# Question about Aloe Vera juice



## 18738

The other night while flipping through channels on TV I came across a commercial for an aloe vera juice product called "AloeCure". They claim their product soothes the digestive tract and promotes healthy digestion, so I became interested and did some research. Many have said that because aloe has a laxative effect, it's not good to take internally for long term. Some long term effects being electrolyte loss, heart arrhythmias, accelerated bone deterioration. This sounds a little scary! Some have especially said people with intestinal problems should NOT be drinking aloe vera juice. Now, AloeCure says that a part of the leaf called "aloin" is what makes aloe vera juice bitter and is the thing that makes it like a laxative. They claim their juice doesn't have aloin in it. So I'm wondering if it's the aloin in aloe vera juice that makes it not good to take long term because of its laxative effects, and maybe it's safe to drink AloeCure because it doesn't have aloin in it. Sorry this is so long, I really really wanted to try this but am a little afraid after reading the long term effects of it. By the way, I have IBS-D. If anyone has any other information please share!


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## cgntoonartist

Sorry, I made a mistake while posting. Please read below.


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## cgntoonartist

I also saw this ad on TV. Has anyone tried AloeCure?http://www.aloecure.com/Is it safe?


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## Kathleen M.

If you look at the whole aloe leaf there are two main things that come out of it.The gel and the latex (I'm not sure what all names are used for these two things).Aloe latex is bitter and a stimulatory laxative.If you just squeeze or juice a whole leaf you get both. Some preparation techniques can separate the two.You often find whole leaf aloe in herbal laxatives or colon cleansers.K.


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## HealthyOne

Aloeluyah's AMP Aloe & E contains only the healing agent of the aloe leaf, which is the Aloe Mucilaginous Polysaccharide molecule. This is why this pure product costs more, because they remove all of the rest of the aloe leaf except for this agent. This is the one that worked for me. Their product has Soy Lecithin and Vit. E as well, and they are the lowest cost I've found for the product and they have more capsules in their bottle than anyone else. Totally helped relieve my IBS symptoms.


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## 16430

Kathleendo you have any inputs on what one should purchasein order to try out aloe vera. The postiings that I see on this forum refer to aloe vera juice which as you say cannot be taken for extended periods of time. So how do I get aloe vera gel(which is not the juice ) that can be taken orally. I saw tow main products aloe vera gel and george's aloe vera. Both of them are laxative aloe vera


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## Kathleen M.

I don't think aloe (or senna or cascara) are nearly as dangerous as the "never take a stimulatory laxative for more than a week or two" warnings proclaim. Those warnings are more a CYA because someone thought a stimulatory laxative that has been banned for I think a few decades caused colonic inertia, but it seems most all cases where constipation gets worse after years of normal laxative use (at recommended doses) are the same proportion of people where it gets worse if they avoid all laxatives.Usually if it is just gel it will say just gel, and the gel only stuff doesn't have the latex that is the laxative, so I don't know why they would label an aloe gel product as a laxative (other than they may only remove 99% of the latex or something and figure better to put too many warnings on it than not enough).Even with the juice that can have both gel and latex a lot of them seem to process the leaves to get more gel than latex. Mostly because the latex is bitter and the less latex the better the juice tastes and the more likely people are to buy it again. A lot of the whole leaf preparations are in capsules so you can't taste the bitter.I looked at a product from The Vitamin Shoppe that says on it "Does Not Contain: Aloin or aloe emodin. " and that would be a sign it has none of the latex and is just gel.


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## 16430

Hello KathleenThanks for your response. You have provided very informative respones in the forum. I looked at vitamin shoppe products here http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/search/en/que...acet=5001%3Ab45but noen of the four product listed metion that they do not contain aloin or aloe emodin. Were you referring to some other product. Any inputs appreciated


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## Kathleen M.

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/brow....jsp?id=LV-1014


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## 16430

Thanks Kathleen again. I went to the vitamin shoppe store. None of lily of the desert items except this one http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/brow....jsp?id=LV-1020 carry the information about absence of aloin on the packaging. And the one which does mention about absence of aloin is a detox (i.e. a laxative). So it seems ot me that even the absence of aloin does not take away the laxative properties of aloe. Is this conclusion valid?Also it seems aloin is absent from most of the products according to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloin. Yet most of aloe products are supposed to be laxative and I wonder why.There is also a george's aloe brand that claims to be making aloe from a special form of plant.I am only looking to start with a non laxative form of aloe to begin with. Thank you for the link in #9 and I hope we can find a solution soon.


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## Kathleen M.

There is very little regulation of what dietary supplements say other than making sure any "it is a treatment for X disease or Y disease" is kept off the labels.So often the labels may not be the best way (other than ingredient information, and sometimes even that is quite wrong, but hopefully you find products that can put what is on the label in them) to decide which product is for which thing.I think often the label is more about trying to sell the product than trying to get accurate information on it.Why they would call it a laxative when they remove the laxative part to make it taste better baffles me.


