Could We Really Use Aloe Vera Food Supplements to Treat Diabetes?

Could We Really Use Aloe vera Food Supplements to Treat Diabetes? Quality Control Issues

“…Fresh A. vera gel that we obtain from home-grown material also appears to lose considerable amount of acetylated polysaccharide(s) when the juice was treated with charcoal and filtration (data not shown). Hence, keeping the active components of A. vera juice intact is indeed a challenging task that could also be attributed to the numerous variability of pharmacological data reported from animal and clinical studies [ 8 ]. Variability in the acylated polysaccharide content with respect to biological activity has been reported.…”

“…In the previous report from this laboratory [ 8 ], the merit of using Aloe vera food supplements as antidiabetic drugs was scrutinised following the listing of the plant along with others by the Diabetes UK website [ 9 ] under the heading of “Herbal and Natural Therapies” [ 10 ]. It was highlighted that the recommendation by the Diabetes UK website for people to get potential therapy from the healthcare outlets like the “Holland and Barrett” could not be justified as there has been no consensus among the scientific community on using A. vera by its own as antidiabetic drug in the first place [ 8 ]. It was also highlighted that the various health supplements formulated for other diseases often with blends of other plants could not be justified as modern therapy for diabetes given the lack of scientific/clinical evidence for such formulations [ 8 ].…”

“…It was highlighted that the recommendation by the Diabetes UK website for people to get potential therapy from the healthcare outlets like the “Holland and Barrett” could not be justified as there has been no consensus among the scientific community on using A. vera by its own as antidiabetic drug in the first place [ 8 ]. It was also highlighted that the various health supplements formulated for other diseases often with blends of other plants could not be justified as modern therapy for diabetes given the lack of scientific/clinical evidence for such formulations [ 8 ]. In this communication, the checks and balances of these formulations are further scrutinised through the use of an electronic nose, analytical instruments.…”