Aloe Vera And Tissue Regeneration
Cuts, scrapes, rashes, ulcers and burns are so commonplace in a household that it is useful to cultivate wound-healing herbs. The balcony or window-box may have only a single pot containing Aloe vera, or the garden a variety of plants such as marigold, daisy, plantain, St John’s wort, rue, comfrey and chickweed; nevertheless, you will find these plants regularly in use.
Aloe vera has a long history of use dating back to ancient Egypt, India and China. The trade was well established between China and the Mediterranean, and plantations were producing it before the time of Alexander the Great who, like the Crusader Knights and the Spanish conquistadors, knew of its virtues. In the first century AD, Dioscorides records in his materia medica that it comes from plantations in India, Arabia and Asia.
Perhaps a span of 5,000 years covers the record of this herb’s efficacy, despite which a popular digital encyclopaedia is able to make the astonishing claim that there is no good evidence to support its medical use. This absurdity is predictable in an era of synthetic drugs marketed by pharmaceutical companies who rely for their profits on an institutional bias that must suppress its own herbal tradition as well as cutting-edge science—Dioscorides was the standard pharmacology text for medical students for about 1500 years.
In this classic text, Dioscorides states that Aloe vera gel is good for ‘closing open cuts, sores and wounds,’ when the plant is ‘pounded into small pieces and applied.’ In addition, he says that it heals ulcerated genitals, cracks in the perineum, stops discharges from haemorrhoids, soothes itchiness in the corners of the eye as well as tonsils, sore gums and ulcers of the mouth, and nothing much has changed since.1
In our own time we prefer to read the results from controlled trials, but here too there is a growing body of evidence that is rapidly rehabilitating many long-disparaged herbs from this old materia medica. For example, Aloe vera has been found effective for treating gingivitis where it has demonstrated antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity when rubbed onto the gums in the form of a gel or when used as a wash.2 It will also help to prevent pressure ulcers in bedridden patients as well as treat those patients already suffering chronic ulcers.3,4 Interestingly, the ability to heal wounds is more than simply the result of anti-inflammatory or antimicrobial activity, compounds in the gel stimulate cell proliferation as well as the migration of fibroblasts and keratinocytes into the wound.5
Furthermore, the evidence of antioxidant activity of this herb, as well as its ability to regulate the immune system,6 means that it is can be more than just a powerful wound healer. In fact, it has potential in in the cutting-edge field of tissue engineering because of its biodegradability, biocompatibility and low toxicity. Possible innovations include gels, films, fibrous matts, hemo-compatible substrates and scaffolds for wound repair as well as organ manufacture.7–9
The only thing Dioscorides does not mention is its power to heal burns. Anyone who has used it will testify to its ability to soothe pain, reduce inflammation, seal and then heal a burn caused by the sun, ironing, cooking or mending machinery. I recall once being sprayed in the face with hot water when a radiator hose on the car burst during maintenance, and despite being barely able to see, found my aloe plant in the garden and immediately rubbed the gel on my face and into my eyes before blisters had a chance to form. I kept this up for three or four days after which a very thin scab formed and fell away, my vision cleared, and a week later there were no scars on my cheeks—what more evidence do we need than that of our own experience?
For the digestive system, Dioscorides says it ‘loosens the intestines, and cleans the stomach, two spoonfuls taken in a drink with cold water or warm milk. This amount with thirty grains weight of water (or one teaspoonful of a drink) stops the spitting of blood and cleans jaundice. Swallowed with rosin (or taken either with water or boiled honey) it loosens the bowels, but three teaspoonfuls fully purges.’
The ability of Aloe vera to purge was central to the success of Beecham’s Pills, which provided much needed assistance to 19th century England. These pills combined the laxative properties that Dioscorides wrote about with those of ginger root, a combination which stimulated the liver and prevented griping. The dyspeptic English public were so appreciative of Thomas Beecham that they transformed his enterprise from that of a patent medicine vendor into a great pharmaceutical enterprise called Beecham’s Pharmaceuticals.
We may well use Aloe vera gel as a laxative or the yellow sap as a purge, but there are other digestive system disorders that will benefit such as peptic ulcer,10 leaky gut or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In one particular meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials between 1960 and 2017, Aloe vera was found to be an effective treatment for IBS symptoms when compared to placebo.11 Nevertheless, anyone suffering IBS should not look for just one effective treatment, as is the palliative approach offered by drug companies, but instead have their diet examined, stress level assessed, stool analysed, thyroid checked, immune system supported, and so on in search of the deeper initiating and sustaining causes.
Diet is always the place that the physician should begin, in line with Hippocrates’ teaching, and there is no better place to see speedy benefit from this approach than in our modern epidemic of diabetes. Even here, Aloe vera can offer something for those looking for support from herbal medicines which may also include gymnema, cinnamon, turmeric and milk thistle. In fact, an Aloe vera extract has demonstrated the restoration of blood glucose levels, an increase of insulin secretion, and the regeneration of pancreatic islet cells, in the rodent model, a result which is far beyond the scope of metformin.12
This article is an extract from the eBook Wholefoods And Common Medicinal Herbs.
References:
1. Dioscorides P. De Materia Medica. South Africa: Ibidis; 2000.
2. Safiaghdam H, Oveissi V, Bahramsoltani R, Farzaei MH, Rahimi R. Medicinal plants for gingivitis: a review of clinical trials. Iran J Basic Med Sci 2018;21:978–91.
3. Hekmatpou D, Mehrabi F, Rahzani K, Aminiyan A. The effect of Aloe Vera gel on prevention of pressure ulcers in patients hospitalized in the orthopedic wards: a randomized triple-blind clinical trial. BMC Complement Altern Med 2018;18:264.
4. Avijgan M, Kamran A, Abedini A. Effectiveness of Aloe Vera Gel in Chronic Ulcers in Comparison with Conventional Treatments. Iran J Med Sci 2016;41:S30.
5. Teplicki E, Ma Q, Castillo DE, et al. The Effects of Aloe vera on Wound Healing in Cell Proliferation, Migration, and Viability. Wounds Compend Clin Res Pract 2018;30:263–8.
6. Budai MM, Varga A, Milesz S, Tőzsér J, Benkő S. Aloe vera downregulates LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine production and expression of NLRP3 inflammasome in human macrophages. Mol Immunol 2013;56:471–9.
7. Rahman S, Carter P, Bhattarai N. Aloe Vera for Tissue Engineering Applications. J Funct Biomater 2017;8.
8. Balaji A, Jaganathan SK, Supriyanto E, Muhamad II, Khudzari AZM. Microwave-assisted fibrous decoration of mPE surface utilizing Aloe vera extract for tissue engineering applications. Int J Nanomedicine 2015;10:5909–23.
9. Zahedi E, Esmaeili A, Eslahi N, Shokrgozar MA, Simchi A. Fabrication and Characterization of Core-Shell Electrospun Fibrous Mats Containing Medicinal Herbs for Wound Healing and Skin Tissue Engineering. Mar Drugs 2019;17.
10. Cellini L, Di Bartolomeo S, Di Campli E, Genovese S, Locatelli M, Di Giulio M. In vitro activity of Aloe vera inner gel against Helicobacter pylori strains. Lett Appl Microbiol 2014;59:43–8.
11. Hong SW, Chun J, Park S, Lee HJ, Im JP, Kim JS. Aloe vera Is Effective and Safe in Short-term Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2018;24:528–35.
12. Noor A, Gunasekaran S, Vijayalakshmi MA. Improvement of Insulin Secretion and Pancreatic β-cell Function in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats Treated with Aloe vera Extract. Pharmacogn Res 2017;9:S99–104.