Aloe Vera Benefits

by

AbdulRahman Omar Lashkar

1304180
Group A1
Graded Unit Development Stage
DJ8934

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 2

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 3
BENEFITS OF ALOE VERA ...................................................................................................... 4

INTERNAL CONSUMPTION OF ALOE VERA .......................................................................... 4

EXTERNAL APPLICATION OF ALOE VERA ........................................................................... 9
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH ALOE VERA........................................................................ 13
SIDE EFFECTS OF ALOE VERA.............................................................................................. 16
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 17
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 18

SUMMARY

Aloe Vera plant has been used as a medicinal plant by various cultures since thousands of years.
In spite of this fact, most of the people do not know about its benefits and how they can use it.
Although a good number of researches and studies were conducted and published in medical
journals, the modern medicine still have not used the available information in producing
medications to common diseases. In fact, most doctors and health organizations ignore those
proven facts.
This research report describes the Aloe Vera plant and its uses in the history. The main focus of the
report is the medicinal properties of this plant in both external applications and internal
consumption. These uses are supported by studies conducted in different parts of the world.
Some personal experiences of people used Aloe Vera for different reasons and in different ways are
mentioned.
In order to cover the most important aspects of Aloe Vera, its side effects are also discussed in the
report and the way to avoid those side effects was explained as well.

INTRODUCTION

Aloe Vera is a type of plants grows in deserts. Many people mix it with cactus as it shares the same
habitat and thus some characteristics. However, it is not a type of cactus; it is rather belong to a Lily
family called Liliaceae. The scientific name of Aloe Vera is Aloe Barbadensis Miller. There are
more than 200 kinds of Aloe but the most used and effective kind is Aloe Vera.
Throughout the history, people used Aloe Vera for many purposes. In ancient Egypt, Pharaohs used
to use Aloe Vera for both external and internal uses. Arabs also used it after drying the leaf extract
for medicinal features. Alexander the Great used it to heal the wounds of his soldiers. The Indian
leader Gandhi used it as a source of nutrition in his hunger strike in fighting for India's freedom
from the British colonization.
This plant can be found naturally in the deserts of Asia and Africa as it grows in hot and dry
environments which made it difficult for the Western doctors and researcher to discover its
medicinal properties. In the quest of finding medicinal plants from all over the world, Western
researchers learnt about Aloe Vera and succeeded in growing it in the deserts of North and South
America.
After the success of commercial planting of Aloe Vera in America, the International Aloe Science
Council (IASC) was founded in USA in 1981 as an independent regulatory body that has a code of
ethics and an inspection and testing program to help the consumers to distinguish between many
products available in the market. Products meeting the requirements are certified by the IASC and
can carry the seal the IASC seal of approval on their labels.
With the revolution of alternative medicine, many scientific studies were conducted all over the
world. Those studies examined the medicinal properties of Aloe Vera with effects on many diseases
such as blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, several types of cancers, HIV virus
control, digestion problems, cardiovascular problems and many others.
This report will look closely at some of the medicinal properties of Aloe Vera and how to get the
best out of this plant and how to avoid the side effects. [1]

BENEFITS OF ALOE VER A

Scientific studies on the benefits of aloe vera in were conducted in many research institutes all over
the world. Some of these studies focused on the external application of aloe vera while the others
focused on the internal consumption of it and its effect on resisting different diseases. This report
will mention some of those studies as examples of the many benefits that Aloe Vera can have.
INTERNAL CONSUMPTION OF ALOE VERA

This section will look closely at the effects of the internal consumption of Aloe Vera in preventing
or controlling some of the common diseases supported by relevant studies and researches.
LOWERING THE RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

Cardiovascular diseases mostly caused by high levels of bad cholesterol and triacylglycerol and low
levels of good cholesterol. A study tested the ability of Aloe Vera and probiotic bacteria to control
the mentioned lipids in blood.
The study was conducted on five treatment groups of rats. Each group was fed with a different
experimental diet to find out if there is any effect of aloe vera and Lactobacillus rhamnosus (type of
milk bacteria) on controlling cholesterol levels for rats that have high levels of cholesterol in their
blood.
The groups were fed with:
Normal diet,
High cholesterol diet without any supplements,
High cholesterol diet with aloe vera gel,
High cholesterol diet with Lactobacillus rhamnosus and
High cholesterol diet with both Lactobacillus rhamnosus and aloe vera
The results were amazing. There was a good decrease in serum total cholesterol by 32% in the
group that had Lactobacillus rhamnosus and there was a significant increase in the group that had a
both of Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Aloe Vera by 43%.
Also, there was a great decrease in triacylglycerol levels by 41% in the group that had only
Lactobacillus rhamnosus and there was a more impressive decrease in the group that had Aloe Vera
gel combined with Lactobacillus rhamnosus by 45%.

