Aloe is a perennial dryland succulent plant with triangular succulent leaves as its main feature. It is an important folk recipe for thousands of years and is mainly used for health promotion, medicinal purposes, and skincare.
Aloe vera is the most common variety of aloe vera. It contains more than 75 natural active ingredients, including vitamins, enzymes, minerals, sugar, lignin, saponins, salicylic acid, and amino acids.
Do you know the benefits of aloe vera supplements?
Table of Contents
- What is the role of aloe leaves?
- What are the benefits of aloe?
- Are there any side effects of aloe?
- Safety Precautions
- Where can I buy the aloe gel recommended by most people?
What is the role of aloe leaves?
There are two parts of aloe leaves that can be used for medicinal purposes. They are the internal jelly-like gel and the latex between the gel and the epidermis.
The gel part is mainly 99% water, and the rest contains dextran, amino acids, lipids, sterols, and vitamins. External use is mainly related to burns, sunburns, frostbites, psoriasis, and cold sores. Internal use is directed to osteoarthritis, Intestinal diseases, fever, itchings, and inflammation.
The latex part is a yellow and slightly bitter liquid. The main components are quinone compounds and glycosides. It is often used to treat depression, constipation, asthma, and diabetes.
What are the benefits of aloe?
1. Is it helpful to improve psoriasis?
Psoriasis is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease (mainly related to genetic inheritance, stress, immune function, hormones), affecting approximately 1–3% of the global population, aged 16 to 22 and 57 to 60 The most common, the main feature is lumpy or scaly erythema of the skin and may be accompanied by arthritis symptoms.
A systematic review (including 4 clinical studies) pointed out that as of now, there is no clear conclusion on the improvement effect of aloe on psoriasis, so it cannot be recommended for therapeutic use.
*Conclusion: The results of using aloe vera in the treatment of psoriasis are still inconsistent, and the safety is unknown, to be confirmed.
2. Beneficial wound repair
The skin is one of the largest and most important organs of the human body. It can protect the human body from dehydration and various external harmful substances.
Although the skin has the ability to heal itself after injury, in some cases (large-scale skin exfoliation, deep burns, chronic wounds, non-healing ulcers), improper care can increase the chance of infection and conversion to chronic wounds.
A Cochrane Review (contains 7 randomized controlled trials, 347 participants), using aloe-related products (dressing or gel) to treat acute (wounds, surgical incisions, and burns) or chronic (infected wounds, Arterial and venous ulcers) wounds can be said to have both positive and negative effects.
*Conclusion: Up to now, the use of aloe vera in the treatment of acute and chronic wounds still lacks high-quality clinical research support, which needs further confirmation.
3. Improve diabetes
Diabetes is caused by a variety of metabolic dysfunctions, with high prevalence, disability, and complications. So far, there are about 400 million patients worldwide, and it is estimated that it will grow to 600 million in 25 years, forming huge care. burden.
Due to the potential side effects of blood sugar control drugs, such as liver toxicity, weight gain, and even cardiovascular disease, nearly 50% of patients have sought alternative treatments.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 8 studies with a total of 480 participants) pointed out that oral aloe vera can bring positive help (improve fasting blood glucose or glycated hemoglobin) to patients with pre- and type 2 diabetes.
*Conclusion: According to the development of different conditions, taking aloe has a positive effect on blood sugar control, but it is limited by the high heterogeneity of the evidence contained, and it needs to be verified by more large-scale experiments.
4. Improve acne
Acne is the most common skin disease of the young and middle-aged population. It often occurs in areas with dense sebaceous glands such as the face, chest, and back. In the United States alone, 85% of the 11-30-year-olds are affected by this disease.
Due to the change in appearance, the patient’s self-image is damaged, often causing interpersonal troubles, and even alienation and loneliness.
The occurrence of pimples can be divided into four major steps, namely: increased androgen and sebum secretion, keratinization changes, P. acnes infection, and inflammation.
A randomized double-blind controlled study (for 8 weeks, targeting 60 patients with mild to moderate acne) pointed out that compared with the control group using topical A acid (tretinoin) alone, if the aloe vera gel can be used in combination, there are High tolerance can also produce a more significant lesion improvement effect (whether it is an inflammatory or non-inflammatory lesion).
*Conclusion: The use of aloe vera gel in addition to the traditional anti-acne drug A acid can have a better acne treatment effect.
5. Beneficial bowel syndrome (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
Intestinal irritability, also known as an allergic intestinal syndrome, is a substitute for a series of non-organic intestinal dysfunction. The causes are related to abnormal diet, rest, mood, stress, drug use, intestinal flora imbalance, and common symptoms. There are nausea, heartburn, bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, etc.
A randomized, double-blind controlled study (a 15-month, 47-patients with intestinal irritability) pointed out that aloe vera drinks did not achieve statistically significant improvements in the quality of life of intestinal irritability compared to placebo.
*Conclusion: The effect of aloe vera drink on improving intestinal irritability is not better than placebo, to be confirmed by more studies.
Are there any side effects of aloe?
Aloe gel for external use is considered safe for skin, but it is forbidden to be used for open wounds. Side effects that have been reported include redness, burning, rash, and tingling sensation (often occurring in patients with sensitive skin).
Possible side effects of oral aloe latex include abdominal cramps, diarrhea, dark urine, hepatitis, renal dysfunction, hypokalemia, muscle weakness, weight loss, etc.
Safety Precautions
Do not use it for pregnant women because oral aloe vera may increase the risk of uterine contractions, miscarriage, and even birth defects.
Do not use for nursing mothers, children, or those with poor liver and kidney function (oral safety is unknown).
People who have been allergic to plants of the Liliaceae (Liliaceae, featuring rhizomes, bulbs, or bulbs) are not allowed to use them. Common types include tulips, garlic, onions, lilies, and fritillaria.
Do not use 2 weeks before the operation (because there may be an anticoagulant effect, which will increase the risk of bleeding).
Diabetics or those taking related hypoglycemic drugs, please use carefully and monitor blood glucose regularly (because aloe has a hypoglycemic effect).
Do not use intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or intestinal obstruction (because aloe latex is intestinal irritating).
Do not use in patients with hemorrhoids (may worsen symptoms).
Because oral aloe latex has an irritating laxative effect, do not use it with drugs, which may affect the efficacy of the drug or increase side effects. Related drugs such as diuretics, Digoxin, laxatives (bisacodyl/cascara/castor oil/senna), Warfarin, etc.
Where can I buy the aloe vera gel recommended by most people?
In recent years, food safety problems in various countries have exploded, and it is not healthy but black-hearted products that everyone spends on. Therefore, European and American products with relatively strict quality control have become popular products.
And iHerb.com is a large-scale medical cosmetics e-commerce company in the United States. It has a high satisfaction rate of 97% in the evaluation of Google customers. It provides global home delivery so that you can buy it without risking buying fakes through purchasing high-quality health products.
