Hypoglycemic and Hypolipidemic Effects of Aloe vera Extract Preparations: A Review

Obesity is considered to be an epidemic disease, and it is associated with several metabolic disorders. Pharmacological treatments currently available are not effective for prolonged treatment duration. So, people are looking toward new therapeutic approach such as herbal ingredients. Since ancient periods, different herbs have been used for remedy purposes such as anti-obesity, antidiabetes, and antiinflammatory. Among the several herbal ingredients, Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Miller) is widely used to curb the metabolic complications. Till date, reports are not available for the side effects of A.vera. Several researchers are used to different solvents such as aqueous solution, alcohol, ethanol, and chloroform for the A.vera extract preparations and studied their hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects in animal and human studies. Furthermore, little information was recorded with the active compounds extracted from the A.vera and their anti-obesity and antidiabetic effects in clinical studies. In this review, we made an attempt to compile all the available literature by using different search engines (PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar) on the A.vera extract preparations and the possible mechanism of action involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.