Decrease (%)

Percentage of Decrease in Blood Lipids

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Probiotic
only
Probiotic
and Aloe Vera

Decrease in total cholesterol

Decrease in triacylglycerol
levels

32

41

43

45

Figure 1. The effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus vs. Lactobacillus rhamnosus + Aloe Vera on high cholesterol rats.

Other benefits of consuming Aloe Vera and Lactobacillus rhamnosus together in this study were the
increase of the good cholesterol which is the High-density lipoprotein (HDL) by 12% in addition to
the decrease of the bad cholesterols; very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) by 45% and low-density
lipoprotein (LDL) by 30%.
This study proves that the consumption of Lactobacillus rhamnosus help in controlling the
cholesterol levels and combining that with Aloe Vera makes the control even more significant
which result in lowering the risk of cardiovascular diseases.[2]

REDUCING THE RISK OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

Lowering sugar and triglycerides levels is essential in treating and preventing type 2 diabetes
(diabetes mellitus). Several studies proved that Aloe Vera can do that. However, those studies were
done on rats or mice. The following study was done on human patients that had high fasting blood
sugar levels and they have never taken any hypoglycemic drugs.
70 patients were divided into two groups. One group was given one tablespoon of aloe vera gel
twice a day and the other was given a placebo. The experiment lasted for 42 days with testing for
fasting blood glucose every week.
The control group was given the placebo and didn't have any change in blood sugar. On the other
hand, the group that was given Aloe Vera gel had gradually lowered blood glucose levels as shown
in the chart.

Fasting Blood Sugar

300

Sugar Level (mg/dL)

250
200

150
100
50
0

Placebo
Aloe Vera

Day 1
251.06
250.36

Day 7
244.81
233.83

Day 14
246.67
209.64

Day 21
254.58
186.42

Figure 2. Fasting Blood Sugar for Patients Drinking Aloe Vera Gel in 42 days.

Day 28
257.36
166.03

Day 35
254.5
151.17

Day 42
257.14
141.92

For the triglycerides test, both groups were tested every two weeks. Again the control group didn't
have any change in triglycerides levels while the group that was given Aloe Vera gel had gradually
lowered the triglycerides levels as shown in the chart.

Blood Triglycerides Levels

Triglycerides (mg/dL)

250
200
150
100
50
0
Placebo
Aloe Vera

Day 1
214.31
220.31

Day 14
220.47
189.94

Day 28
217.19
155.36

Day 42
232.44
122.72

The study proves that consuming Aloe Vera gel can treat diabetes mellitus as it lowers both the
blood glucose and the blood triglycerides levels. [3]

ENHANCING FERTILITY

Infertility is considered a major problem around the world as 15% of couples are affected by it.
Different factors can cause infertility. 40-50% of infertility cases are caused by the male factors
which are the sperm count and motility as well as the quantity of male hormone (testosterone)
produced in the male body. Due to the fact that Aloe Vera was proved to treat several diseases,
researchers conducted a study to investigate the effects of Aloe Vera on the sperm count and
motility in addition to the quantity of testosterone in rats.
The study was conducted using adult rats (ten weeks old). The rats were divided into four different
groups:
Control group treated with normal saline only.
Aloe Vera gel extract group
Aloe Vera pulp extract group
Aloe Vera gel and pulp extract group.

All the groups that were treated with Aloe Vera showed significant increase in sperm counts and
motility and testosterone levels while the control group didn't show any difference as shown in the
following figure.

