25+ Unexpected benefits and uses of aloe vera

For years, the surprising power of the Aloe Vera plant has been explored in modern society. And as many already know, those in ancient civilizations took advantage of its benefits thousands of years ago. This plant originally grew in the Arabian Peninsula but now grows in tropical and arid climates throughout the world and can be found in commercial products worldwide.

Its fame and success are due not only to its all-natural origins but also to its wide variety of potential benefits. Give yourself a chance to love this plant, and you will immediately want to have it in your garden! Keep reading to learn more!

It Fights Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Many common irritants — such as flatulence, nausea, heartburn, and vomiting — can be alleviated with aloe vera gel. It has also been shown that the gel can reduce the frequency of these symptoms rather than just their severity.

As aloe vera has gastroprotective properties, it can protect the esophagus, as well as heal the small ulcers that are often the root cause of these aforementioned discomforting symptoms. Aloe vera is also fairly alkaline, which can counteract the excessively acidic effects of some commonly enjoyed foods and beverages like meat, fish, soda, and some dairy products.

It Keeps The Digestive System Moving

Aloe vera can benefit a person’s digestive system because ingestion can eliminate built-up waste, as well as help with intestinal motility, preventing constipation. In other words, Aloe vera can effectively work as a laxative.

Additionally, the anti-inflammatory properties of this plant have been shown to fight irritable bowel syndrome. If you have digestive issues, the benefits of aloe vera are worth considering. Its high concentration of water and other chemical properties work together to regulate digestion.

It’s A Popular Choice For Detoxes

In recent years, juices that are credited for detoxifying effects have garnered a great deal of popularity. And those who swear by detoxes often see a host of benefits to incorporating aloe vera juice in cleanses. Specifically, drinking the plant’s juice on an empty stomach is a widely used way to remove toxins from the body.

It’s especially prized as a natural detox. This cleansing process is used to help the colon and liver by fighting harmful chemicals that enter the human body. In that respect, aloe vera’s thousands of years of prominence as a medicinal plant speak for themselves.

It´s Healthy For Your Body!

One of the best-known benefits of aloe vera is that when you apply it to your skin, it will keep the largest organ in your body hydrated. That hydration increases elasticity and prevents wrinkles, leaving the skin looking soft and radiant.

In addition to this, many people already know that it helps a lot with sunburns. If you spend a long time in direct sunlight and find that sunscreen isn’t doing its job, aloe vera gel is very effective for treating sunburns.

It Reduces Blood Sugar

Because of the way most people eat nowadays, high blood sugar levels are an increasingly common issue. Fortunately, they’re an issue that aloe vera can help with, as it’s known to reduce blood sugar and help manage the inconvenient and concerning effects of Type 2 Diabetes.

Some research into aloe vera’s soothing and invigorating properties has shown it reduces blood glucose by as much as 50% after two months. Therefore, don’t go thinking that it’s helpfulness is just limited to the skin.

How Do You Extract Aloe Vera Gel From A Plant?

If you are someone who has aloe vera growing in your garden, you can extract the gel from the plant’s leaves, as shown here. Of course, you could also buy it at a market or pharmacy near you.

To relieve a tingling sensation after sunburn, it can help to refrigerate aloe vera gel for a few hours. It should then be applied several times a day directly to the affected area of your body.

It Can Partially Fight Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes an overproduction of skin cells, which manifests on a person´s skin as a white or pinkish rocky substance. The lesions usually appear on the elbows but can potentially find themselves throughout the body.

It´s true that this disease is not reversible, but it can be controlled. Although many people take oral medications for this reason, aloe vera gel can support other treatments by reducing redness, peeling, and psoriasis inflammation. Over the course of several studies into the matter, a large percentage of participants saw significant improvements in their condition.

Have You Noticed Aloe Vera’s Benefits For Hair?

One of the reasons why aloe vera has become so popular in recent years concerns the way millions of people have tried to fight hair loss with it. That’s because aloe vera gel has helped hair grow stronger and shinier in some circumstances.

As it turns out, the plant’s anti-inflammatory properties can also have an encouraging effect on blood circulation, which influences hair growth. Even in the worst-case scenario, in which it doesn’t go that far, it’s been shown to get rid of the dandruff on the scalp.

It’s a Booster To Immunity

We all know that there is no magical element that protects you from all the diseases in the world, but the most effective way to reduce the risk of contracting them is to keep your immune system in the right shape to fight harmful bacteria.

Aloe vera is great for boosting the immune system because it contains powerful antioxidants and also reduces inflammation. That’s what gives it the edge in the fight against bacteria, viruses, and fungi, as all of them can result in nasty infections.

It Helps With Healing Wounds

Each time you cut or scrape yourself, your poor, beleaguered platelets work second after second in carrying blood to the damaged area. This then creates the scab that usually takes days to heal but can take as long as weeks or months for older adults.

However, you can help this defense system work more effectively by ingesting aloe vera, thus healing an injury more quickly. This is possible because it increases blood circulation in the affected area. That’s also why it has been used on burns, cuts, insect bites, and eczema for years.

