Aloe Vera Myth or Medicine : eBay Guides

Myth or Medicine? by Dr Peter Atherton M.B.Ch.B., D.Obst. R.C.O.G., M.R.C.G.P. It was about three years ago, whilst I was a full time General Practitioner, a job that I had been doing both at home and abroad for twenty eight years, that I came across Aloe Vera. I had vaguely heard of it as an addition to various cosmetic products, but I was completely ignorant of its origin and unconcerned about its actions. I was certainly unaware of its fabled medicinal properties and as a strictly conventional physician I had no interest in any form of complementary or alternative medicine. In fact, I was almost dismissive of claims made by alternative practitioners and felt they largely achieved their 'cures' by way of a placebo effect. So I left it to others to indulge in acupuncture and applied kinesiology - what was that anyway? Should anyone have told me that within three years of my meeting with a mother, whose son's eczema had totally cleared with an Aloe Vera and Bee Propolis cream, that I would be researching its medicinal uses full time, I would have laughed. But it happened. That meeting was to totally change my medical perspective and in fact to change my life. At first I couldn't accept that Aloe Vera combined with Bee Propolis (the sticky resinous substance collected from various tree barks and buds by bees with which they line their hives creating a sterile environment) could suppress this atopic or juvenile eczema, where all my moisturisers and steroid creams had not. It was even more upsetting because my special interest in Medicine was dermatology and I thought I knew a bit about it. What was in this stuff? Why did it work? I was already sure it wasn't a placebo effect so my search for a scientific explanation began. I began this search by reading everything I could about the plant's history, for by now I at least realised that it was a succulent (Liliaciae Sub species aloinae), a member of the lily and onion family, also related to garlic and asparagus, of which there are more than three hundred varieties but of which only a few had medicinal properties. It is generally accepted that the most potent was Aloe Vera Barbadensis Miller. The name Aloe Vera or True Aloe probably stems from the Arabic word Alloeh meaning "Shining bitter substance". We still refer to "bitter aloes" describing the laxative drug still listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia today. This drug was made from the sap of the plant found under the hard green rind. It contains mainly aloin, chemically an anthraquinone, which has been known since ancient times to possess very powerful purgative action if used neat. Bearing in mind that severe constipation was a very serious problem in those days, it is not surprising that this extract of Aloe Vera was highly prized just for this action.