The healing powers of Aloe Vera have been known and appreciated for thousands of years and are still acknowledged today.

Aloe Vera was widely utilized in terms of its medicinal properties by Egyptians, as well by Roman, Greek, Arab and Indian cultures. In fact, many respected physicians of ancient times utilized Aloe Vera as a very potent healing tool. Quite a number of names were given to the plant obviously as a way to pay tribute to its favorable attributes. The names were the following: the wand of heaven, heaven's blessing and the silent healer.

The appreciation of aloe was also reflected in different legends and myths. For example, it was believed that aloe deserves some credit for safeguarding beauty and health of the Egyptian queens, Nefertiti and Cleopatra.

There is also a legend that in 333 BC, Alexander the Great captured the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, rich in aloe plants, in order to access the valuable supply of the natural healing product, needed to cure his wounded soldiers.

The plant is also valuable for being so impervious to natural hardships where most other vegetation disappears. Its fleshy leaves contain the water supply enabling the plant to live through long droughts. The aloe plant, being a cactus plant, is between 99 and 99.5 per cent water, with an average pH of 4.5. The remaining solid material contains over 75 different ingredients including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, sugars, lignin, saponins, sterols, amino acids and salicylic acid.

Aloe is sometimes referred to as the world's most powerful moisturizer. In fact, it is the foundation of many skin care products. Used regularly it can produce a very beneficial effect on rebalanced, dehydrated and oily skin. It effectively accelerates skin's natural healing process, maximizes its moisture barrier and neutralizes the effects of aging.

But it is not the full list of aloe's healing capabilities. When a leaf is cut, an orange-yellow sap drips from the open end. It has a pronounced laxative effect and it is not by chance that at the beginning of the century aloe was very popular as a raw material for laxatives posing competition for synthetic additives. Nowadays, it has not lost its appeal and aloe is a foundation for a great many different pharmaceutical products. Aloe is employed as a purgative, however it may take from fifteen to eighteen hours for it to produce effect, the effect is delayed as it is exerted mainly on the large intestine. Given in small doses, it can be applied to cure chronic constipation. The pronounced action of aloes on the large intestine induces some pelvic congestion, and it is therefore used in cases of amenorrhoea.

The place of origin of the plant is Africa. In the nineteenth century Aloe was brought to other tropical climates for cultivation. Between 1840 and 1850 the Aloe Vera plant has been brought to Aruba and is since aloe production has been part of Aruba's history for many years. Aruba had the ideal climate for the Aloe plant and very soon thousands of acres of Aloe were grown making Aruba the world's largest aloe exporter, while the quality of supplied Aruba aloe was also indisputably superior to others. Therefore it is not by chance that Aruba acquired the name "The island of Aloe". Aloe plant can be still seen in the coat of arms of Aruba.

The healing properties of aruba aloe are incredibly numerous. This plant has antibacterial, antifungicide and antiviral properties. Aruba aloe is tremendously rich in vitamins (A, C ,F, B (thiamine), niacin, vitamin B2 and others), enzymes and minerals. The sugars, obtained from the mucilage layer of the plant are absorbed completely and act as immuno-modulating agents.

Apart from the usages mentioned above, Aruba Aloe Vera has a bright future in new applications as an effective alternative to synthetic agents.