Do you know that In 1994, the US FDA ( Federal Drug Association ) approved Aloe vera for the treatment of HIV?

Do you also know that aloe vera helps to prolong survival time and stimulate immune system of cancer patients by stimulating white blood cells to release of anti-cancer substance such as in our body?

As a food or skin care, Aloe Vera has many benefits. Aloe vera is a member of the Lily family.  Although, there are more than 200 species of Aloe vera, only a few have medicinal properties, and of these, Aloe Vera Barbadensis is the most beneficial.

Aloe vera grows easily in hot sun, and here in Singapore, you can find them in many home balconies and gardens.

About 96% of the plant is water. The rest is made up of minerals ( calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, chromium ), Vitamin C, E, Beta carotene, 20 amino acid, sugar, enzyme and fatty acids

What are the main benefits of Aloe Vera?

Aloe vera works on 2 main areas:

1. Promote healing or prevent injury to epithelial tissues (cells on skin, lining of gut, lining of lung)
2. Boost immune system when its anti-oxidant flight the free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules produced by our body metabolism, pollutant from the environment or stress.  The free radicals cause a lot of damages to the body and lead to aging and degenerative diseases such as arthritis.

When taken orally, Aloe vera can:

• The anti-inflammatory fatty acid, which is helpful for the stomach. So, it sooth digestive tract irritation such as colitis, peptic ulcer due to the
• Helps with indigestion by neutralizing digestive juice and prevent over-acidity.
• Boost the immune system and help alleviate many conditions; arthritis, asthma, post viral fatigue syndrome and Lupus

When applied on skin, Aloe vera can improve many skin complaints; eczema, psoriasis, burns, acne, abrasion, sore muscle, sprains, bruises, just to name a few

Other benefits of Aloe vera:

• Lowers blood cholesterol
• Repairs “sludge blood” and reverses “sticky blood”.
• Boosts the oxygen level of your blood.
• Prevents kidney stones.
• Reduces high blood pressure
• Helps to improve bowel movement and stops constipation.
• Stabilizes blood sugar and reduces triglycerides in diabetics.
• Prevents and treats candida infections.

To use aloe vera , you need to slice away the hard green outer layer to reveal the translucent fleshy sap.

With the sap, you can do many things :

Juice

Make a fresh juice from the translucent sap. The taste needs some getting use to. Add a dash of lemon or honey to improve the taste

Desert

Cut the sap into cubes and cook it in water with pandan leaves ( screwpine leaves )  and white fungus. Sweetened with rock sugar and serve chilled as a desert. Nice and refreshing.

Do you have other recipes to share?