Evaluation of 90-day repeated dose oral toxicity of an aloe vera inner leaf gel beverage.

Despite its popularity along with many proposed therapeutic applications, the safety profile of Aloe vera gel beverages remains unsettled. The putative toxicology concern has focused on the hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives (HADs) found in the latex portion of the Aloe leaf. Despite harvesting and processing designed to eliminate or significantly reduce these compounds, certain HADs, such as aloin, may be present and have been associated with carcinogenicity in non-decolorized whole leaf extract containing approximately 6400 ppm aloin A and 71 ppm aloin-emodin. Sprague Dawley rats had free access to drinking water or a commercially and widely available Aloe vera gel beverage (Forever Living Products) prepared from the inner leaves of Aloe barbadensis Miller containing 3.43 ppm total aloin for 90 days. Under the conditions of the study and based on the toxicological endpoints evaluated, there were no adverse test substance-related findings, including altered thyroid hormones. No histologic differences or histopathological changes were detected in the multiple tissues and organs examined. The Ki-67 proliferation assay demonstrated no increased cell proliferation in the liver, lungs, kidneys, or urinary bladder, which might have been attributed to the dietary administration of the Aloe vera gel beverage via drinking water for 90 days. These data lend increasing confidence regarding the safety of appropriately processed Aloe vera gel beverages, such as the beverage tested in this study.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The Aloe Vera Company, Scottsdale, AZ, funded the study, which was conducted at Product Safety Laboratories, Dayton, NJ. Allen W. Singer, and Mark R. Bauter are employees of Stage Bio, Mount Jackson, VA Product Safety Labs, Dayton, NJ 08810, respectively. A. Wallace Hayes, Peter Pressman, and Roger Clemens are members of the Scientific Advisory Board, The Aloe Vera Company and are paid consultants. Although the manuscript has been reviewed by the company, the conclusions and writing of the manuscript are entirely those of the authors.
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