With her smooth, glowing complexion, Lynne Bonner Redd looks younger than her 46 years. Ask her secret, and she'll tell you it's not a nip or tuck.
It's simply aloe.
"Aloe is part of my overall health and beauty philosophy," says the Pikesville resident, who typically keeps an aloe plant handy for cuts and mild burns. She also purchases packaged aloe products at stores such as Whole Foods Market.
"I buy aloe liquid by the gallon, keep it in the fridge and drink a few ounces cold. It tastes like fizzy water," she says. "I've noticed my digestion has improved."
Various plant-based substances, such as botanical dietary supplements and herbal remedies, are a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. Aloe sales totaled $62 million last year, up from $60 million in 2006, according to Nutrition Business Journal, a Colorado-based trade publication.
Aloe is listed as an ingredient on the labels of hundreds of skin care and beauty products, including lotions, sunblocks and cosmetics. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a natural food flavoring, aloe even turns up in beverages and foods, such as aloe yogurt. The International Aloe Science Council in Silver Spring notes newer products, including aloe mattresses. Yet the plant's fabled history dates back thousands of years, long before items like aloe hand-wash lined store shelves. The ancient Egyptians illustrated aloe on stone carvings and placed the plant inside the tombs of pharaohs as burial gifts. Legend has it that Cleopatra bathed in sour milk and the "plant of immortality," as aloe has been called, to enhance her beauty.
Aloe is also mentioned in the New Testament, specifically the book of John 19:39: "And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes."
Aloe is native to Africa and known for its proliferation in places with warm climates, like Texas, India and the Caribbean, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. There are hundreds of species of the plants - flowering succulents typically characterized by thick, fleshy leaves with sharp, pointed tips and spiny edges. Aloe vera is probably the most recognized and most popular.
"Aloe has been around for centuries, and it's multifaceted," says Dr. Lisa R. Ginn, a board-certified dermatologist and licensed aesthetician at Cultura, a Washington medical spa that specializes in treating people of color.
