ABOUT ALOE VERA

 

Aloe Vera linne or Aloe Barbadensis Miller is a succulent from the Aloe family (400 different species) with its origin in the African continent. Its thick leaves contain the water supply for the plant to survive long periods of drought. These leaves have a high capacity of retaining the water also in very warm and dry climates and therefore this plant can survive very harsh circumstances where most other vegetation disappears. When a leaf is cut, a orange-yellow sap drips from the open end. As a drink this bitter sap has a very strong laxative effect.

 

At the beginning of this century it was the most used raw material for laxatives in the world and although many synthetic laxatives have largely replaced it on the world market there is still a demand for this product as a raw material for laxatives. This raw material is nowadays used as basis for many other pharmaceutical products also. One of the most popular anti-rheumatic medicines has this product as its basis. When the green skin of a leaf is removed a clear mucilaginous substance appears that contains fibers, water and the ingredients to retain the water in the leaf. These ingredients give this "gel" its special qualities as they are known now for many centuries. Among the uses for this gel are acceleration of wound healing, use on skin burns, moisturizing dry skin and it is taken internally for peptic ulcers or gastritis.

 

During the ages many other claims have been made concerning the properties of this gel. The first written reports on Aloe Vera are more then 2000 years old. Alexander the Great had special interest in parts of Africa where many Aloes grew as he used them for the wounds of his soldiers, Cleopatra used it as a skin care product and also the bible mentions the use of Aloe. Ever since Aloe was a first aid plant in many houses in the world. In the modern times scientific proof of the properties of the Aloe Vera plant was given. In 1935 an article in an American medical journal explained the very successful use of Aloe Vera as a treatment of skin lesions caused by X-rays. Since then, many scientific articles were written on the use of Aloe Vera as a treatment for all kinds of skin lesions and skin burns. It is used as a health-drink for stomach problems and it proved to be a very effective skin moisturizer as an ingredient in skin care products.

 

During the end of the seventies Aloe Vera gel became very popular in the USA as a moisturizing ingredient in cosmetics and its popularity has grown to such an unprecedented extent that it is now the most widely used ingredient in skin care products and can be found on the ingredient list of virtually all cosmetic products. Even dog or cat creams contain Aloe and you can now buy tissues impregnated with Aloe. Also in the Far East Aloe is a popular ingredient in skin care products as well as in health drinks. Now its popularity is also coming to Europe where more and more well known companies have started to add Aloe to their established products and also introduced special Aloe Vera product lines.

 

During the nineteenth century the Aloe Vera plant was brought from Africa to other tropical climates for cultivation. So it came to some of the caribbean islands, India, Venezuela and Mexico. It was only during the seventies of our century that it started to be cultivated in the USA for the gel. Especially in Texas large Aloe Vera farms were set up and supplied the majority of the Aloe Vera users in the USA. Frost periods in 1984, 1985 and 1989 have killed most of the Aloes repeatedly and have discouraged many Aloe growers to continue the cultivation of this plant that comes from a warmer and dryer tropical climate then Texas has. For the supply of Aloe Vera most buyers are now more looking to reliable supply from the Caribbean, especially Aruba.

 

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