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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.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday November 28 2016, @07:07PM
FWIW, Aloe Vera actually works, though I don't know about the ointments. I used to have an aloe plant that I'd occasionally use. You just cut off a piece of leaf and rub it on the abrasion. I think it's also oversold, but that's a different matter.
And by the report the main active ingredient in the store ointments is sugar, so except for being sticky Karo syrup might work just as well, or if you have expensive tastes maple syrup. But they would be sticky.
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