PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF ALOE VERA AND THEIR MULTIFUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Aloe vera belongs to the family Liliaceae commonly known as Ghrit Kumari, is the ever known oldest and the most applied medicinal plant worldwide. Aloe Vera is used for vigor, wellness and medicinal purposes since rigvedic times. Health benefits of Aloe vera include its application in wound healing, treating burns, minimizing frost bite damage, protection against skin damage from x-rays, lung cancer, intestinal problems, increasing high density lipoprotein (HDL), reducing low density lipoprotein (LDL), reducing blood sugar in diabetics, fighting against acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS), allergies and improving immune system. Phytochemistry of Aloe vera gel has revealed the presence of more than 200 bioactive chemicals. Commercially, aloe can be found in pills, sprays, ointments, lotions, liquids, drinks, jellies, and creams, to name a few of the thousands of products available. In the present scenario, the aloe industry is blooming but the consumers are misguided leading to unfavorable outcome due to reasons like unawareness about its proper and adequate medicinal and health value, improper marketing and unavailability of processing units at farmer’s level, misleading hyped advertisement in cosmetic and health products. So, there is a burning need to educate about the importance of Aloe vera for human race and popularize it for greater interest.