Aloe Vera is one off the most popular natural plant, home remedies in use today. In one form, or another, Aloe has been used in folk remedies around the world for thousands of years. Aloe is derived from the Arabic toward 'alloeh' which means 'bitter and shiny substance'. Aloe describes more than 300 closely related plants that grow all over the world. Botanists generally suggest that the plant Aloe Vera originated in the northern part of the African continent and that its use and cultivation spread out from there too many parts of the world with appropriate climates.

The earliest reference to Aloe is found in Sumarian clay tablets, in one off the oldest civilizations located along the rivers Tigris and Euphrates - these date back to 2200-1700 BC. Aloe is mentioned in these being used as a laxative. The Egyptian 'Papyrus Embers' around 1500 BC talks about the ground up aloe leaves used as medicinal concoctions for internal and external healing. But perhaps, the Egyptians were the first to use aloe, as some have suggested, there are inscriptions on Egyptian plumes all-around 4000 D.C. which may refer to Aloe.

Aloe Vera was used medicinally in Persia in ancient times. It was also used in the ancient Indian civilizations for its cathartic, emmermagognic (promotion of menstrual flow) and anti-helementhic (de-worming medicine) properties. In India it is known as 'Musabbar'. In China and Tibet it was called Lu Hui, which means 'black deposit', or 'Hsiang-tqan' referring to its bitter taste. Aloe Vera was considered as useful in the treatment of sinus problems and in the treatment off some fever and convulsion conditions in children. Aloe Arbonvensis was and still is used in treating burns. Mention of this use also occurs in Russian transcripts. The Greek and Romans knew off Aloe. It was especially written up by the Pedanius Dioscoroides, a Greek physician and pharmacologist, in approximately 68 AD. In his text 'The Green Herbal of Dioscoroides' he recommended Aloe as a purge, to treat wounds, mild infections, soothing itching and cure off sores. Pliny the elder, a Roman physician, echoed Dioscoroides is his findings and added that the juice could be used to 'check perspiration' and that the boiled root helped in healing leprous sores. Many Roman physicians off the first and second centuries such as Galen, Antyllus and Aretaces used aloe.

In the present millennium, the Spanish took Aloe to the New World - South America and the Caribbean . Moving up to North America, Aloe came to be used in Middle America and the West Indies and is now used widely in Weston society, specifically in homeopathic and herbal medicine. It is grown on a substantial scale in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and in Florida and Southern California.

Since the inclusion of Aloe in the first United States Pharmacopoeia in 1820, a great number of investigators have studied its efficacy in a wide range of clinical applications. Collins and Collins in 1935, first described Aloe Vera in the treatment off radio-dermatitis, a condition very difficult to treat. They describe the healing off the condition on the forehead off a 31 yr. old woman in three months with minimal residual injury. Wright in 1936, described the use of Aloe in the treatment of radiation ulcers. In 1940 Row and associates noted that Aloe helped heal burns faster than any other treatment available at that time. In 1945 Filatov, from Russia reported effective treatment of skin conditions caused by parasites.

Studies showing Aloe's effectiveness in healing radiation, burns and frostbite continued in the 1950s '60s and '70s by such scientists as CC Lushbaugh - showing further evidence off improved wound healing in radiation dermatitis and ulcers; K. Somova in Russia and E. Zimmerman in the U.S. separately showed treatment of periodontal disease with Aloe; Blitz and Smith used Aloe the treatment off 18 patients with peptic ulcer disease, with 17 off 18 patients recovering from symptoms.

During the last two decades numerous researchers have shed extensive light on the beneficial properties of Aloe in the treatment of various problems. Wolfe-1980: Aloe highly effective against various microorganisms including Staph, Strep, Candida and even in relieving pain and irritation off Herpes. Heggers and Robson-1980: effective treatment of thermal injury in dogs. Heggers- 1982: confirmed that that salicylic acid - an aspirin like compound in Aloe, explaining the anti-inflammatory and pain relieving properties off aloe. Heggers and Robson -1985: demonstrated the improved healing in thermal wounds due to the anti-prostaglandin activity of aloe. Ghanam -1986: showed anti-diabetic activity off Aloe and its effectiveness and lowering blood glucose levels in diabetic mice. This was confirmed later in human patients at the King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. Burns -1987: described how the sap of Aloe leaves decreased pain and increased healing in Herpes Zoster blister breakouts. Fulton -1998: showed faster healing off full-face dermabrasion patients when treated with Aloe Vera. Robson and Heggers -1992: showed increased won't healing in rats with burn injuries when treated with Aloe. Davis-1994: suggested that mannose sugars in Aloe contribute to increased wound healing. Robson, Heggers and Winters -1994: showed increased wound breaking strength in wounds treated with Aloe and silver sulfadiazine. Miller and Koltai - 1995: showed increased tissue survival in frostbite injury when treated with Aloe Vera. Robson and Heggers - 1996: showed accelerated wound contraction, increased collagen activity and enhanced breaking strength of wounds treated with Aloe.

