Colitis & Crohn’s Disease

In 1986 there was an initial FDA sanctioned clinical pilot study for treating ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease with Aloe mucopolysaccharides, with very encouraging results. In 1993-‘94 a six center clinical study was conducted with Vanderbilt Medical Center Gastroenterology Department. The results were encouraging enough to continue with a second phase that began in 1995.

Preliminary Study Of Polysaccharide From Chinese Aloe (Aloe Vera Var. Chinensis) On Experimental Gastric Ulcer In Mice
Zhong, Zhengxian; Zhou, Guifen
Guangxi Inst. Traditional Chinese Medicine Materia Medica
Zhongcaoyao (1995), 26 (2), 83

The polysaccharide from Chinese Aloe (Aloe vera var. chinensis) was effective against exptl. gastric ulcers induced by water-immersion stress, indomethacin, and ethanol in mice.

Anthraquinones In Aloe Vera
D’Amico, Maria Luisa
Fitoterapia 1950 Vol 21, pp. 77-79. Chemical Abstracts – G.A. Bravo 1950. Vol 44, pp. 11035-11036

In 1949, G.A. Bravo, comparing anthraquinones in the human intestines to their action in Aloe vera, added barbaloin, isobarbaloin, and anthranols to the list. And the next year, Italian research scientist, Maria Louisa D’Amico, found the anthraquinones in Aloe vera to contain pronounced antibiotic properties.

Research - Gastric Ulcers

Fujita health Institute, Japan, 1992: Physician and research scientist, Keisuke Fujita, M.D. Ph.D. leads a research team in testing the effects of Aloe vera in the treatment of gastric ulcers. In a study conducted on twelve laboratory rats with experimentally induced gastric ulcers, the Fujita research teams finds that the rats treated with large oral doses of Aloe show marked improvement over the control group of untreated rats.

Research - Ulcers, Stress Related

Dr. Richard Phillips, a Ph.D. in physiology and biomedical research, tested the effects of stress on various functions of the body, and to corroborate the oft-supported hypothesis that stress has traditionally been the primary cause of ulcer formation, this “stress test” involved two groups of 15 rats each. The test group was fed specified doses of Aloe vera daily, utilizing this as the sole liquid constituent for its diet. The control group was fed water as the sole liquid constituent of its diet. All the rats from each group, the test group and the control group were then placed in cages which could only be defined as maximum confinement spaces, where there was room only for movement of their heads and rear ends. The rats were then left in the cages for three weeks and during that time fed liquid diets for both water and Aloe vera in comparable volumes.

After the three week period, the stomachs of each individual rat in the test groups were examined. In each instance, Dr. Phillips found that the stomachs of the test group (fed large quantities of Aloe vera its exclusive liquid constituent) had 85% less ulcers than the group that consumed water alone. Considering the fact, stress ordinarily affects these kinds of creatures in ways that give the same degree of high responses to stress no matter what has been fed them, these findings are nothing less than astounding. Additionally, Dr. Phillips reported that the Aloe drinking gel exhibited some considerable capacity to penetrate skin tissue and alleviate pain and discomfort around bones and joints.

Aloe Reduction In Ulcers, Erosions & Hemorrhanges In the Stomach

In 1979, Egyptian research scientist Kandil Gobran, Ph.D. reported a set of test ratios involving four groups of albino rats. By every measure of testing, if an albino rat is immobilized in a restrained environment for a period of 24 hours or more, the frustration of that immobilization causes erosions and even hemorrhages in the stomach. Four groups were divided into test groups, each using different modalities of treatment starting twelve hours before restraint. The findings of the test, after the cycle was completed are worth noting.

The data on the four group study was remarkable in that it showed overwhelmingly the positive benefits Aloe vera offered in the animal condition. Of the four groups tested, the group using Aloe vera after restraint showed a nearly 3-to-1 faster healing ratio than the placebo. And the pre-post Aloe treated group (1) showed better than a 4-to-1 healing ratio over the placebo group.

In similar studies over a longer test period using aspirin were used by Dr. Gobran. This time, the study took an even more long term preventive tone in that the animals in the test group received the Aloe vera gel for seven days prior to restrain and, in the curateive stage, were given Aloe vera gel for seven days after the restraint.

This set of findings was even more dramatic in that the animals treated with Aloe prior to severe restraint showed a convincing 85% reduction in erosive ulcerations compared with the control group of animals given a (saline solution) placebo. Animals introduced to the Aloe regimen after restraint demonstrated a 50% increase in the rate of healing over that of the healing rate demonstrated in the animals given the placebo.

Research - Doudenal Ulcers

1963 a study on human subjects was done by Blitz, Smith, and Gerard, an Aloe vera emulsion was made, consisting of 1/2 Aloe gel and 1/2 Petrolatum (a petroleum based ointment used primarily as a carrying medium). Twelve patients – 5 women and 7 men – were knowing participants and were all introduced into the study because X-ray examinations had predetermined them as qualificants: At the commencement of the study, each of the twelve subjects had exhibited varying degrees of doudenal ulcers. During the course of the test, each were treated with 1 tablespoon of the Aloe/petrolatum emulsion four times a day. All patients showed complete healing of their ulcers. And none experienced any recurrence of his or her ulcers within a year of completion of treatment.

Later, another second study on six patients (4 women and 2 men, all with doudenitits), was conducted, again using the same Aloe emulsion. Once more, evaluations showed similar positive results: Five of the six subjects tested showed complete recovery. The only test failure, it was noted, turned out to be a non-compliant subject who subsequently had to be dropped from the sample. Dr. Blitz summarized their findings in the following manner: “There can be little doubt that the properties attributed to Aloe vera gel should be therapeutically used in the management of peptic ulcers. Numerous patients, completely recovered from an acute peptic ulcer episode, are now on ‘preventive treatment.”

The “preventive treatment” referred to by the Blitz-Smith reserach group entailed a post recovery follow-up dosage of 1 table-spoon of the Aloe emulsion a day was used, and seemed to prevent any recurrence of the doudenititis for eighteen months, or as long as rechecks of the sample were conducted. They also concluded from the study that: “Whether or not these properties occasion correction of the ulcer producing process, it is unmistakable that Aloe vera gel, through whatever mechanism is very beneficial in the treatment of this very important disease. In all instances of the study, there were no reportings of side-effects or contraindications from the Aloe.”