It’s Really Simple To Grow An Aloe Vera Plant

One positive thing about this plant, in addition to the numerous benefits it brings to the body, is that it can grow in a wide range of environments. Regardless of whether the soil is in a large plot or a small pot, this powerful plant has a good chance of taking root.

Of course, you have to be careful with the spines on its leaves, which can be hazardous to children. Just think of the great benefits waiting to be unlocked in the gel within those leaves!

Aloe Vera Can Also Help Your Fruits And Vegetables

As helpful as aloe vera can be for the human body, it can also make your fruits and vegetables last longer in your pantry. This is because putting the plant’s gel on the skin of produce will protect it from fungi and bacteria. By slowing the growth of these microbes on fruits and vegetables, the gel keeps them from ripening as quickly.

It’s an ideal solution for those who don’t typically gorge on vegetables and fruits but want to buy them in bulk for cost-saving purposes. Otherwise, they have a way of ripening before you know it.

Famous Historical Figures Knew About Its Properties

Although historical understandings of the healing properties may not be as sophisticated as modern ones, don’t underestimate the power of trial and error. As limited as their evidence may have been, it was enough to tell them that aloe vera could be a seriously useful plant.

It is known that aloe vera has been a part of beauty rituals for Cleopatra and Nefertiti, two emblematic queens of Ancient Egypt. Whether their subjects knew about aloe vera’s enzymes, amino acids, and antioxidants or not, millions of people have nonetheless used it for various treatments. That’s why ancient Egyptians called it “The Plant of Immortality.”

Aloe Vera Fights Headaches And Helps Healthy Breathing

Those people who experience asthma and bronchitis — as well as less severe conditions like colds — could benefit by making a pot of aloe vera gel. For this remedy to work, one should inhale the vapors of the gel while it’s boiling to decongest the respiratory tract.

As for how aloe vera gel can help headaches, an increasing number of people are finding that applying it to the forehead and behind the neck can help when one flares up. Some find their discomfort stops in a matter of hours.

Teenagers Have A Special Reason To Thank Aloe Vera

Although there are hundreds of creams on the market to combat acne in teenagers — as well as young adults who reach puberty late — soap that contains aloe vera can be very useful when washing one’s face during a breakout.

As it turns out, this is because aloe vera soap will allow skin tissues to regenerate both at the surface level and deeper down. This helps to absorb excess oil that often influences the presence of acne. It’s best applied early in the morning and soon before bed.

There’s A Special Reason Why It’s Handy For Women Too

Although aloe vera is often a significant factor in skin rejuvenation, it can also help an issue that many women already know to be arduous and painful. During bodily shaving, it’s common for a rash called razor burn to form.

However, this common irritation can be avoided when aloe vera gel is added to the shaved area at the end of the routine. Regardless of where on the body somebody shaves, the motion of the razor and the use of waxes can lead to razor burn and pimples. Those after-effects can sometimes disappear within an hour when the gel is applied.

Where Is Aloe Vera Produced?

It may not have originated there, but aloe vera has grown in Europe for years, particularly in Spain. At first, Spanish production of the plant began in the Canary Islands before it expanded to the country’s Andalucía and Levante regions.

Spain leads aloe vera growth in Europe because of its climate, which has been able to sustain 250 varieties of the plant species. Elsewhere, Mexico is North America’s largest aloe vera producer, and the majority of the nation’s supply comes from the state of Tamaulipas. The plant is known as Sábila there.

It’s Good For Your Oral Health

When most people wake up every day, the first thing they typically do is go to the bathroom and brush their teeth. That’s because a significant concentration of bacteria can accumulate in our mouth while we sleep.

Aloe vera tooth gel can be surprisingly helpful to this process because it can reduce both the build-up of plaque and the swelling of the gums. Additionally, it can reduce bleeding gums, and its anti-microbial properties prevent infections in the mouth.

Contrary To Myth, Aloe Vera Can Be Harvested In Gardens

Although it went viral, any information suggesting that the aloe vera plant should not be harvested in your home garden — because it grows wild and quickly — is a fallacy. That description of aloe vera’s growth isn’t exactly inaccurate, but it’s hyperbole to suggest it will invade the whole garden.

After all, aloe vera isn’t some all-consuming and endlessly expanding virus. Instead, it just requires some trimming back every three years. It also doesn’t require much water, which means it requires very little care in areas where rainfall is commonplace

It´s Part Of Several Recipes Of Professional Chefs

Traditionally, the restorative benefits of aloe vera’s juice and gel have been the most significant drivers of its popularity. However, recent years have also seen its increased use in the world’s kitchens, as some professional chefs use it to thicken their sauces.

It’s becoming increasingly common for chefs all around the world to add aloe vera to yogurts, but it’s even starting to see use as an additive for hamburgers! The only issue to consider when cooking with aloe vera is that it contains aloin, a substance that can be toxic when consumed in excess.

It Can Be Used As Body Wash And Hand Soap

Among the soaps that are commonly used while bathing — including 100% concentrated shower gels and hand soaps — aloe vera has the potential to stand out because the vitamin E in it is known to both protect the skin with antioxidants and moisturize it.

