Welcome
Welcome to aloeresearch.com!
This website is designed to be a first port of call
for clinicians, dietitians, therapists, veterinarians, and lay
people who want to learn more about aloe vera. It does not offer the
last word on the subject. It aims to provide a basic overview of the
research to date and links for further research, as
required.
If you are viewing this on a CD, just treat it as you
would do if it was a website, clicking on sections you wish to see and
using your "back" button on your browser (Internet Explorer, etc) as
you would do if you were on-line.
The information on this site is organised as follows:
 What is Aloe Vera?
history - botany - chemistry - therapeutic products - pharmacology
Understanding Research
What you need to know about
Aloe and Research Methods before reading the research reports -
confusion over "aloe" used to mean gel & latex - double-blind
trials -
interpreting results - the role of scientific journals
Research Reports (the main section)
medical and scientific journals - (sorted by full listing, titles only,
abstracts only) articles - abstracts - clinical trials listed - downloadable copies
Aloe in Dentistry
aloe in wound healing and disease control in oral conditions - additional articles & journal extracts
Aloe in Veterinary Practice
Introduction - the work of David Urch - equine post viral lethargy syndrome - veterinary research reports
Conditions
Conditions which have been treated with Aloe
Vera - effects which have been noted when Aloe Vera is used - press cuttings and articles (anecdotal evidence)
Issues
adverse reactions, contraindications and precautions - aloe vera and the law
Choosing Aloe Products
preparation - preservation & packaging - are all brands the same? - irradiation - Additives, Processing, and Pesticides - dilution - Aloe Vera of America
In the internet age, there's no shortage of information about dietary and medicinal products.
Aloe vera is no exception.
Some of the information is well-informed,
some of it is dubious, and some of it is just plain rubbish. Even when
it seems well-informed, you can't be sure it is
true. There may be research to back it up. Sometimes a
scientific reference is tacked on the end.
A phrase
like "Smith and Jones, 1991,
Journal of Applied Whatevertherapy" may look impressive, but the writer
may not have read the research (just
read of it), may have
misquoted it, or may even be reporting research that doesn't
exist. If half the benefits claimed for aloe vera are real, there's a
lot of money to be made. That's plenty of incentive to massage the
facts.
Some sceptics respond by saying they won't
accept any claims made about aloe vera without double blind trials.
If
only it were that simple.
It is true that double blind trials are the
gold standard for scientific research (and some double blind trials of
aloe vera have produced encouraging results) but they can
cost thousands of pounds and someone
has to pay for them. You can't patent a plant, so there's not much
money in it for the major pharmaceutical companies, the usual sponsors
of such trials.
So, the absence of
a double blind trial on some aspect of aloe vera does not prove a claim
is invalid, just it is neither proved nor disproved.
In the meantime
there may be people who can be helped by aloe vera now. |
