Aloe Arborescens from Sicily
Aloe, a plant belonging to the species of perennial fat plants, is commonly used in various countries around the world for medical properties that have been attributed to them for centuries. There are over 300 different varieties of Aloe, all belonging to the same family of Liliacea: only thirty of these varieties possess significant therapeutic properties. According to the botanical classification, the correct term to indicate the most famous and effective variety is ” Aloe arborescens”.
Aloe is a xerophytic plant, so called because it can retain water in its interior, adapting itself to survive even for long periods of drought. This plant can reach an average height of 60 to 90 cm and reaches a full maturation (referring to its nutritional potential) over four years. From the ground directly grow long green and fleshy leaves surrounded by sharp spiral spines. Aloe’s leaves are covered by a triple protective membrane, which encloses inside the precious colorless gel, which boasts many known virtues known for centuries.
In the autumn or in the spring the Aloe blossoms: from the center of the plant there are high stems without leaves, on which flowers sparkling from the color ranging from white to green to red, yellowish to orange. The healing benefits of the gelatinous substance contained within the Aloe leaves are known from a long time ago.
The first testimonies date back to 4000 BC: on the walls of Egyptian temples, Aloe arborescens plant designs and descriptive depictions of its use were found, demonstrating that this ancient and mysterious people knew their healing properties. The extraordinary curative powers of the plant had such an impact on Egyptian culture to create a myriad of myths and legends: the plant and its magical effects were revered as a god. It is no coincidence that the Egyptians called the Aloe arborescens “the plant of the ‘immortality’ and used it in the mysterious embalming processes of the pharaohs, who wished revival. The legends say that Queen Cleopatra, idolized for her extraordinary beauty, was used to diving into a bath of Aloe juice and mixing the precious gelatinous element with beauty creams.
It is not possible to accurately pinpoint the origins of Aloe’s therapeutic use, nor even to establish a specific geographical place where this may have happened, but ancient medical science has passed on numerous written testimonies. One of the first detailed documents to which we you can refer to the “Papyrus Ebers”, an Egyptian script dating from 1550 BC, which describes a number of formulas and mixtures on the use of Aloe for the treatment of various body disorders.
The first detailed reference to the use of Aloe is contained in the “Greek Herbarium” of Dioscoride, dating back to 68 dC. In the text, the Greek doctor gives a detailed description of the Aloe plant and the use of the particular substance for the treatment of multiple disorders and diseases such as burns, skin irritations, itching of the skin, stopping the bleeding and curing the bruises caused by injuries, and many other maladies.
The knowledge of Dioscoride was confirmed and extended by Pliny the Elder in his work “Historia Naturalis”.
In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the use of medicinal Aloe spread throughout the world, even in cold-hot lands where the plant did not grow spontaneously or even cultivated. The precious remedies prepared with the juice of this plant have been handed down from generation to generation until today; however, over the centuries the use of this substance has been reduced considerably since it was clouded by false beliefs and erroneous beliefs.Only since the 1930s, thanks to the support of scientific documentation and medical attestations on Aloe treatments, the many Aloe properties and virtues have been rediscovered and confirmed.
The precious gel contained in the Aloe arborescens leaves is particularly rich in nutritional components such as: MINERAL SALTS,VITAMINS, MONOSACCARIDES AND POLISHACCARIDES. ESSENTIAL AMINOACIDES and MINERAL SALTS. Within the Aloe leaves, twenty minerals have been found, each of which is of importance to the health of the body, including:
Calcium and phosphorus: essential for the growth of bone structures and teeth. Potassium: regulator of blood flow and muscle tissue.
Zinc: Propulsion of the immune system.
Sodium: regulator of liquids and body fluids also contributes to the transport of glucose and amino acids in the cells of the body.
Copper: contributes to the formation of blood fluid.
Iron: Oxygen conveying element in red and essential globules as a body’s resistance structure to infections.
Magnesium and manganese: support elements of the nervous system and muscles.
Chromium: a regulator of blood sugar levels, also contributes to the balance of glucose and circulatory system.
Choline: as a component of lecithin, it is necessary for the metabolism of the body.
VITAMIN A: beta carotene, important to the sight, bones the skin, as an antianemic factor.
VITAMINE B1: thiamine, essential for body tissue growth and physical energy.
VITAMINE B2: Riboflavin, combined with vitamin B6, produces blood cells.
VITAMIN B3: Nicotinamide, a regulator of metabolism.
VITAMIN B6: pyridoxine, effects combined with vitamin B2.
VITAMINE B12: cobalamin, essential as an antianemic factor and other neuropathic disorders. It is important to emphasize that such vitamin is present mostly in meat, milk and its derivatives but is very rarely found in plants. For this reason, taking Aloe juice can be beneficial for vegetarians, for those who have intolerance to milk and derivatives, and for those who do not succeed in nutrition to make the right contribution of that vitamin.
VITAMIN C: ascorbic acid, prevents and hampers infections, enhancing the immune system.
VITAMIN E: Tocopherol, in conjunction with vitamin C, combats infections and accelerates the healing process.
FOLIC ACID IN UNION WITH VITAMINE B: contributes to the formation of blood.
MONOSACCARIDES AND POLISHACCARIDES
The long list of mono and polysaccharides contained in the Aloe plant are the components that
most contributing to talk about Aloe’s magic and therapeutic properties.
They can be summarized as follows:
CELLULOSE, GLUCOSE, MANNOSIUM, ALDONETOSIO.
URONIC ACID, LIPASI, ALINASI.
ALOERIDE: A powerful immunostimulator.
L – RAMNOSIO.
Amino acids represent the constituent tissue of the human body. One must distinguish between “essential amino acids”, that is, they are not spontaneously produced by the body and must be taken from the outside, and “non-essential amino acids” that the body produces itself.
Aloe arborescens contains seven of the eight amino acids classified as “essential”:
Aloe also contains eleven of the fourteen amino acids classified as “non-essential”: