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Aloe Vera... Sans Aloe Vera

posted by on Sunday November 27 2016, @10:32PM   
from the you-get-what-you-pay-for dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Bloomberg reports:

The aloe vera gel many Americans buy to soothe damaged skin contains no evidence of aloe vera at all.

Samples of store-brand aloe gel purchased at national retailers Wal-Mart, Target and CVS showed no indication of the plant in various lab tests. The products all listed aloe barbadensis leaf juice — another name for aloe vera — as either the No. 1 ingredient or No. 2 after water.

[...] Aloe’s three chemical markers — acemannan, malic acid and glucose — were absent in the tests for Wal-Mart, Target and CVS products conducted by a lab hired by Bloomberg News. The three samples contained a cheaper element called maltodextrin, a sugar sometimes used to imitate aloe. The gel that’s sold at another retailer, Walgreens, contained one marker, malic acid, but not the other two.

A related article from FatPhil discusses herbal supplements which, upon analysis, did not contain the ingredients their labels claimed.

Caveat emptor.

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Original Submission

• Thinking of an article earlier today... Thinking of an article earlier today... (Score: 5, Funny) by theluggage on Sunday November 27 2016, @11:06PM

  by theluggage (1797) on Sunday November 27 2016, @11:06PM (#433803)

  They should have labelled it Homeopathic Aloe Vera! 100x more potent than the version that actually contains the active ingredient!

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+3
  Informative=1, Funny=2, Total=3
  Extra 'Funny' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		5

• Re:Thinking of an article earlier today... (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 28 2016, @11:03AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 28 2016, @11:03AM (#433978)

  Well, their next version might be sold as "now with 100% more Aloe Vera" and it will not even be a lie, as 100% of nothing is still nothing.

  Parent