Aloe vera is also a common ingredient in body lotions, so be sure to check the label on the container for its presence while shopping if you’re curious about its benefits.

Be Careful If You Ingest It Orally!

Although aloe vera has a host of benefits that should largely be clear by now, there are still some safety concerns to be aware of when ingesting it orally. And they’re serious enough that appropriate caution should be taken.

In particular, whole-leaf extracts have been identified as one of the more unsafe ways to use aloe vera, especially in large doses. In fact, as little as one gram per day of aloe vera latex taken over the course of several days can lead to a potentially fatal form of acute kidney failure.

It Was Known As “The Plant Of Immortality”

As mentioned before, ancient Egyptians living thousands of years ago described aloe vera as “The Plant Of Immortality.” Records of the plant’s reputation for medicinal use date back to at least 1500 BCE.

It wasn’t just prized in Egypt, either. In fact, a major reason why Aristotle advised Alexander The Great to conquer the island of Socotra was to secure access to aloe vera. Alexander’s forces often used it to heal soldiers’ wounds, and the land he conquered is now part of Yemen.

What’s Inside The Aloe Vera Plant?

The most used part of the aloe vera plant is its leaves. Those green, spiked limbs are made up of layers, and the innermost one contains its highly-regarded gel. This gel is made of 99% water, but it also contains amino acids, lipids, vitamins, sterols, and fibers called glucomannans.

All of these components have potentially beneficial effects when used appropriately. In all, there are 75 potential active ingredients found in aloe vera, and all of them have a role in the plant’s known benefits.

NASA Also Supports Its Use

If the properties of Aloe Vera and their potential impact on the health problems that daily life can foist on the body aren’t convincing enough on their own — to say nothing of Aristotle’s advice to conquer entire lands to get it — perhaps NASA’s use of it will be. The truth is that they rely surprisingly heavily on it.

In their quest to explore outer space, NASA has uncovered that aloe vera absorbs 90% of the toxins found in certain potentially hazardous materials. These include PVC, fiberglass, varnish, paint, and the radiation generated by computers, televisions, and other household appliances.

It’s Very Handy After Shaving

Although they don’t always do it in the same places, both men and women shave. This means that either of them could potentially experience skin irritation and acne that results from pulled hairs and abrasions on the top layer of skin.

This irritation often causes the pores to open and the effect is especially pronounced when wax is used. To prevent this irritation, apply aloe vera to the skin after shaving. This helps to soothe, hydrate, and soften the skin, which eliminates red razor burn patches and reduces inflammation.

Aloe Vera Also Helps Against Colds

The fact that aloe vera has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties makes it ideal for improving the immune system. This makes it particularly helpful against upper respiratory infections like the common cold, as well as bronchitis and asthma.

For the best results, it’s a good idea to blend aloe vera with lemon juice and honey. The resulting mixture should then be taken three times a day. It could also help alleviate angina and laryngitis symptoms.

It Helps Against Foot Fungus

Nobody wants to experience an outbreak of foot fungus. Not only is it pretty unsightly, but it can also make walking more uncomfortable due to the scaly rashes it usually causes.

The fungi that invade feet when this happens can be eliminated by aloe vera, as doesn’t just have antibacterial and antioxidant properties, but also anti-fungal ones. That’s a good thing because it only takes a closed, warm, and humid environment for foot fungus to grow.

Try An Aloe Vera Facial Mask

As it is a medicinal plant with many benefits, it is not surprising that you can also use aloe vera as the main source of a rejuvenating face mask. After all, it doesn’t just moisturize the skin but nourishes it.

To make the mask, cut an aloe vera leaf and extract the pulp with a spoon. Then, place this pulp and lemon juice in a container before letting it sit for a few minutes. After that, apply the mixture to your face with a brush. Apply it gently with upward motions in small circles.

It Helps With Your Makeup

Aloe vera doesn’t really have an aesthetic benefit if someone adds it to makeup, but it comes in handy when it’s time to take it off. This is especially helpful before bed.

After applying a small amount of aloe vera to your face, massage it into the relevant areas with a cotton ball to remove the makeup. This will make the face feel fresh and rejuvenated, but don’t forget to rinse it and dry it with a soft towel afterward.

Aloe Vera Can Be Made Into Lip Balm

One of Aloe Vera’s most famous benefits is to moisturize the skin, which is also worth remembering when it comes to the lips. After all, millions of people often experience dry lips.

When they get cracked and painful, a thin layer of aloe vera gel can both relieve that irritation and exhibit a moisturizing effect. Better yet, if you want to improve the gel’s performance as a balm even more, it may be helpful to mix it with cucumber juice. After that, enjoy the results!

Aloe Vera Helps The Respiratory System And More

Although aloe vera’s benefits for the respiratory system have been well-established by this point, another way to put the plant to use is to boil its leaves and inhale the resulting vapor. This turns those leaves into a surprisingly versatile home remedy.

As mentioned before, this can help treat asthma, bronchitis, and the common cold. However, this treatment is also recommended for those who experience arthritis and osteoarthritis. This is because the anti-inflammatory properties of aloe vera are still present in the vapor.