The Immune Enhancing Effects of Aloe
Below is an in depth, medical analysis of the aloe mucilaginous polysaccharides (the core ingredient of SEROVERA® AMP 500) effects on the immune system. Although a lengthy read, you'll find it worth your while.
Credit: John Pittman, M.D.
Beta-glucomannans are a class of very long chain sugars derived from plants, which have been shown in laboratory and clinical studies to have a wide variety of immune stimulating and protective effects within the body. In studying the different sources of this polymer, it has been discovered that the aloe barbadensis plant contains the greatest concentration of acetylated polymannans, which is also the most active form of mannans. These long-chain complex polysaccharides are often called beta-glucomannans, mucopolysaccharides or Acemannan. These aloe polysaccharides have been shown to have many effects in the body, mostly impacting the gastrointestinal and immune systems, which are intricately related. Before elaborating on their beneficial effects, it is appropriate to discuss the type of pathology often present in individuals experiencing immune system depression.
The most striking commonality found in individuals suffering with immune depressive conditions such as Epstein-Barr virus, chronic fatigue syndrome, systemic candidiasis, HIV infection and others, is the high incidence of digestive dysfunction and maldigestion. This has several effects that contribute to stress on the immune system and weakening it.
Maldigestion means that the consumed food is not properly broken down into the elemental building blocks needed for the body to rebuild itself and to generate energy for metabolism. This results in a type of starvation at the cellular level, with all tissue suffering malnourishment and therefore decreased effectiveness of all internal chemical processes.
These processes include breakdown and transport of toxins out of the cell, movement of nutrients into the cell, and energy production for cell functioning. This affects all the cells in the body, including those of the immune system such as white blood cells, (macrophages, and lymphocytes) and red blood cells which carry oxygen throughout our bodies. Not only do we lack enough fuel, but we're low on oxygen too.
However, it is not this cellular starvation alone that causes the immune depression. Maldigestion also results in pathologic reactions. First, these remnants become irritants and cause inflammation of the mucosal wall of the intestines. Many powerful enzymes and damaging chemicals are released, injuring the intestinal wall causing increased intestinal mucosal permeability. The foreign proteins of the digested food can leak across the mucosa into the lymphatic channels of the intestinal wall and from there, gain access to the circulatory system. Here, these absorbed proteins are recognized as foreign and are attacked by the cells of the immune system. Antibodies bind to the protein and then call in the macrophages and monocytes. T-cells arrive later, releasing enzymes and using oxygen to drive the metabolic breakdown of the foreign protein. The total result is that the immune system is constantly turned on and draining down like a battery. As these allergic reactions to food breakdown products continue, the cells of the immune system wear out faster, run out of fuel and aren't reproduced in sufficient numbers.
In addition to this chronic hyper-immune state, undigested food remnants provide fuel for overgrowth of fermentative fungal organisms such as Candida Albicans as well as several types of parasites. Overgrowth of Candida in the intestines has significant effects throughout the body due to the absorption of toxic by-products of its metabolism. This can result in worsening of food allergies, hypoglycemia, digestive disturbances, excessive mucus, bloating, flatulence, skin rashes, and extreme fatigue. This chronic infection further drains the immune system and complicates the picture.
Further damage is inflicted on all cell membranes from the effects of the generalized inflammation occurring as a result of maldigestion. These metabolic reactions utilize large amounts of oxygen and produce oxidative free radicals as waste by-products. The negatively charged oxygen molecules are desperately trying to balance their electrical charge and immediately begin to chop holes into cell membranes as they grab positive charges. The result here is further damage to the intestinal mucosa and a worsening of the increased permeability.
All these processes work together in a vicious sequence of events leading to progressive weakening of the immune system. It is clear that many mechanisms are at play in orchestrating these processes. Without definitive therapy directed at each component of the immune system pathology, this is a downward spiral to death. Fortunately, a thorough multidimensional treatment protocol addressing each component has been shown to reverse these processes. Aloe vera has been shown to have properties addressing all these issues and appears to play a key role on many different levels in boosting all immune functioning.
