Frågedatum: 2003-06-23
RELIS database 2003; id.nr. 20012, DRUGLINE
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Can Aloe vera juice be used during pregnancy and breast feeding?/nA 32-year-old woman with colitis



Fråga: Can Aloe vera juice be used during pregnancy and breast feeding? A 32-year-old woman with colitis wants to get pregnant. Two years ago, she had a ileocecal resection. Initially, she had periods with colitis even after surgery, but during the last year she has been asymptomatic and relates this improvement to her use of Aloe vera juice. She has not suffered from any adverse effects of aloe vera.

Sammanfattning: There is limited information concerning the use of aloe vera during pregnancy and lactation. Accidental exposure is not considered an indication for abortion. However, since data are limited, the use of aloe vera during pregnancy or lactation cannot be recommended.

Svar: Aloe vera is the gel inside the leaves of plants of the Aloe family (Aloe barbadensis, Aloe ferox, Aloe Africana and Aloe Spicata). This gel contains, among other ingredients, glucomannan, vitamins, minerals and small amounts of anthraquinones (like aloin, emodine). The latex from the rind of the leaves contains a much higher amount of anthraquinones, and is strongly laxative (1,2).

Aloe vera juice can be made from the gel inside the leave or from the whole aloe leave. Juice made from the whole leaf probably contains more anthraquinones than juice from the inner part of the leaf, and might therefore have a stronger laxative effect (3).

A handbook states that aloe vera should not be used orally during pregnancy, due to uterus contracting properties (4, 5). Anthraquinones does also pass to breast milk, and therefore aloe cannot be recommended during lactation either. However, topical administration of aloe vera seems not to be harmful during pregnancy and lactation (1, 5).

In a survey in India, women reported that they use leaves of Aloe barbadensis as an abortifacient agent. When dried leaves of aloe barbadensis were given to rats (125 mg/kg), an abortifacient activity of 21.5% where seen. Other herbs used as abortificient agents where also studied and their abortifacient activity varied from 100% to 11.5% (6). In one animal study, aloes administered at toxic doses to pregnant mice revealed no harmful effect on fetuses (7). The relevance of these data to the effect of aloe vera extracts in humans is not established.

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