60

Percentage of Increase

50
40
A.V. Gel
A.V. Pulp

30

A.V. Gel & Pulp

20
10
0
Sperm Count

Sperm Motility

Testosterone Level

Figure 3. Percentage of Increase of Sperm Parameters and Testosterone Level Over Control

According to the results, Aloe Vera in the form of gel and pulp extracts has positive effects on the
reproductive function of rat males by increasing the sperm count and motility as well as increasing
the Testosterone level. It is also worth mentioning that for the 56 days period of the experiment, no
rat had any adverse effect on its health as a result of consuming Aloe Vera. These results can be
useful in manufacturing drugs to enhance human male fertility. [4]

INCURABLE DISEASES

Incurable diseases are the diseases that modern medicine still hasn't find a permanent cure for it. A
documentary video on youtube.com shows some researchers talk about the ability of Aloe Vera in
curing some of those diseases. The video shows a patient of HIV AIDS and liver cancer that was in
the last stage as his liver had twenty cancer tumors and it was swollen four times its normal size.
Doctors expected his life to be from four to six weeks. He drank Aloe Vera and within a year his
CT scans showed no trace of any tumor in his liver and his blood analysis for HIV was negative.
Other diseases mentioned in the video are hepatitis B and herpes as Aloe Vera has the ability to
stimulate the immune system and inactivate or kill the viruses. [5]

EXTERNAL APPLICATION OF ALOE VERA

This section will look closely at the effects of the external application of Aloe Vera in preventing or
controlling some of the common diseases supported by relevant studies and researches.
HEALING DERMAL WOUNDS

Aloe Vera can be beneficial when it is consumed orally and when it is applied topically. One of the
common uses of Aloe Vera gel is the topical application on skin for various skin related benefits.
The following study focuses on the ability of Aloe Vera in rebuilding the skin tissues by increasing
the collagen content in the skin. Since Aloe Vera gel contains the amino acids that make the
collagen protein, this study will test the effect of increasing the collagen content leading to healing
dermal wounds in rats by both topical application and oral consumption of Aloe Vera.
Wounds were made by cutting the same location for all the rats involved in the study. Then, the rats
where classified into three groups.
Untreated control group
Topically treated group with Aloe Vera.
Orally treated group with Aloe Vera.

Both topically and orally treated groups had a big increase in the content of collagen in comparison
with the control group. This result proves the ability of Aloe Vera in helping the regeneration of the
skin and other tissues that depend on collagen. [6]
HAIR GROWTH AND STOPPING HAIR LOSS

As several studies proved the positive effects of the topical use of Aloe Vera on different skin
problems and the discoveries of the ability of Aloe Vera to enhance the regeneration of skin
components, researchers investigated the effect of Aloe Vera on hair growth and stopping hair loss.
The study included patients of seborrheic alopecia (hair loss of oily scalp), alopecia areata (hair fall
from spots of the body) and several other causes of hair loss. Some of those patients were given
Aloe Vera gel and the control group was given a vehicle gel.
All the patients that applied the Aloe Vera gel had the positive effect of drying the oily scalp,
stopping the hair fall and growing of hair in periods from varied from one week to three months
depending on the type and severity of the case. On the other hand, none of the control patients had
any effect from applying the vehicle alone. [6]

CONTROL OF ACNE AND OILY SKIN

Aloe Vera gel has a high concentration of vitamin C which helps in nourishing the skin. Also, it has
the amino acids that resemble the building blocks of the collagen protein which is responsible of
healing the skin wounds as mentioned earlier. Moreover, it has a drying effect on oily skin as cited
in the previous study. All these facts encouraged researchers to investigate the effect of Aloe Vera
gel on young patients suffering from acne and oily facial skins.
Women ages from 18 to 25 having mixed acne vulgaris participated in the study. They had
comedoes, papules, pustaules with cysts and nodules. The study was over a period of one month.
The control group was given a vehicle lotion while the other group was given a lotion made of Aloe
Vera gel.
For the group that used Aloe Vera gel, their faces were dried from the excessive oil even before the
improvement of the acne situation. At the end of the study, all the participants became free of acne
except for one who had only minimal residual acne lesions. That was not the case of the control
group. They didn't show any improvement with the application of the vehicle.
Controlling of acne and oily skins has been always a challenge for young people. This is a result of
over activity of the glands that produce a healthy skin lubricant called Sebum. This study proved
that applying Aloe Vera gel can control this problem as well as healing the wounds of acne rapture
in a short period of time. [6]

