Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is one of the most known specie of the Aloe genus. It first description known is in a Mesopotamian clay tablet (around 21000 BC). It is considered to be the one with more active substances than the other 500 species of Aloe (Foster et. al. 2011). It is cultivated for pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes, and is widely commercialized around the world. In the next survey we will highlight some recent clinical trials where Aloe Vera have been prove to be effective.

A 2012 double-blinded trial hold to study the effect of Aloe Vera gel against oral lichen planus, showed that Aloe gel was more effective than the usual chemical treatment, converting Aloe in a safest and cheapest alternative treatment (Reddy et. al. 2012). A previous study held in Iran, with the same purpose, concluded that Aloe Vera was as effective as triamcinolone acetonide, the first being natural and cheaper, in other words, a better alternative in treating oral lichen planus. (Mansourian et. al. 2011).

Meanwhile, in Brazil, another trial was hold, in this case to observe the effects of Aloe Vera ointment on injured tendons. After 21 days, it showed benefial effects on tissue reorganization of the injured tendons (Aro et. al. 2012).

To study the effects of Aloe Vera in combination with a tongue protector, in patient with burning mouth syndrome (BMS), the Spanish university of Murcia experimented it with 75 patients with BMS in a double blind test. Three groups were created randomly. A first group just receiving a tongue protector 3 times a day; a second group receiving a tongue protector and Aloe Vera 3 times a day; and finally a third group receiving a tongue protector among with a placebo. The study was hold during three months, and they concluded that the treatment of BMS with tongue protector combined with Aloe Vera was more effective than using tongue protector alone (López-Jornet et. al. 2012).

Some clinical trials tended to confirm the use of Aloe as antibacterial. A 2012 experiment using Aloe in gutta-percha (GP) cones contaminated with E. coli, E. faecalis and Staphilococcus aureus observed the effectiveness of Aloe Vera in decontaminating GP (Athiban et. al. 2012).

Furthermore, another study using patients suffering from infected leg ulcers with multi-drug resistant organisms also called “Super Bugs”, confirmed that Aloe Vera could be used as antibacterial, as the results showed a decreasing of the emergence of pathogens in the infected leg ulcers, being in that case more effective than normal tropical anti-microbial agent The authors highlight as well the small cost of Aloe Vera gel preparation, as well of no reported side effects and, very important, does not lead to drug resistance (Banu et. al. 2012).

Aloe Vera has as well been used against skin diseases such as psoriasis. A clinical trial using an ethanolic extract of Aloe Vera gel showed that it improved the relative epidermal thickness, as well as having an 82 % of antipsoriatic activity (Dhanabal et. al. 2012).

Another important trial, studying the effects of ethanol and ethylacetate Aloe Vera extract used as eye drops concluded in the power of the Aloe extract against inflammations and others issues on the external part of the eye (Woźniak & Paduch, 2012).

A Nigerian hospital, treated 10 women, infected with HIV, with 30-40 mL of Aloe Vera gruel daily and after a year compared the result with the patients treated with antiretroviral. No significant differences were found, between the use of antiretroviral and Aloe, on the results despite one patient that had to switch from antiretroviral to Aloe Vera. This experiment showed that Aloe Vera is a good alternative to the expensive antiretrovirals, and even more in third world countries like Africans countries were Aloe can be cultivated by every family at no cost (Olatunya et. al. 2012).

It has also been found to help in the improvement of periodontal condition (Geetha et. al. 2011), in combination with honey to reduce tumour proliferation (Tomasin & Gomes-Marcondes 2011), or even to treat patients with prediabetic syndrome (Devaraj et. al. 2012).

 Patients with diabetes condition who use glucose-lowering medication, should be cautious if also taking Aloe Vera by mouth, because the combination of both may lower excessively blood glucose levels. That is why I would like to highlight that if you decide to use some medicinal herbs, you should always look for professional advise, as everybody is different and can react differently. And also to be certain to take the right amount and on the right way of a medicinal herb.

We can conclude saying that Aloe Vera is a very interesting plant, that can heal a wide variety of issues, as well as being very cheap to produce. Future clinical trials should discover new and confirm old uses of this magical plant.