At the intestinal level, the aloe polysaccharides have been shown to act as potent anti-inflammatory agents, neutralizing many of the enzymes responsible for damaging the mucosal wall and, in effect, quenching the fire. They do this anti-inflammatory action while at the same time boosting the immune system functioning. This results in decreased leakiness of the intestinal wall and less absorption of allergic stimulating foreign protein as well as enhancing the repair of the tissue. Research has also demonstrated their direct viricidal, bactericidal, and fungicidal properties, which can help control Candida overgrowth so the normal gastrointestinal bacterial flora can be restored. It has also been found that these polysaccharides stimulate intestinal motility, improving the elimination process to move allergenic proteins from the small intestine into the colon. All these processes help to normalize gastrointestinal wall structure and function and therefore stop the viscous cycle of immune system damage.
In addition to restoring gastrointestinal and elimination functioning, large glucomannan polysaccharides also have direct effects on the cells of the immune system.
They have been shown to increase the number of and activate the intensity of macrophages, monocytes, and T-cells as well as increasing the number of antibody forming B-cells in the spleen. Enhancing macrophage activity increases the effectiveness of the entire immune and repair system of the body as it is responsible for so many functions, including immune modulation.
These polysaccharides have been shown in laboratory studies to act as a bridge between foreign proteins (such as virus particles) and the macrophage, facilitating phagocytosis ingestion of the protein by the macrophage. Activating the receptor sites of the macrophages is a key to the overall boosting of cell-mediated immunity, which is deficient in HIV infection and other immune disorders. These aloe polysaccharides also protect the bone marrow from damage by toxic chemicals and drugs.
These various effects, while seemingly wide spread and unrelated, are in fact due to one simple process at the cell membrane level. Mucopolysaccharides (the name often used for aloe beta-glucomannans, acetylated polymannans and acemannan) is a long chain sugar that interjects itself into all cell membranes. This results in an increase in the fluidity and permeability of the membranes allowing toxins to flow out of the cell more easily and nutrients to enter the cell. This results in improved cellular metabolism throughout the body and an overall boost in energy production. The vicious cycle of maldigestion and cellular starvation is finally broken as the Mucopolysaccharides normalizes absorption of nutrients and increases tolerance for allergenic foods (from detoxification). The immune system is now stronger, under control, and better prepared for any new threat.
As humans living in the late twentieth century, our body's metabolic and detoxification systems are under ever increasing stress from foreign chemicals, nutrient depleted foods, and immune damaging infectious agents.
In order to control and prevent the inevitable progression of the immune system destruction that these stresses cause, therapy must be multifactorial involving all levels of health, diet and lifestyle. These different areas consist of destruction of pathogenic organisms, metabolic detoxification, intestinal cleansing, increasing cellular metabolism, antioxidant agents to combat free radicals, and direct stimulation of immune system cells. Aloe vera's Mucopolysaccharides, the active ingredient in cold-processed, whole leaf aloe, has been demonstrated in laboratory testing and clinical use to be effective on all levels of this therapeutic program.
It is important to note here, that Dr. Pittman highlights the "cold-processed" process used to extract the AMP molecules from the aloe plant — SEROVERA® AMP 500's unique proprietary process uses a cold-extraction-process for formulation. More on Freeze-Drying.
Buying just any aloe product with AMP is not safe. Processing of the aloe plant will determine quality of the AMP you purchase. We guarantee that heat is never applied to SEROVERA® AMP 500 from field to bottle, as heat is the single most damaging factor to aloe nutrients. Heat breaks down the links between the sugars. When this happens, the long chain sugars no longer have the same size and shape of the polysaccharides that fit the receptor sites of key immune cells and tissue producing cells.
Our approach is scientifically sound and medically intact.