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## lucy10

i donot know about aloecure but aloe vera juice is really very beneficial to take to cure your digestive system. you can use any other product. But must consult with your doctor about this.http://www.aloeveraplant.org


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## aloemandy

Hi,Perhaps I can answer your queries on this. The different between Aloe Vera Drink, Aloe Vera Juice and Aloe Vera Gel is the proportion of pure aloe that the product actually contains.Aloe vera drink can only have as little as around 2% aloe in it, Juice tends to have less than 50%-sometimes a lot less, and Gel (from the product that I know) has between 85-95% pure aloe.Then there are different methods. Some juice the whole leaf and then filter out all of the rind, bits that float and the aloin. It looks like water and has a better taste.The product of Gel that I am familiar with uses the filleting method. They slice down the leaf, removing the outer rind. Some of the aloin is left in - only a very tiny amount so that it does not produce a laxative effect in most people (especially if you take the right dosage). The reason that they leave some of the aloin in is this is where the anti-inflammatory properties of the plant are located, an important factor for those with IBS.The Gel has anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic and immuno-regulator properties. It is also a pre-biotic, giving the ideal environment for probiotics to flourish. However, when it is sold you should be advised what dosage you should start on, how to increase it and what is the maximum dosage. This is not contained on the bottle, because it will vary from person to person and whether they are a child. You should also get advice on how long before you see if this product is helping you.You can drink this item continously, and it can be given to children over 4 years old. It will initially seem to be having a laxative effect as the product "cleanses" all of the "gunk" from your digestive tract and then should settle down. If you want to know more about this product you can message me, or use my name as a site to contact me via that way or even purchase it..but not without getting advice on it first.Aloe Vera is not a miracle cure - it only eases symptoms which will in all probability return if you stop taking the product.Hope that clarifies this.


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## soiledshorts

I would definitely recommend trying Aloe Vera for any digestive problems. Aloe is just a great plant!Concentrated-AMP, like some said here, is more expensive due to the process of extracting it from the plant, however, it works really well for some people. I've tried several prescription pills, but I've had really good success with www.aloeelite.com, which makes AMP-concentrated pills.


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## Abcura

aloemandy said:


> Hi,Perhaps I can answer your queries on this. The different between Aloe Vera Drink, Aloe Vera Juice and Aloe Vera Gel is the proportion of pure aloe that the product actually contains.Aloe vera drink can only have as little as around 2% aloe in it, Juice tends to have less than 50%-sometimes a lot less, and Gel (from the product that I know) has between 85-95% pure aloe.Then there are different methods. Some juice the whole leaf and then filter out all of the rind, bits that float and the aloin. It looks like water and has a better taste.The product of Gel that I am familiar with uses the filleting method. They slice down the leaf, removing the outer rind. Some of the aloin is left in - only a very tiny amount so that it does not produce a laxative effect in most people (especially if you take the right dosage). The reason that they leave some of the aloin in is this is where the anti-inflammatory properties of the plant are located, an important factor for those with IBS.The Gel has anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic and immuno-regulator properties. It is also a pre-biotic, giving the ideal environment for probiotics to flourish. However, when it is sold you should be advised what dosage you should start on, how to increase it and what is the maximum dosage. This is not contained on the bottle, because it will vary from person to person and whether they are a child. You should also get advice on how long before you see if this product is helping you.You can drink this item continously, and it can be given to children over 4 years old. It will initially seem to be having a laxative effect as the product "cleanses" all of the "gunk" from your digestive tract and then should settle down. If you want to know more about this product you can message me, or use my name as a site to contact me via that way or even purchase it..but not without getting advice on it first.Aloe Vera is not a miracle cure - it only eases symptoms which will in all probability return if you stop taking the product.Hope that clarifies this.


aloemandy, your are absolutly right the positive benefits of Aloe vera gel. AceAloe+ is a new product that contains only concentrated Aloe vera inner leaf gel. It does not contain any components from the outer rind (leaf latex) such as aloin or the closely related aloe emodin, which can act as a laxative. The primary active ingredient in inner leaf gel is Acemannan, a long chain polysaccharide. Acemannan is responsible for many of the health and healing benefits associated with Aloe vera. Acemannan is sensitive to many of the purification methods used by many manufactures so there is a wide variation in Acemannan content and activity among different products on the market, which has led to variable results, and some confusion as to the true benefit of aloe. AceAloe+ also has additional adaptogenic herbs and pre-biotics that enhance and complement the activity of Acemannan. AceAloe+ comes in a convenient capsule form, which overcomes some of the objections to Aloe vera juice such as taste and that amount you have to drink.There is a nice article entitled, Aloe vera: Myths and Misconceptions, that talks about aloe vera and the effects of processing on Acemannan content. The AceAloe+ product brochure is available on line if you want to learn more. Some folks with IBS are reporting positive results.


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