References

1. Aro AA, Nishan U, Perez MO, Rodrigues RA, Foglio MA, Carvalho JE, Gomes L, Vidal BC, Pimentel ER. (September 2012). Structural and biochemical alterations during the healing process of tendons treated with Aloe vera. Life sciences, PMID: 22982344

2. Athiban PP, Borthakur BJ, Ganesan S, Swathika B. (2012). Evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy of Aloe vera and its effectiveness in decontaminating gutta percha cones. Journal of conservative dentistry, July 2012, pp. 246-248.
3. Banu A, Sathyanarayana BC, Chattannavar G. (2012). Efficacy of fresh Aloe vera gel against multi-drug resistant bacteria in infected leg ulcers. Australasian medicinal journal, 2012, pp. 305-309.
4. Devaraj S, Yimam M, Brownell LA, Jialal I, Singh S, Jia Q. (2012). Effects of Aloe vera Supplementation in Subjects with Prediabetes/Metabolic Syndrome. PMID: 23035844
5. Priyanka Dwarampudi L, Muruganantham N, Vadivelan R. (2012). Evaluation of the antipsoriatic activity of Aloe vera leaf extract using a mouse tail model of psoriasis. Phytotherapy research PTR, April 2012, pp. 617-619.
6. Foster M, Hunter D & Samman S. (2011). Evaluation of the Nutritional and Metabolic Effects of Aloe vera. PMID: 22593933
7. Geetha B, Praveen K, & Vidya D. (2011). Aloe vera: Nature’s soothing healer to periodontal disease. Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology, volume 15 (3), pp. 205-209.

8. López-Jornet P, Camacho-Alonso F, Molino-Pagan D. (2012). Prospective, randomized, double-blind, clinical evaluation of Aloe vera Barbadensis, applied in combination with a tongue protector to treat burning mouth syndrome. Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine, September, PMID: 22957483.

9. Mansourian A, Momen-Heravi F, Saheb-Jamee M, Esfehani M, Khalilzadeh O, Momen-Beitollahi J. (2011). Comparison of aloe vera mouthwash with triamcinolone acetonide 0.1% on oral lichen planus: a randomized double-blinded clinical trial. The American Journal of the Medical Science, volume 342 (6), pp.447-451.

10. Olatunya OS, Olatunya AM, Anyabolu HC, Adejuyigbe EA, Oyelami OA. (sept 2012). Preliminary trial of aloe vera gruel on HIV infection. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, volume 18 (9), pp.850-853.

11. Reddy RL, Reddy RS, Ramesh T, Singh TR, Swapna LA, Laxmi NV. ( Oct.2012). Randomized trial of aloe vera gel vs triamcinolone acetonide ointment in the treatment of oral lichen planus. Quintessence international, volume 43, pp. 793-800.

12. Tomasin R, Gomes-Marcondes MC. (April 2011). Oral administration of Aloe vera and honey reduces Walker tumour growth by decreasing cell proliferation and increasing apoptosis in tumour tissue. Phytotherapy Research, volume 25, pp. 619-623.

13. Woźniak A & Paduch R. (feb. 2012). Aloe vera extract activity on human corneal cells. Pharmaceutical Biology, volume 50, pp. 147-154.

Stevia Rebaudiana

Stevia, a perennial plant original from Paraguay, is today
well known in the world for its sweetener properties as it contains steviosides that are between a hundred-fifty to three hundreds times as sweet as table sugar. It has been used for this purpose, and also medicinally for hundreds of years in certain regions of
South America. The stevioside is contained in the green leaves of the plant . (Sahelian & Gates, 2000, p38).

Some of the medicinal properties Stevia allege to have are antibacterial, antidiabetic, antiemetic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, diuretic, hypoglycemic vasodilator. (Duke et al 2002, p.697)

Many studies have been conducted in order to discover the properties of the active substances found in the Stevia, and many of them found interesting results, especially its antidiabetic power.

In 2012, a study held in India with induced diabetic rats treated with powder and polyphenols extract of stevia leaves show up a reduction of blood glucose and AST/ALT (aspartate aminotransferase / alanine aminotransferase), while
the insulin level were increase. (Shivanna et al 2012).

Another study, held during 28 days, where 24 rats were divided in four groups, one treated with an aqueous extract of Stevia leaves, the second one with an ether extract, a third group with a metanolic extract and the fourth being the control group. The daily dose was of 2.0g/Kg and after 28 days the results
showed a decreased of blood sugar levels in the groups taking stevia extract, whereas no significant reduction of AST and ALT level were observed. This study concluded that Stevia could decrease the glucose levels in the blood (Kujur et al 2010).

In 2011, studying the effects of benzene/acetone Stevia leaves extract on diabetic induce rats for a period of ten days, administrating 200 and 400 mg/Kg per day, result in a lowering of the blood glucose levels. They concluded that Stevia has antidiabetic effects and acknowledged that to the presence of the
stevioside and rebaudioside A present in Stevia leaves (Misra et al 2011).