Since aloe was included in the first United States Pharmacopoeia, in 1820, a great number of investigators have studied its efficacy in a wide range of clinical applications. Various clinical studies have shown that aloe has a role in the treatment of radiation dermatitis, superficial skin abrasions, corneal ulceration's, frostbite, burns and leg ulcers. Work in rats has demonstrated that a component of aloe known as 'aloenin' can inhibit gastric acid secretion.

Unfortunately, quite a bit of information on aloe's properties is derived from anecdotes or poorly designed studies. Part of the problem is that researchers have worked with crude, impure extracts of aloe plants that do not necessarily belong to a single species. The chemical composition of aloe differs depending upon the species used, and the time of year the plants are harvested. Therefore, aloe extracted from the Aloe Barbadensis Miller plant (the aloe commonly used in cosmetics), is different from that extracted from the Aloe ferox Liliaceae plant The terms 'Aloe,' 'Aloe Vera,' 'Aloin,' and 'aloe extract' refer to the end products of different methods of extracting juice from the Aloe plant. The term 'Aloe' refers to a concentrated distillate made from the juice of the plant's leaves. 'Aloe extract' is the powder form of aloe. Filtering out certain resins from Aloe juice, and then concentrating the remaining material into a crystalline form make 'Aloin'. Simply pulverizing whole leaves of the plant, rather than extracting their juice produces 'Aloe Vera gel extract'. The result of this nonuniformity of collection or extraction process is a wide difference between the contents, consistency, and appearance of one manufacturer's Aloe compared with another's.

One way to bypass this difficulty of nonuniformity is to examine the properties of the components of Aloe common to most preparations. At least four pharmacologically active ingredients are found in Aloe: a protease inhibitor (bradykininase). Magnesium lactate, a substance with anti prostaglandin activity, and anthroquinone. Most likely, one or more of these ingredients is responsible for aloes ability to relieve pain, itching, and burning. The protease inhibitor in aloe interferes with the actions of bradykinin, the substance responsible for pain at sites of acute inflammation. Magnesium lactate, also found in many species of aloe, has been shown to block the formation of histamine, commonly regarded as one of the major producers of itching in the skin. By blocking histamine production, aloe may relieve itching from poison ivy and insect bites. Aloe also contains an antiprostaglandin agent. Prostaglandins are important mediators of inflammation. Topical application of antiprostaglandin compounds similar to aloe has been tried for the prevention of certain types of skin inflammation, and to promote healing of stasis ulcers. Anthroquinone is a local irritant in the gastrointestinal tract and may be responsible for aloe's laxative properties. Anthroquinones are also the active ingredients of anthralin, a compound widely used in the treatment of psoriasis. Aloin, which is made by filtering out certain resins from aloe juices, contains a high concentration of anthroquinone, and may be responsible for aloe's usefulness in the treatment of certain skin diseases.

Unfortunately, topical Aloe is not always a healing and soothing agent. Aloe has been reported to cause both contact irritation and allergy, probably due to the anthroquinone. For this reason, nearly all firms producing cosmetic-grade Aloe consider Aloin to be a contaminant in their preparations. Studies have demonstrated that the bradykininase, antihistamine, and antiprostaglandin actions of Aloe may actually occur in vivo. Although these actions of Aloe are still under investigation, it has been shown that Aloe Vera gel is only a fair humectant. When tested with two other commonly used humectants, propylene glycol and glycerin, Aloe performs reasonable well. But, when Aloe Vera gel is mixed with either propylene glycol or glycerin, it has a synergistic action as a humectant. This synergistic, augmentative ability to retain water is the basis for the use of Aloe in cosmetics as a skin moisturizer and smoothener.