Aloe Vera Ancient Medicine or Poison?| Aloe Vera Growing Guide
Spring has begun and it is hard to stay inside locked up in our homes. As we are trying to protect ourselves from covid, it is also important to protect our skin from the blazing sun. One of the most famous natural home remedies to prevent sunburn is using aloe vera gel.
There are between 400–500 varieties of aloe vera, maybe even more, but Aloe barbadensis Miller is possibly the most famous one. It is one of the most commercialized and easiest to find.
This is my plant that is more than 3 years old now. It had grown enormous and was occupying almost 4*4 feet space. I had to harvest some leaves so that I can accommodate them in my garage in winter. It always stays in this cement planter that is homemade and hand-painted by me. Every year, I re-pot this plant and keep it in the same container. And other than occasional watering changing soil is the only special thing that I do for this plant. It hardly needs any attention compared to my other plants and that is the reason it goes unnoticed many times and I hardly have any pictures of this one.
History of Aloe Vera
The name Aloe vera comes from the combination of two words. “Alloeh” means a shiny sticky substance and vera means True. I think that is the reason it is also referred to as True Aloe. It is one of the oldest mentioned plants and you can find the mentions even in religious books like the Bible. . Every time I try to find the history of plants, we always see that all the cultures in the world respected plants and nature. Respect for nature is universal.
For thousands of years, Aloe vera is well a respected precious medicinal herb in many cultures in Greece, Egypt, India, Mexico, Japan, and China.1 Egyptian queens, Nefertiti and Cleopatra used it as part of their regular beauty regimes. Alexander the Great, and Christopher Columbus used aloe vera to treat soldiers’ wounds.
origin
It is believed to be originated in the Arabic peninsula but since it has been cultivated almost worldwide, it is hard to pinpoint the exact origin.
Is Aloe Vera an Ancient Medicine or Poison?
Now even though based on its chemical composition, it is hard to explain why aloe vera receives so much attention for being a medicinal plant because no overly miraculous phytochemicals are found in this plant, it is still believed to have so many health benefits and is marketed and commercialized in the form of many medicines.
Health Benefits
Now before we find out if aloe vera is poisonous, just a quick snapshot of the benefits of aloe vera
It is used as a soothing gel and pain reliever for burn injuries and also acts as a surface protectant. It is part of some denture adhesives. It is also used in various anti-aging remedies and skin hydration creams. Aloe vera is believed to have antibacterial and antiviral effects. In India, it is commonly used in cough remedies known as “kadha” in which a decoction is made by boiling aloe vera, with onion and some other medicinal herbs. It is also a laxative. Aloe vera is an antioxidant and is added to many health drinks.
Do you get these questions?
How much aloe vera to use in medicine?
Are there any side effects?
Is Aloe vera poisonous?
Is aloe vera really that useful?
The main problem in finding out if aloe vera is really that valuable is difficult because it contains many chemicals like polysaccharides, minerals, and enzymes mainly anthraquinones. There are some non-clinical studies that claim the efficacy of some of these chemicals in treating various illnesses but then again there are some toxic substances too. Like aloin which is associated with causing side effects like allergies, or irritation of the skin and inner linings of intestines and even has cancer-causing properties. It also has harmful effects on the blood cells and sperms. And that is the reason more research has to be done. At this time the research on aloe vera is not very thorough and doesn’t focus on individual chemicals or a combination of phytochemicals that are present in aloe vera. Toxicity is higher when the entire leaf is used as medicine along with the sap compared to when only the innermost part of the leaf that is the gel is used. The claims from both sides lack enough clinical data which is common in the case of most plant-based medicines. But now we know that the plant can have some undesirable effects depending on how it is processed.
Pet Alert!
Aloe Vera is toxic to animals so it is important to keep your pets away from them.
