalities. It’s believed they both appreciated the healing properties of the aloe vera plant long before modern science began proving its benefits.

Aloe vera (L.) Burm ., a member of the lily family, is a spiky, succulent perennial plant indigenous to Africa. It has long been regarded as one of nature’s most useful healers. Ancient records reveal the plant was used medicinally in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. Egyptians referred to aloe vera as “the plant of immortality” and used it for embalming and bathing. Records confirm the Greek physician Dioscorides used the plant to treat mouth infections, sores and wounds in the first century.

“Aloe is truly a ‘super food’, and has been for over 4,000 years—modern science is just catching up,” said Barb Apps with Lacey, Wash.-based Aloecorp.

Aloe’s triangular, fleshy leaves contain a wealth of biologically active substances. Its laxative effects are attributable to a group of chemicals known as anthraquinones, including aloin, barbaloin, aloe-emodin and aloectic acid. So potent an irritant laxative is aloin, it is an official drug in the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) and is removed from gel preparations. The inner gel contains polysaccharides including acemannan, a biopolymer thought to be responsible for many of the plant’s wound healing, antiviral and immune-stimulating properties.

“Much of aloe’s biological activity is attributed to polysaccharides,” said Bill Pine, vice president of sales and marketing with DeSoto, Texas-based Improve USA. “Aloe vera is composed of almost 200 different biologically active substances. The major molecule is the polysaccharide mannose, which is thought to be responsible for directing the synergistic activity of a vast array of compounds.”

In addition to polysaccharides, aloe contains simple sugars, proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and glycoproteins. “Research has shown there are many small molecular weight components, including glycoproteins, that play a significant role in the overall medicinal effects associated with aloe,” said Ken Jones, director of research and development at Aloecorp. “It is likely these components work in synergy, resulting in overall enhanced and diverse effects, in contrast to purified extracts from aloe. It should be understood that purified extracts of aloe usually target one specific biological activity rather than the full scope of physiological effects demonstrated by whole aloe.”

Consumers appear to be quite willing to try new product applications featuring aloe. According to the market research firm SPINS, the U.S. market for products containing aloe vera was more than $30 million for health and mass market channels (excluding Wal-Mart, 52 week data ending October 2006). Sales of aloe vera ingredients in health food channels grew by almost 10 percent, outpacing sales in the mass market, where SPINS attributes a decline in sales to a lack of branding, positioning and quality.

101 Uses for Aloe

Aloe vera already has a well known place in many homes. “It’s a common practice to have a potted aloe plant as a ready and helpful remedy for a myriad of everyday uses, such as for cuts, burns, injuries, etc.,” said Gene Hale, executive director of the Irving, Texas-based International Aloe Science Council (IASC).

Although there is a long-standing practice of using the plant as a digestive aid and skin care ingredient, until the mid-20th century use was based primarily on anecdotal evidence. In the 1930s, a woman with a skin radiation burn benefited from a topical application of aloe vera gel; the positive result encouraged trials with others suffering from radiation burns.1 In 1953, evidence of the plant’s wound-healing benefits became scientifically recognized when a study found it successfully treated radiation lesions in rats.2

However, there is great potential beyond topical application. “Aloe has broader potential as a ‘super’ nutrient for a range of health conditions, such as immune system modulation, anti-diabetic activity/ blood sugar balance, kidney stone prevention, oral/gum health, antiinflammatory for joint comfort, cholesterol/triglyceride reduction, and antioxidant protection and detoxification,” Apps said.

Studies have shown aloe vera may help normalize blood sugar, stimulate the body’s antioxidant defenses and increase the bioavailability of antioxidant supplements. Aloe’s hypoglycemic and antioxidant benefits also benefit the liver and heart.

In one trial, researchers evaluated the anti-hyperglycemic effect of aloe vera gel and five isolated phytosterols.3 After administration of the five phytosterols to healthy adults for 28 days, fasting blood glucose levels decreased by up to 64 percent compared to control levels. The findings suggest aloe vera gel and its phytosterols have a long-term blood glucose control effect and would be useful for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Another study determined the presence of several hypoglycemically-active elements in the gel when processed into ash.4 The researchers suggested the presence of various inorganic trace elements in the gel may account for the hypoglycemic nature of the plant.

Animal studies have also provided supporting evidence for the antidiabetic activity of aloe vera. One study involved oral administration of aloe vera gel extract at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight per day to diabetic rats for 21 days.5 Treatment significantly reduced fasting blood glucose, hepatic transaminases, plasma and tissue cholestrol, triglycerides, free fatty acids and phospholipids, and significantly improved plasma insulin. Further animal research from Kyung Hee University in Korea demonstrated the antioxidant and cholesterollowering effects of aloe vera (as ACTIValoe™ from Aloecorp).6

Researchers randomly assigned rats to one of four groups: control; 1-percent freeze-dried aloe filet; 1-percent charcoal-processed, freeze-dried aloe filet; or charcoal-processed, freeze-dried whole leaf aloe in drinking water. Life-long intake of aloe had superior antioxidant action in vivo, as indicated by reduced levels of hepatic phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide. Additional antioxidant action was shown by enhanced superoxide dismutase and catalase activity in the 1-percent aloe groups. Researchers also noted liver cholesterol increased significantly in the control group during aging compared to the aloe groups, which showed 30-percent lower cholesterol levels than the control animals.

For digestive health, aloe has been shown to relieve the symptoms of ulcerative colitis, a type of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). When taken daily, aloe vera may help break down impacted food residues that can cause this condition. A recent study showed 47 percent of participants who took aloe reported an improvement in IBS symptoms, compared with only 14 percent of those given placebo.7

Further, aloe vera appears to increase absorption of vitamins E and C by slowing their assimilation and prolonging their concentrations in blood plasma.8 Researchers found aloe vera increased levels of vitamins C and E in the bloodstream by more than 200 percent when consumed together. The study also concluded aloe vera enhanced the bioavailability of both water- and fat-soluble vitamins, and has a natural time-release effect on vitamin absorption.

“No other matrix is known to increase the bioavailability of both water and fat soluble vitamins,” Jones said. “The bioavailability research has created a landmark event and major turning point for the functional food and nutraceutical industry as these companies realize the benefits of incorporating aloe into their products containing vitamins C and E. By adding aloe vera to these and other supplement products, we are delivering to discerning consumers highly synergistic and superior products that allow them to gain maximum benefits from their supplements.” Hale added, “This effect on absorption promises to make aloe more prevalent in energy bars, drinks and other functional foods.”

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