What’s the TL;DR?
Aloe Vera is generally an all-around miracle supplement, and should be included with every NBE program if possible. It works similar to MSM to promote healing and growth.
It works great in all regimens, and synergizes very well with pumping.
Dosage and timing
A community member named SurferJoe2007 was able to extrapolate dosages from a study on rodents and convert that to human values. For this reason, he recommends 1500mg of 200:1 freeze-dried extract daily. This amount of aloe is considerable and can become cost prohibitive if taken by 100mg capsules, so usage of a raw bulk powder is recommended.
As for tolerance, aloe vera is well tolerated, but high doses may cause diarrhea and risk renal toxicity. For studies on toxicity, see below.
Community Anecdotes
Studies have found that aloe’s beneficial compounds are destroyed via heat in the drying process.1 2 3 Therefore, the way that the aloe is prepared matters. Purchasing freeze-dried aloe is one way to ensure that the nutrients are still bioavailable.
However, while the studies indicate that quality decreased, they do not assert that the compounds were completely destroyed. Therefore, it may be possible to retain the benefits at higher dosages.
Available studies
Studies have found that “the bioactive components of aloe vera have effective antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immune-modulatory effects that promote both tissue regeneration and growth.”4 It aids in cellular healing,5 and restores HGH receptors.6
Studies have found that oral ingestion over 100mg per kg body weight per day can be toxic to kidneys and reproductive tissue,7 with one study converting this to a max allowable daily intake of 0.4mg per kg per day or 24mg 200:1 extract for a 60kg human.8
Products to consider
$20/8oz 226g 200:1 Freeze Dried Bulk Powder – Pajé Superfoods
$38/120ct 500mg 200:1 Freeze Dried Aloe Vera – Herbal Hills
References
- Spray-Dried and Freeze-Dried Aloe vera Powders during Storage ↩︎
- Aloe vera Gel Drying and High-Quality Retention ↩︎
- Studies on quality of freeze dried aloe vera fillets ↩︎
- Aloe Vera for Tissue Engineering Applications ↩︎
- Aloe Vera on collagen characteristics in healing ↩︎
- Effect of Aloe Vera extract on IGF-1 levels ↩︎
- Aloe vera: A review of toxicity and adverse clinical effects ↩︎
- Estimation of tolerable upper intake level (UL) of active aloe ↩︎