10

TREATMENT OF CHRONIC LEG ULCERS

Studies showed that the use of Aloe Vera in topical applications on skin has benefits in different
ways. One of those benefits was the treatment of various ulcers in studies on animals. This
information encouraged researchers to evaluate the effect of Aloe Vera on chronic leg ulcers in
humans. Aloe Vera lotion was prepared from Aloe Vera gel and was applied topically on the ulcers
of three different cases. The first case was of a man aged 50 years old that had the ulcer for 15 years
without finding any good solution. He had chronic varicose ulcers surrounded by eczema and had
foul smell. After only one week of treatment with Aloe Vera gel, the ulcer started to heal. In eleven
weeks, the foul smell disappeared and the ulcer was almost cured. Pictures of the patient's leg were
taken before and after the treatment.

Figure 4. Chronic Leg Ulcer Before and After Aloe Vera gel treatment.

Another case was for a 51 year old man who had chronic ulcer for seven years with a foul smell.
After a week he complained from pain resulted from the application of Aloe Vera gel but the ulcer
was starting to show some improvement so he continued the treatment. At two weeks, both the pain
and the foul smell disappeared. As Aloe Vera is not irritating, it is believed that the cause of the
pain was due to the increase of blood flow in the affected area as it is well known that the return of

11

blood circulation to an area that was deprived for a long time can cause a pain. After nine weeks,
the ulcer was almost healed.
The third case was for a 22-year-old man who suffered from burns on his left leg eight years
previously that lead to chronic ulcers since five years before the experiment. He had a severe pain
when standing before he began the treatment. There was a good of progress of the healing of ulcers
after five weeks of treatment with Aloe Vera gel.
All these experiments demonstrate the capability of Aloe Vera in healing chronic ulcers that were
almost impossible to be healed. [6]

12

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH ALOE VERA

This section includes feedback from real people from different backgrounds who had hands on
experience in using Aloe Vera for different medical reasons. It will expose the benefits and the side
effects that they experienced.

DR. SABA FAROOQUI'S FATHER'S CASE

Dr. Saba is a Pakistani Cardiologist graduated from Manchester and works currently in Ajman Gulf
Medical Hospital. Her father is a chronic heart patient who had a fatty liver and steatosis. His
alkaline phosphate ALT and other liver hormones increased due to acute liver medicine toxic
response. Dr. Saba was aware of many studies of the benefits of Aloe Vera so she decided to give
him dosages of Aloe Vera gel with frequent monitoring of his liver hormones levels. After six
weeks of treatment with Aloe Vera gel, his liver hormones declined back to the normal levels.
The results were confirmed by investigation through Endoscopy, Ultrasound, blood scanning,
x-rays and all cbc tests. [7]

Analyses

Normal Range (u/L)

Result (u/L)

AST (SGOT)

15-37

27

ALT (SGPT)

30-65

73

Table 1 Blood chemistry report before Aloe Vera

Figure 5 With fatty liver before treatment

with Aloe Vera gel.

13

Figure 6 With normal liver hormones after treatment

with Aloe Vera gel.

MR.S NAJAT HAGOS'S CASE

Mrs. Najat is an Eritrean lady living in Saudi Arabia. She is has a type of allergy to insect bites
which makes her skin gets permanent large stains. She tried almost all the creams available in
pharmacies and went to several dermatologists as well as beauty centres but nothing could remove
those stains. She heard about the ability of Aloe Vera in solving skin problems. So, she decided to
apply Aloe Vera gel on her skin. The stains started to fade out after a week and disappeared
completely after three months. Moreover, her skin now is healthier and when she applies the Aloe
Vera gel, mosquitos do not bite her as it works as an insect repellent. Below are pictures of her leg
before the treatment with Aloe Vera and after a month of treatment. [8]

