THE ESSENTIAL ALOE VERA: The Actions and the Evidence

Dr Peter Atherton, during his Visiting Research Fellowship at Green College, Oxford, has so far achieved success in two main areas: perhaps, most importantly, he has completed an impressive worldwide literature survey of published papers, articles, and books on the clinical uses of Aloe Vera. These references have been sorted and collated into a superb Research Bibliography - invaluable to anyone interested in the uses of Aloe Vera in their own lives, but especially valuable for healthcare professionals who require a more scientific explanation of what Aloe Vera is, how it works, where it works - what conditions does it work upon, and why?

This Research Bibliography forms a substantial section of the newly-published second edition of his book "The Essential Aloe Vera", subtitled "The Actions and the Evidence" (November 1997).

Dr Atherton includes some very preliminary results of his Oxford University research programme in the text of the book. In a talk at this year's National Rally in Cardiff (Forever Living Products, November 1997) he showed slides of severe leg ulcers of long-standing in several patients he had treated with Aloe Vera Gelly and the internal drinking Gel. The most prominent effect noted was the cleansing of the ulcerated area: typically, after many years, a leg ulcer will be very large, frequently infected, and almost invariably smelly - an extremely painful and miserable affliction for the sufferer. A skin-graft is the only method of permanently healing the largest ulcers - yet a skin-graft will only "take" when the area is clean and free from infection: one of the most impressive features of Aloe Vera Gelly is its ability to completely cleanse the ulcerated area so that grafting is given every chance to succeed. In cases where the leg ulcers had been present for shorter times (2 to 5 years) and were somewhat smaller in extent, new skin grew over a significant area after a couple of months' treatment with Aloe Vera internal Gel and topical Gelly. In one case the patient was diabetic (leg ulceration can be a common complication in diabetes) and she noted that there were some other welcome effects of drinking the Gel: she had reduced her dosage of Insulin by 20%, and her hairdresser had remarked upon the luxuriance and glossiness of her hair!

To date the number of ulcer cases is small, but there is no doubt that this research will continue for some years to come, and there will be published papers and articles to validate the achievements.