CRANBERRY BEVERAGE
Scientists are learning more every day about the value of the
special anti-inflammatory nutrients obtained from the Aloe Vera plant.
Life Plus Aloe Vera Cranberry Beverage is a refreshing, good tasting drink, which is made
from fresh whole leaves of the Aloe Barbadensis plant. This great product is formulated
using a patented, revolutionary whole leaf process to assure maximum benefit. Life Plus
Aloe Vera products have been awarded the International Aloe Science Council Seal of
Approval. This demonstrates they meet all the requirements for quality Whole Leaf Aloe
formulations.
Contains fructose: contains no sucrose,
starch, salt, wheat, yeast, corn, milk, artificial flavoring or coloring agents.
SUGGESTED
USE:
As a general health beverage, drink one to four ounces (30 to
120 ml) per day in divided doses. Rerigerate after opening to maintain freshness and
enhance flavor.
HI-POTENCY JUICE
Life Plus Aloe Vera Hi-Potency Drink is made from fresh whole
leaves of the Aloe Barbadensis plant. This high potency drink is formulated using a
patented revolutionary whole leaf process to assure maximum benefit. Life Plus Aloe Vera
products have been awarded the International Aloe Science Council seal of approval. This
demonstrates they meet all the requirements for quality Whole Leaf Aloe formulations.
Contains fructose: contains no sucrose,
starch, salt, wheat, yeast, corn, milk, artificial flavoring or coloring agents.
SUGGESTED
USE:
For normal lifestyles, drink from one to four ounces (30 to 120
ml) per day in divided doses. Athletes and highly active people may increase as desired.
Refrigerate after opening to maintain freshness.
HISTORY
In the mid-1930s, researchers enthusiastically reported quick
and complete healing of skin burns caused by X-rays, ultraviolet and gamma rays. The
public became aware of their findings in Gertrude B. Foster's classic, Herbs for Every
Garden (Dutton, 1966). Foster also noted that aloe was grown as a landscape plant in the
tropics and as a houseplant in temperate climates. Although commercial development of aloe
vera was already under way, its popularity exploded in the 1970s.
The root word "Vera" is Latin for "true." So Aloe Vera would be the
true Aloe plant. Actually there are over 200 plants in the Aloe family, but there is only
one true Aloe. The true Aloe grows in a rosette configuration. Its leaves can grow up to
30 inches in length and up to 5 pounds in weight. The plant is actually subtropical and
needs about 36 inches of water per year in order to produce the maximum amount of leaves.
The plant can live for months without water because it utilizes the stored gel in the leaf
as its source of energy. This stored gel is what is used to manufacture Life Plus' Aloe
Vera Products.
For many years, manufacturers were discarding
about 80% of the activity during processing. When we go back to how the Romans, Greeks,
Mexicans and the Indians used the product, they would take the leaf and either break it or
cut it open and use the thick mucilaginous gel that would run out or they would take the
leaf and split it and tie the gel part down and apply to the skin. Even today, that is the
world's best approach for many applications. Life Plus' Aloe Vera Products are
manufactured using the whole leaf-a very important factor.
ALOE VERA GEL
The conventional pharmaceutical approach to the question ``How
does it work?'' is to determine which individual chemical component of a plant is
contributing to its healing activity. This opens the door to commercial extraction and
refinement processes that can be patented. In regard to aloe, however, investigation
hasn't yet provided clear-cut answers. The gel comprises more than seventy-five compounds,
including polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates), steroids, organic acids, enzymes,
antibiotic agents, amino acids, and minerals. One enzyme found in aloe gel has been
suggested as the primary component responsible for the gel's ability to heal burns.
Since the first clinical trials of the gel in the mid-1930s, subsequent trials have
produced similar, positive results. However, evidence from those experiments and from many
favorable case histories is inconclusive because much of the work suffered from poor
experimental design and small test samples. Although recent, more thorough research has
confirmed the likelihood of useful physiological effects, the gel's properties still
haven't been ascribed to specific components. Among some of the recent findings:
Researchers at Tokyo Women's Medical College in Japan have shown that certain lectins (a
type of protein) in aloe gel may stimulate the immune system to increase production of
killer cells, or naturally occurring lymphocytes that kill bacteria and tumor cells.
Studies in Japan and the Netherlands suggest that constituents in aloe gel can enhance the
workings of the immune system by containing the killer cells' lethal chemicals, preventing
them from damaging healthy, functional cells.
