THE PLANT OF IMORTALITY
Aloe vera plants have been used for millennia to treat all kinds of conditions. For soothing and healing burns/sunburn, cold sores, frostbite and moisturising dry skin, it's also been known to work well with all kinds of digestion ailment too. I've been drinking aloe vera every day since November 2014. The benefits I've experienced within just the first few weeks of trying this drink, have been life changing. I was having chronic stomach aches on and off for quite some time. Lifestyle and stress were big factors but even when I'd been really looking after myself, I could potentially still have a bad night's sleep - waking up feeling bloated and weak for no apparent reason.
Up until now, I've tried cutting out certain types of food and keeping a diary of what I eat and there has been an improvement. Plenty of regular exercise helps too, but just one stomach ache keeping me awake for one night can have a knock on affect lasting weeks!
The doctors have been no help - one doctor I spoke to asking for help, suggested stomach aches were related to depression and started implying I needed drugs to treat mental illness....I got out of there fast! Sure, you can feel miserable when you're tired and weak with a sick stomach - so would anyone else feel who misses their sleep. I'd just come to accept it was one of those things I had to deal with.
The stomach aches were becoming more frequent so I started to look into anything that could help. My partner was taking papaya for neutralising acid - which did seem to help after big meals. I also started taking probiotics which seemed to make more problems. I switched to a more alkaline diet, kept evening meals light and then my friend Dean suggested taking Aloe Vera. He'd been trying it for a couple of weeks and noticed a general improvement in energy and wellbeing. Just a 30ml shot on an empty stomach for fist few days - then 60ml there after. I had a few days where it seemed my system was purging and then I felt like the bad bacteria or whatever was causing my malaise, had gone! I've been taking it religiously ever since and shall continue to take this shot every morning.
Another great thing I've noticed about Aloe Vera - all the Christmas season, I've been surrounded by really sick colleagues at work and on public transport – and no illness! Apparently, this plant has all kind of healing and protective properties, nutrients and vitamins that balance your system.
Ive been trying out a few different brands and will report back over time which ones I think are the best value for money...
On Lanzarote, the Aloe plants are growing everywhere - so it figures that their main export is Aloe Vera. There's about half a dozen shops claiming to be the official Aloe manufacturer of Lanzarote. I picked the best products at the best value that I could find and brought them home to sample.
The first thing I thought was that the packaging made this product look medicinal. The tiny 20ml measuring cup that is about the size of the lid - reminds me of the one you get with cough medicine and the insert on the neck is like you get on a tincture bottle - letting out small drops at a time. This made me feel like the contents were going to benefit me. The taste was the same bitter flavour I've come to recognise and the consistency was kind of watery. When you held the bottle up to the light, you could see the sediment floating around but it was so fine as to really notice when you drank and the insert on the neck would have acted like a filter for any of the larger chunks.
All in all, quite impressed with the packaging - it gave the product a premium medicinal feel. Taste and texture were pretty normal. This manufacturer claims to use a cold pressed method, which means the active ingredients are as un-adulterated as possible and the liquid contained as close to the freshly cut leaf as possible.
Aloe Pura Bio-Active (Optima)
Optima are a British based company based in Bradford, producing a range of health foods & supplements since 1994. They have a good heritage of producing quality health foods in accordance with the UK and European regulations. I called and spoke to someone about their aloe drinks and got some really helpful info! Their products are produced in accordance to the aloe vera standard of certification and the soil association have verified that they are grown in an organic environment. The only thing that separates the maximum strength variety from their organic product, are the preservatives used which they are unable to verify have been sourced organically. Essentially, the aloe content (sourced from Texas) is of a high quality and there are minimal additives just to stabilise and retain shelf life longer - and these are in very low amounts. Optima have been working with aloe products for over 20 years and their cold filtration process (not heated above 45°C) ensures the product is as close to the original leaf gel as possible in a drink formula.
Pukka are renowned for producing a range of nicely packaged teas for general consumption, detoxing and health & wellbeing. They've recently come into the aloe vera market - likely because they recognise that it has great health benefits and also because there's been a rise in peoples awareness of the benefits and sales are on the increase. The packaging, in a similar vein to their teas, is really great and the drink is of a similar consistency to the others I've tried so far - Forever is possibly a bit more gloopy (but has added thickeners in it). I'm yet to speak with Pukka about their stabilisation process but it says they heat the gel to 90°C for 20 minutes which I don't think is as good for the ingredients as using the cold process. Unlike Optima's Aloe Pura gel, which filters the green outer leaf through charcoal to remove the aloin - Pukka only use the inner leaf gel, which is better for you. Looking at the labels, there's no certified soil or aloe certified stamp - although, from my understanding, these validations impact on the cost and only guarantee the product contains more than 15% Aloe Vera. I've contacted the Aloe Science organisation to clarify what the certificate means and will update when I have more info.
FOREVER
Forever gels are certainly the best so far in terms of taste, consistency and quality. The packaging is pretty cool and I've enjoyed the berry and peaches flavoured ones too. They also offer a slightly more expensive version (Freedom®) with Glucosamine Sulfate and Chondroitin Sulfate - two naturally occurring elements that have been shown to help maintain healthy joint function and mobility. So convinced are Forever of the benefits these products offer - all their gel products come with a 60 day money back guarantee. As the regulations in Europe and US differ, I'm unsure what their cold stabilisation process is and whether it's much different to the UK regulations (heated up to 45°C). I've written to Forever asking to clarify this point. The only draw back is the price £20.80 - which is considerably more than the nearest competitor (aloe Pura) which retails at under £12 in some stores. You also have to pay a delivery charge on top - which can add another few pounds to the price. There is a growing group of distributers in the UK (of which, I am now one) and finding a distributer that can deliver for free may be a good way to save a bit of money. Whether this product is that much better than the leading competitor's to justify the price, is yet to be seen. All I can say is that I take this product over the others because it does appear to have the best consistency, taste and only uses the inner gel. Forever also have a full range of aloe (as well as other health related) products which can be found here.
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