Economical Medical Compounds of Aloe Vera
Authors: Arshad Ullah Muhammad 
Published: February 2025

Aloe vera is a traditional remedy for diabetes mellitus (DM) in many parts of the world, including Latin America and the Arabian Peninsula. Some evidence in humans and animals suggests that Aloe vera is able to alleviate the chronic hyperglycemia and perturbed lipid profile that are characteristic of DM, which are major risk factors for cardiovascular complications in the disease. Aloe vera gel to streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats resulted in significant reductions in fasting blood glucose. Conversely, Aloe vera gel was reported to increase plasma glucose levels in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. More recently, the antidiabetic effects of processed Aloe vera gel were investigated in mice exhibiting diet-induced obesity (DIO), an animal model that has been shown to demonstrate metabolic abnormalities that closely resemble those found in human noninsulin-dependent DM, including hyperglycemia, obesity, and insulin resistance. Oral administration of the gel reduced circulating blood glucose concentrations to a normal level, significantly decreased plasma insulin, and lowered triglyceride levels in the liver and plasma of the DIO mice. Similarly, Aloe vera gel extract has been shown to normalize the fasting blood glucose and plasma insulin levels and reduce the concentrations of cholesterol, triglycerides, and free fatty acids in the plasma, liver, and kidney of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Aloe-emodin has been suggested to have antiangiogenic properties; it has been demonstrated to be a potent inhibitor of urokinase secretion and tubule formation of endothelial cells, both key events in angiogenesis.

Phytosterols have been shown to lower plasma cholesterol concentrations, including the atherogenic LDL fraction action by which Aloe vera modulates blood glucose are unknown, but it has been suggested that it may interact with insulin. It has been hypothesized that Aloe stimulates insulin synthesis or its release from pancreatic β cells. Processed Aloe vera gel was found to suppress the expression of the adipogenic genes SREBP-1a, FAS, and GPAT, suggesting that the gel improves insulin resistance by the reducing toxic effects of lipids in the liver.The Natural Standard Research Collaboration further concluded that the oral use of Aloe vera gel for its potential hypoglycemic effects and the short-term use of oral Aloe latex as a laxative are possibly safe; however, prolonged use of the latex is likely to be unsafe due to a theoretical risk of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Tumor-promoting and antimutagenic activities have been ascribed to the latex of Aloe vera. Phototoxicity of aloe-emodin has been demonstrated in animal studies; however, phototoxicity was not observed in several clinical studies in humans using amounts of aloe-emodin that are commonly found in commercially available Aloe vera preparations.

Aloe vera gel has been shown to enhance vitamin C and E’s bioavailability in a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial. Aloe vera gel has been shown to significantly increase the transport of insulin in a cell model, and limited information suggests that if co-administered, it may also enhance the intestinal absorption of other poorly absorbed drugs.