Aloe Vera Plant, Gel and Juice
03 Mar 2008
This is a beautiful garden of Aloe Vera Plants, but I am more accustomed to seeing it on my window sill in the kitchen as I look past it, out the window to the birds feeding on the feeder. When people are learning about medicinal herbs, this is one that many are familiar with.There are hundreds of species of Aloe Vera. In the inner fleshy part of the leaves, there lies a clear gel that we apply to our burns and sunburns in our home. There are also sheaths that contain a yellow sap which is used for their purgative properties. This is the part that is removed when you purchase Aloe Vera Juice to sooth and heal your intestinal system…Aloe Vera Juice inside, and Aloe Vera Gel used outside the body are contact healers, healing whatever part of the body it makes actual contact with.
According to Grindley & Reynolds “The Aloe Vera phenomenon: A review of the properties and modern uses of the leaf parenchyma gel” in the Jrl. of Ethnoparmacology, 1986; and Lushbaugh and Hales “Experimental acute radiodermatitis following Beta radiation. V. Histopathological study of the mode of action of therapy with Aloe Vera” Cancer; testing of aloe vera gel on burns showed a marked improvement in burn outcome, but failed to show significant improvement in general wound care. Most studies did show promise with increased sloughing of the necrotic epithelium, and reduced infection rate, because aloe acts as a natural topical antibiotic, and caused wound re-moisturization.
Aloe’s anti-inflammatory properties are attributed to the action of the salicylates, magnesium or perhaps the combined action of both.
As for the purgative properties, my husband tells me a story about a friend he worked with that grew up in Jamaica. Each year, their mother gave them a strong drink, which he believes was made with Aloe Vera, including the purgative part, that made them quite sick to their stomachs. This was done to purge them of parasites, not something that they looked forward to, but very affective. We have less dramatic parasite cleanses available to us, thankfully, but this was an interesting story.
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Disclaimer: Please note that if you take or try any of the remedies discussed on this website, it is your decision, and you are responsible for the outcome. Read carefully the information provided with any herbal remedies you consider purchasing, no matter where you buy them from.
3 Responses
2009 Jan 20
Very informative article, thank you
2010 Jan 23
I found this article helpful and informative-and have had many personal experiences with aloe ,both taken internally and externally. We live in the desert of Southern Arizona, and have often applied it to sunburns,quite a frequent occurrence here! But thankfully we have lots of aloe in our yard.My wife was told by a friend of the T’ohono O’odham Nation that their people have used aloe for years-one application was to use the split leaf(gel side down) to soothe irritation of the breast for nursing mothers.
2010 Jan 29
Thank you, Largarto, for your post…this does sound like it would be a good use for the plant…of course, because of the powerful cleansing properties in aloe that hasn’t had them removed, cleaning the breast before nursing again would be very important.
Claudia