Figure 7. Insect bites stains before

applying Aloe Vera gel

14

Figure 8. Insect bites stains after one

month of applying Aloe Vera gel

MRS. MAHASEN KHALIFA'S CASE

Mrs. Mahasen is a Sudanese lady whose son works in Saudi Arabia. She was diagnosed with Colon
Cancer in an advanced stage. Her doctors advised of eradication of the tumor in her colon. After she
had her tumor eradicated, she was under chemo therapy in order to control and prevent the spread
of cancer to the rest of the colon. Her son who works as a distributor of Aloe Vera gel suggested
that she drinks Aloe Vera gel along with her medication of chemo therapy. The result of was that
she did not suffer from the chemo therapy side effects like hair loss and weakness. Moreover, her
body was free of cancer in just eight months. [10]

MR. MICHAEL IKUNNA'S CASE

Mr. Michael is an English man originally from Nigeria. He read about the importance of cleansing
the colon frequently. He was introduced to dried Aloe Vera, a traditional African herbal strong
laxative prepared primitively from dripping all the liquids of the whole Aloe Vera leaf. He noticed
that it was very harsh ejection which left him exhausted after each time which cannot be healthy.
Then, he tried drinking Aloe Vera gel which regulated his bowl movement without the side effect
of the traditionally prepared Aloe Vera.
This explains the difference between consuming Aloe Vera inner leaf gel and consuming all the
liquids including the Aloin in the rend which is a harsh laxative anthraquinin. Aloe Vera gel is not
laxative but it contains a large quantity of fibers that help regulating the bowl movement and
cleansing the colon gently. [9]

15

SIDE EFFECTS OF ALOE VERA

All the laboratory studies mentioned earlier did not have any side effects on the participants wither
they were animals or humans. However, Mr. Michael's experience with the traditional Aloe Vera
herbal remedy showed some unpleasant effect. Also, there is a recent study demonstrated that Aloe
Vera can cause some very dangerous side effect if it was not used properly.
The study was conducted over the period of 13 weeks and included rats and mice that were given
Aloe Vera whole leaf extract with the drinking water and a control group of the same animals with
normal drinking water. Both the mice and rats had large intestine irritation and only the rats group
had cancer in their large intestine. However, the control groups survived the experiment without
problems.
The reason for these side effects is that the Aloe Vera was not prepared to be safe as directed by
The International Aloe Science Council which the international regulatory organization that sets the
rules and regulations of the farming and production of Aloe Vera. In this study, the whole leaf was
used including the toxic laxative anthraqunine called Aloin that is stuck to the outer rind of the leaf.
However, the safe preparation of Aloe Vera must have only the inner gel of the Aloe Vera leaf
without including the yellow bitter sap of adjacent to the rind.

Figure 9. Parts of Aloe Vera leaf

http://www.aloeveragarden.com/images/aloe_leaf_description.jpg

16

CONCLUSION

From all the information included in the report, it is obvious that Aloe Vera has a lot of potential
uses. Those uses are widely varied. Many of the health challenges that the whole world is facing
today can be overcome by the proper use of Aloe Vera. The report covered only a few of many
diseases that researches investigated the ability of Aloe Vera in preventing and treating both the
causes and the symptoms. Even the personal experiences confirmed the functionality of Aloe Vera
in solving different medical problems.
Despite all the benefits mentioned in the report, the proper preparation of Aloe Vera gel must be
ensured to avoid very dangerous side effects that can occur in case of the wrong way of preparing
the gel.

17

REFERENCES

1. The International Aloe Science Council website www.iasc.org

2. Kumar M et al.(2013) Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Aloe vera gel
improve lipid profiles in hypercholesterolemic rats. Nutritions Journal 29(3):574-9
3. S. YONGCHAIYUDHA et al. (1996) Antidiabetic activity of Aloe vera L. juice. I.
Clinical trial in newcases of diabetes mellitus. Phytomedicine Vol. 3 (3), pp. 241243,
4. Jasem Estakhr, et al (2011). SPERMATOGENIC ACTIVITY OF ALOE VERA IN
ADULT MALE RATS. Pharmacologyonline 2: 886-889
5. Is Aloe Vera a Cancer Cure youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2dx0NKP8y8
6. M. El Zawahry et al. (1973) USE OF ALOE IIM TREATINQ LEB ULCERS
AND DERMATOSES. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY vol 12. Pp.68-73
7. Dr, Saba pers com
8. Mrs. Najat perscom
9. Mr. Michael perscom.
10. Mrs.Mahasin perscom

18