Diabete, anticolesterolo, herpes e psoriasi.

Aloe vera: a systematic review of its clinical effectiveness.

Vogler BK, Ernst E. Department of Complementary Medicine, School of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Exeter.

BACKGROUND: The use of aloe vera is being promoted for a large variety of conditions. Often general practitioners seem to know less than their patients about its alleged benefits. AIM: To define the clinical effectiveness of aloe vera, a popular herbal remedy in the United Kingdom. METHOD: Four independent literature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biosis, and the Cochrane Library. Only controlled clinical trials (on any indication) were included. There were no restrictions on the language of publication. All trials were read by both authors and data were extracted in a standardized, pre-defined manner. RESULTS: Ten studies were located. They suggest that oral administration of aloe vera might be a useful adjunct for lowering blood glucose in diabetic patients as well as for reducing blood lipid levels in patients with hyperlipidaemia. Topical application of aloe vera is not an effective preventative for radiation-induced injuries. It might be effective for genital herpes and psoriasis. Whether it promotes wound healing is unclear. There are major caveats associated with all of these statements. PMID: 10885091

Management of psoriasis with Aloe vera extract in a hydrophilic cream: a placebo-controlled, double-blind study.

Syed TA, Ahmad SA, Holt AH, Ahmad SA, Ahmad SH, Afzal M. Department of Clinical Physiology, Malmo University Hospital, Sweden.

The purpose of this double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and tolerability of topical Aloe vera extract 0.5% in a hydrophilic cream to cure patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Sixty patients (36M/24F) aged 18-50 years (mean 25.6) with slight to moderate chronic plaque-type psoriasis and PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) scores between 4.8 and 16.7 (mean 9.3) were enrolled and randomized to two parallel groups. The mean duration of the disease prior to enrollment was 8.5 years (range 1-21). Patients were provided with a precoded 100g tube, placebo or active (with 0.5% Aloe vera extract), and they self-administered trial medication topically (without occlusion) at home 3 times daily for 5 consecutive days per week (maximum 4 weeks active treatment). Patients were examined on a weekly basis and those showing a progressive reduction of lesions, desquamation followed by decreased erythema, infiltration and lowered PASI score were considered healed. The study was scheduled for 16 weeks with 12 months of follow-up on a monthly basis. The treatment was well tolerated by all the patients, with no adverse drug-related symptoms and no dropouts. By the end of the study, the Aloe vera extract cream had cured 25/30 patients (83.3%) compared to the placebo cure rate of 2/30 (6.6%) (P < 0.001) resulting in significant clearing of the psoriatic plaques (328/396 (82.8%) vs placebo 28/366 (7.7%), P < 0.001) and a decreased PASI score to a mean of 2.2. The findings of this study suggest that topically applied Aloe vera extract 0.5% in a hydrophilic cream is more effective than placebo, and has not shown toxic or any other objective side-effects. Therefore, the regimen can be considered a safe and alternative treatment to cure patients suffering from psoriasis. PMID: 8765459

Studio sugli effetti dell'aloe contro il diabete

Effect of Aloe vera leaves on blood glucose level in type I and type II diabetic rat models.

Okyar A, Can A, Akev N, Baktir G, Sutlupinar N. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Istanbul, 34452 Universite, Istanbul, Turkey.

Aloe vera (L.) Burm. fil. (= A. barbadensis Miller) (Liliaceae) is native to North Africa and also cultivated in Turkey. Aloes have long been used all over the world for their various medicinal properties. In the past 15 years, there have been controversial reports on the hypoglycaemic activity of Aloe species, probably due to differences in the parts of the plant used or to the model of diabetes chosen. In this study, separate experiments on three main groups of rats, namely, non-diabetic (ND), type I (IDDM) and type II (NIDDM) diabetic rats were carried out. A. vera leaf pulp and gel extracts were ineffective on lowering the blood sugar level of ND rats. A. vera leaf pulp extract showed hypoglycaemic activity on IDDM and NIDDM rats, the effectiveness being enhanced for type II diabetes in comparison with glibenclamide. On the contrary, A. vera leaf gel extract showed hyperglycaemic activity on NIDDM rats. It may therefore be concluded that the pulps of Aloe vera leaves devoid of the gel could be useful in the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID: 11268118

The effect of a plants mixture extract on liver gluconeogenesis in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats.

al-Awadi F, Fatania H, Shamte U. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Safat.

We have previously reported on plant mixture extract comprising of Nigella sativa, Myrrh, Gum Olibanum, Gum Asafoetida and Aloe to have a blood glucose lowering effect. The present study with streptozotocin diabetic rats is focussed on the mechanism of action, specifically on a) hepatic gluconeogenesis b) activity of key gluconeogenic enzymes, pyruvate carboxylase (PC) and phosphoenol-pyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). Similar studies using a biguanide, phenformin, have been conducted to compare the mode of action of these two compounds. The blood glucose levels (mean +/- SEM) before and after treatment with the plants extract were (16.7 +/- 1.7 mmol/L and 8.5 +/- 1.3 mmol/L) and with phenformin (15.1 +/- 1.3 mmol/L and 10.7 +/- 1.5 mmol/L). The rate of gluconeogenesis in isolated hepatocytes as well as activity of PC and PEPCK in liver homogenates is significantly lowered following treatment with the plants extract. Although phenformin also lowers blood glucose, it does not affect hepatic gluconeogenesis under stated experimental conditions. It is concluded that the anti-diabetic action of the plants extract may, at least partly, be mediated through decreased hepatic gluconeogenesis. The extract may prove to be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). PMID: 1842751