A 2005 study from Taipei medical university in Taiwan conducted a trial of fifteen days observing stevioside effects on glucose and insulin in two groups of rats induced with two different types of diabetes. Their conclusion was that steviosides were able to regulate blood glucose levels by enhancing insulin
secretion and utilization in insulin-deficient rats. They find out that insulin utilization was a consequence of the decreasing of PEPCK gene expression in rat liver caused by steviosides slowing down gluconeogenesis (Chen et al 2005).

In Denmark Aarhus University Hospital, two studies were held in 2004. The first one studied the effect of Rebaudioside A on insulin and showed in its results that Rebaudioside A induced insuline stimulation with high glucose disappearing in absence of extracellular Ca2+. The conclusion was that Rebaudioside A possesses insulinotropic effects that can be utilized in the
treatment of type 2 diabetes (Abudula et al 2004).

The second study experimented on twelve type 2 diabetic patients stevioside effects. It was a paired, crossover study where the study group was given 1g of stevioside added in a standard meal and the control group had 1g of maize starche added to its meal. Blood samples were taken 30 minutes before and 240 minutes after ingestion and the result showed a decrease in the glucose response
curve by 18% and an increase of 40% of the insulinogenic index of the study group compared to the control group. Stevioside decrease postprandial blood glucose levels. So they conclude that stevioside may be beneficial in the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients (Gregersen et al 2004).

Those many evidence show us the beneficial value that stevia has in the effective treatment of diabetes by reducing glucose levels and increasing insulin production. A generalization of the use of this magnificent plant, promise us with greater beneficial uses such as the ones for diabetes but also for hypertension, cholesterol or even preventing cardiac problems.

References
1. Abudula R, Jeppesen PB, Rolfsen SE, Xiao J, Hermansen K. (Oct 2004). Rebaudioside A potently stimulates insulin secretion from isolated mouse islets: studies on the dose-, glucose-, and calcium-dependency. Metabolism, volume 53, pp1378, 1381.

2. Chen TH, Chen SC, Chan P, Chu YL, Yang HY, Cheng JT. (2005). Mechanism of the hypoglycemic effect of stevioside, a glycoside of Stevia rebaudiana. PubMed, PMID: 15729617.

3. Duke,J. Bogenschutz-Godwin, M J. Ducellier, J. & Duke, P A. (2002). Handbook of medicinal herbs (2nd Ed.).USA: CRC Press LLC.

4. Gregersen S, Jeppesen PB, Holst JJ, Hermansen K. (Jan 2004). Antihyperglycemic effects of stevioside in type 2 diabetic subjects. Metabolism, volume 53, pp 73, 76. PMID: 14681845

5. R. S. Kujur, Vishakha Singh, Mahendra Ram, Harlokesh Narayan Yadava,1 K. K. Singh,2 Suruchi Kumari, and B. K. Roy. (2010). Antidiabetic activity and phytochemical screening of crude extract of Stevia rebaudiana in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Pharmacognosy research, volume 2 (4), pp.258 263.

6. Himanshu M, Manish S, Narendra S, Darshana M, B. K. Mehta,& D. C. Jain. (2011). Antidiabetic activity of medium-polar extract from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Bert. (Bertoni) on alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences, volume 3 (2). pp. 242 248.

7. Sahelian R & Gates D. (2000). Suddenly Stevia. Better nutrition, volume 62. pp. 38 41.

8. Shivanna N, Naika M, Khanum F, Kaul VK. (2012). Antioxidant, anti-diabetic and renal protective properties of Stevia rebaudiana. Journal of diabetes and its complications, PubMed. PMID: 23140911.

T. Ienco January 2013

Introduction

Hello,

First I would like to explain the reasons why this blog is being created.

We live in a world where money is on top of everything, people life’s, happiness and wellbeing. For that reason, many company’s discredited natural ways of healing alleging the non-existences of scientifically based evidences. And where they appear to be “existing” those are non-relevant, not rigorously done and even unprofessional. But I may ask this question, doesn´t the western medicine come from synthetic extract of active substances copied from natural plants? So why will the man made medicine works and not a plant that can been found in nature. Maybe the only problem is that one have a patent, and belongs to an entity that make profits among it whereas the other can in many case be found in our gardens, parks, forests, and is cost free or with very little cost if we decide to grow it on our garden or balcony.

In order to prove the healing power of plants, herbs, fruits, we will publish articles supported by scientific studies done around the world and testimonies

Anyone that would like to write and post an article (natural practitioners, students, researchers) can contact me on healing_plants@hotmail.com The essay will have to be personal (signed),taken from trustful sources and having a correct and complete referencing. No plagiarism will be allowed.

Any concern or question your are more than welcome to contact me.

Thanks

Thomas