A research group at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio is
studying the effects of aloe extracts on normal and tumor cells in humans. Although aloe
probably will not emerge as a new cancer drug, such experiments provide more information
on how aloe gel heals wounds and burns.
A review of the medical literature by a group at
the University of Texas in Galveston concluded that aloe gel clearly promotes wound
healing and prevents progressive skin damage caused by burns and frostbite. It works by
penetrating injured tissue, relieving pain, reducing inflammation, and dilating
capillaries to increase blood flow to the injury.
A review of the scientific literature on aloe shows that while many cosmetics containing
aloe claim to stop the aging of skin, they actually only moisturize it, thereby
temporarily diminishing blemishes. However, aloe vera extracts have the potential (as yet
undemonstrated) to stimulate synthesis of collagen and elastin fibers, which could slow
the degenerative skin changes associated with aging.
WHOLE LEAF PROCESS
In the middle to late 1970's, work had started to utilize the
entire leaf, not losing the matrix gel discarded in earlier
processing methodology. The new Whole Leaf Process captures all of the activity in the
plant and then the unwanted substances such as Aloin (laxative) and Aloe-Emodin are
removed. So this gives us the best of both worlds. A United States patent has been granted
for this special process. The patent belongs to the formulator of Life Plus' Aloe Vera
Products, Bill C. Coates, R.Ph., we note with pride, has been a leader in Aloe Vera
efforts, and has authored several books in this area including Aloe Vera-The Inside
Story-The Internal Uses of Aloe Vera (1995), Creatures In Our Care -The Veterinary Uses of
Aloe Vera (1985, with Richard E. Holland, D.V.M.) and others.
ALOE VERA AS A DIETARY
SUPPLEMENT
The internal use of Aloe Vera is well documented. Major
universities and research groups have published volumes of reports regarding internal
applications. The findings of the continuing research are truly impressive. As a
Dietary Supplement, many individuals will find Aloe Vera to be of interest in maintaining
normal healthy stomach lining, digestion, cell growth, and as a general overall tonic.
Studies in animals suggest possible beneficial effects on maintenance of normal healthy
function of the kidneys, heart muscle, clot formation, general cell growth and support of
normal healthy cell proliferation, blood sugar levels, the immune system and even
longevity. Findings relevant to humans will, of course, be followed with great interest,
especially in research areas with potential applications to normal healthy energy levels
and as an overall tonic. On the consumer level, Aloe Vera has become of wide-spread
interest to athletes, sports participants and other highly active people interested in
supporting and maintaining their overall activity levels.
ALOE VERA
LAXATIVE
As in ancient times, drug aloe (prepared from the bitter yellow
juice of the leaf) and its derivatives are used extensively today as active ingredients in
commercial laxative preparations, most often in combination with other botanical laxatives
such as cascara sagrada bark and senna leaves or pods. Aloe leaves are cut at the base to
release the juice, which is then heated to evaporate the water. The remaining dark brown
mass is drug aloe.
Commercial aloin is a refined form of drug aloe
that contains high concentrations of barbaloin, aloe's main laxative constituent. In
Germany, concentrated extracts of dried aloe leaves are used as laxatives preceding rectal
surgery and as a hemorrhoid treatment.
Despite their widespread use in commercial preparations, drug aloe and aloin are
considered the least desirable of plant laxatives for home health care. Besides being
extremely bitter, they produce cramping and irritation in the digestive tract. Overdose or
other misuse can cause abdominal pain, gastrointestinal bleeding, or even kidney
disorders. Pregnant or nursing women should not take products containing drug aloe or
aloin because they stimulate the uterus (which can bring on premature labor) and because
they pass readily into the mother's milk, sometimes causing gastrointestinal distress in
the nursing infant.
Aloe vera juice is considered helpful for relieving many types of gastrointestinal
irritation and juice products are widely available. Juice is produced by diluting aloe
vera gel with water and adding citric acid and/or other natural preservatives. It is also
sometimes mixed with other herbal extracts or fruit juices.
Una DE GATO AND SUMA
Una de gato, also referred to as "Cats Claw," is a
South American Peruvian Rainforest plant considered supportive of normal healthy immune
function. It is also a great antioxidant. Suma, another Rainforest herb, is widely used as
a general tonic and as an energy support herb. It is well known for its use by the Russian
Olympic athletes. These herbs work synergistically with the Aloe for optimal benefit.
Aloe Vera
Cranberry and Hi-Potency Juice