Aloe Vera Gel

Aloe vera is a succulent plant with thick, fleshy, serrated, lanceolate-shaped leaves of green-greyish colour. Aloe Vera Gel is the inner gel, which is obtained from the lower leaves by slicing the leaf open. The gel is clear, odourless and tasteless, and it's free of leaf skin or yellow parts. More than 75 active ingredients have been identified in the inner gel, including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, sugars, anthraquinones or phenolic compounds, lignin, saponins, sterols, amino acids and salicylic acid. Different mechanisms have been proposed for the wound-healing effects of aloe vera gel. These include keeping the wound moist, increasing epithelial cell migration, rapid maturation of collagen and reduction in inflammation. Mucopolysaccharides of aloe vera help bind moisture into the skin, and products containing the gel have been found to improve skin hydration through a humectant mechanism. The gel also stimulates fibroblasts, which produce collagen and elastin fibres, so the skin becomes more elastic and less wrinkled. It inhibits the cyclooxygenase pathway and reduces prostaglandin E2. Recently, a novel anti-inflammatory compound called C-glycosyl chromone was isolated from gel extracts. Immunomodulating effects occur through activation of macrophage cells, which generate nitric oxide, secrete cytokines and present cell surface markers. Glutathione peroxides activity, superoxide dismutase enzymes and a phenolic antioxidant were found in aloe vera gel, and these may be responsible for its antioxidant effects.