The aloe vera plant grows in Africa, India and other arid climates and has been used for thousands of years treating burns, wounds and skin infections. Cave paintings in South Africa depict the medicinal use of aloe, and it has been said Alexander the Great captured an island near Somalia for its aloe crop. Aloe juice is condensed from the skin of the plant's leaves and is being studied for its potential health benefits, although some of this research hasn't gotten past the laboratory phase into human clinical trials.
Antioxidant
Researchers at the Cancer Biology Laboratory of India's Jawaharlal Nehru University studied aloe vera leaf extracts on carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes in the livers of laboratory mice. The aloe caused a decrease in oxidative stress and showed protection against membrane and cellular damage. The study further found that the aloe vera helped other organs in detoxifying reactive metabolites like chemical carcinogens and drugs.
Cancer Therapy
Although few studies have looked at the use of aloe in treating cancer, Russian scientists evaluated the antimetastatic properties of aloe on three types of experimental tumors of mice and rats. They found that treatment contributed to a reduction of tumor mass and metastasis frequency at different stages of tumor progress. It also increased the antitumor effect of two different components of combination chemotherapy.
Diabetes
Two separate human trials found aloe can improve blood sugar control in patients with Type 2 diabetes. The studies, published in "Phytomedicine" in 1996, followed diabetics over a two-week period in one trial and over 42 days in the other and showed significantly greater improvements in blood sugar levels as opposed to control groups, even among those who had failed to respond to the oral diabetes drug glibenclamide.
Gastric Ulcer
Aloe was used on laboratory animals with acute gastric mucosal lesions. The Nigerian researchers discovered the aloe was an effective gastroprotective agent at lower concentrations and is endowed with gastric acid anti-secretory activity.
Immune System
Immunosuppressed mice were treated with aloe vera juice at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico and showed some degree of the restoration of immunological parameters in cellular immune response. An additional study at the University of Mississippi created a new immunostimulatory polysaccharide called Aloeride from commercial aloe vera juice, finding it greatly stimulated immune cell activity.
Laxative
According to the Mayo Clinic, there is strong scientific evidence indicating aloe vera is effective as a laxative because of the anthraquinone glycosides found in the plant. An Israeli study compared aloe to psyllium and celandine and found it to be equally effective in treating constipation.
Ulcerative Colitis
In a double-blind study in London, patients with active ulcerative colitis were given 100 milliliters of oral aloe vera gel twice a day for four weeks. Almost half the patients showed some response to treatment and 30 percent experienced full remission.
References
- Phytomedicine: Chemomodulatory Action of Aloe Vera on the Profiles of enzymes Associated with Carcinogen Metabolism and Antioxidant Status Regulation
- Voprosy Onkologii: Antimetastatic Properties of Aloe Juice
- Health Library: Aloe
- Journal of Ethnopharmacology: The Effect of Aloe Vera on Gastric Acid Secretion and Acute Gastric Mucosal Injury
- Russian Journal of Immunology: Modulation of Immune Response of Lymphoma Treated with Bitter Yellow Juice of Aloe Vera
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