Aloe, Cape (Aloe ferox)

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:25:31 +0000

Aloe, Cape (Aloe ferox): The bitter yellow juice found just below the skin has been harvested for centuries for its laxative properties, the treatment of arthritis, for its healing properties and for use in cosmetics. The hard, black, resinous product is known as Cape aloes or aloe lump and is used mainly for its laxative properties but is also taken for arthritis. Cape Aloe contains aloin, principally used as a purgative, particularly for sedentary or phlegmatic types. Aloe tincture or extract is very gentle and slow-acting although too frequent use is said to induce piles. Taken in large doses, it can have a drastic effect, even causing abortion, so it should never be taken by pregnant women. It is also made into an ointment for mild skin rashes and a decoction of its juice acts as a mosquito repellent. Cape aloe is sometimes blended with other bitter ingredients to flavor alcoholic drinks.

Aloe (Aloe barbadensis)

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:22:41 +0000

Aloe (Aloe barbadensis): Commercial aloe juice is made from the inner leaf, which is blended and strained, with a preservative added. To make aloe “gel”, the juice is thickened with seaweed to mimic the leaf’s original thick consistency. The crystalline part called aloin, a brownish gel found alongside the leaf blade, is powdered and used in some commercial laxatives. It is so strong that it must be combined with other herbs to prevent intestinal griping. The commercial juice and gel remove this part of the leaf, so both the juice and the gel are soothing to digestive tract irritations, such as peptic ulcers and colitis.

In one study, the stomach lesions of twelve peptic ulcer patients were all completely healed. A popular ingredient in commercial drug store products, aloe is commonly used to soothe burns, including sunburn and radiation burns. Aloe is also applied to wounds, eczema, ringworm and poison oak and poison ivy rashes. There is evidence that it effectively regenerated injured nerves. One study reports aloe to be successful in healing leg ulcerations and severe acne and even finds that it promotes hair growth. When 56 frostbit patients were treated with a product containing 70% aloe, only 7% developed infections, compared to 98 frostbitten patients not treated with aloe, 33 of whom eventually needed amputation. It has also proved helpful in treating periodontosis. One study injected aloe extracts into the diseased areas of 128 patients with varying degrees of gum disease. Within a week, the development of symptoms stopped, pain decreased and marked improvement followed in all patients.

Aloe is wide used in folk medicine, both as a liniment and as a drink, to reduce the swelling and pain of arthritis and rheumatism. Diabetics in the Arabian peninsula eat aloe to control their blood sugar levels. A clinical study did find that when volunteers who were not insulin dependent took half a teaspoon daily for 4-14 weeks, their fasting blood sugar levels were reduced by half, with no change in body weight.

Another preparation from aloe, carrisyn, is a polysaccharide. It has been claimed that carrisyn directly kills various types of viruses, including herpes and measles, and possibly HIV. However, research is still in the preliminary stages.

Herb Review » Aloe

Aloe, Cape (Aloe ferox)

Aloe (Aloe barbadensis)