Aloe vera, the Mexican healing plant, is the time-honored home remedy for a variety of human ills, but very few doctors know anything about it. For this reason, the journal Cutis (37:106) recently reviewed the plant’s chemical ingredients and pointed out that many of them are medicinally active. For instance, aloe contains an enzyme which neutralizes bradyki-nin, the natural substance that is formed by injured tissues and that is responsible for swelling and pain. This can account for the soothing effect of aloe juice upon superficial burns.
Magnesium lactate, another ingredient, blocks the formation of histamine, the natural substance formed by the body in response to allergic insults. That would explain why aloe can help to soothe poison ivy rashes and insect bites.
The plant also contains another anti-inflammatory compound that rather closely mimics the effects of aspirin and its newer variants (such as Motrin and Nuprin). This probably accounts for aloe juice’s usefulness in certain types of longstanding dermatitis and as a healing promoter for certain ulcers (e.g: those due to varicose veins).
Last but not least, aloe contains anthroquinone, an irritant that accounts for its usefulness as a laxative and that, when applied to skin, is sometimes beneficial in psoriasis.
Depending upon where an aloe plant is grown, the amounts and proportions of these ingredients vary and, thus, it is likely that some plants will be better than others for specific purposes. Aloe on the skin, unfortunately, sometimes triggers a contact rash or an allergy. Such reactions are rare, however, and this is fortunate since aloe vera has become one of the most popular ingredients in cosmetics.
*200\143\2*
