Everything Aloe Vera

Medical Warnings

Sometimes compounds containing Aloe extracts are sold as fake cures for various conditions.

• Maryland Businessman Sentenced for Illegally Marketing Aloe Vera Compounds as AIDS and Cancer Treatments
• Snake Oil Sales Of Aloe Vera To Senior Citizens
• Symptoms of Aloe Poisoning

A cup of hot herbal tea may feel soothing to the soul, but instead of soothing the body, some herbal teas can make you sick.

This is especially true with so-called dieter's teas, herbal teas containing senna, aloe, buckthorn, and other plant-derived laxatives that, when consumed in excessive amounts, can cause diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps, chronic constipation, fainting, and perhaps death.

Adverse Effects

Reports filed with FDA indicate that users tend to experience adverse effects when they misuse the products by, for example, steeping the tea longer than product labeling recommends or drinking more than the recommended amount. The reports indicate three types of adverse events:

• Short-term: stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea lasting several days. These symptoms are likely to occur in first-time users who drink more than the recommended amount.
• Chronic: chronic diarrhea, pain and constipation due to laxative dependency, which causes a sluggish bowel. In one report to FDA, a person who reported using herbal products with stimulant laxatives for decades suffered severe pain and constipation from loss of colon function and required surgery to remove the colon. People who develop chronic problems usually have used these types of products for years.
• Severe: fainting, dehydration and electrolyte disorders (for example, low blood potassium, a condition that can cause paralysis, irregular heartbeat, and possibly death). People who develop severe problems tend to be those who are nutritionally compromised, partly as a result of drastic reductions in food intake--for example, rigorous weight-loss dieters and people with the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Four deaths reported to FDA involved women with a history of such medical problems. According to information presented at a 1995 meeting of FDA's Food Advisory Committee, these herbal stimulant laxatives may have been a contributing factor in their deaths.

Aloe Vera lotion during Pregnancy – Aloe Vera should only be used in lotions and should never be taken orally (by mouth) during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. If taken orally, Aloe Vera could cause cramps, nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea to you or your breastfed baby.

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