aloe vera and cactus

[Roger B]

Dear y'all,

I have been studying aloe vera for the past several weeks, and it became obvious to me that aloe vera had so many health promoting qualities that it just couldn't be a coincidence that this one plant could do so much. So I made the silent intuitive jump that perhaps the aloe vera plants living in the desert have to work so hard to maintain it's water. And older people have a problem with becoming dry, not drinking enough water, losing their sense of thirst, skin drying out, joints drying out, and the like. Perhaps aloe vera is seen as benefiting health because mostly older people have the wisdom and the need to look outside of the health care box and investigate other health modalities, like aloe vera. And so aloe vera is "universally" (by older people who care about this sort of thing) proclaimed to be health promoting.

So, I thought, perhaps cactus, aka nopal, a desert plant, also has these health qualities. And no surprise to me, nopal does have very similar health promoting qualities: http://www.livestrong.com/article/11506 ... -benefits/ That article is not alone is trumpeting the health promoting qualities of cactus. {Unfortunately nopal is much more expensive than aloe vera, now.}

I see several things here:

One is that both aloe vera and nopal (cactus) are desert plants, but they are not even in the same scientific classification, a different order in fact, so they are not even closely related. So this health promoting quality is sort of like homeopathy, mysterious but real. But it is not a coincidence.

The second thing I see is not quite as positive. Both aloe vera and nopal are cultivated in soils that have never been used before by human beings. This almost certainly contributes to their being so health promoting. Eventually these soils will become depleted. Soils need to be replenished with seaweed or other ocean plants. Replenishment by ocean plants is NOT in the definition of organic. There was a study in England that showed that organic soils needed to be replenished with ocean plants once every 10 years. I am sure that most so-called organic farmers do not do this, so most organic foods that we buy at the natural food stores are more or less depleted.

The third thing is also not quite so positive also. All cultivation alters plants. The farmer selects seeds from the best tasting apples, not the healthiest apples. The distributor selects the apples with the longest shelf life. Although the customer would prefer the most nutritious apples, they have no way of knowing which apples are the most nutritious and which aren't. So, over time, apples become tastier and tastier with longer and longer shelf life, etc. (Notice how tasty the Granny Smith apple is, and it has such a long shelf life, and I never saw a Granny Smith apple when I was young. In fact, there are a whole bunch of apple varieties now that I never saw when I was young.) The same thing will happen with aloe vera and nopal, and very likely this is also why they are so nutritious now, because they are closer to being wild.

Sincerely,

Roger Bird

[healthinfo6]

There are 2 parts to this cactus, the purple fruit, aka prickly pear as shown in the picture, then the green leaf pads similar to aloe vera leaves.
They are used for different purposes while both sometimes being called Nopal
Mexicans call the green leaves Nopal and the purple fruit Tuna.
A couple years ago I met a Mexican woman who was overweight and told me she juiced the green Nopal leaves daily and it reversed her type 2 diabetes. She said it had to be freshly juiced daily I tried it, buying the Nopal green leaf pads in Mexican grocery stores where they sell them with the sharp cactus needles or already cleaned without them. The leaves are large and thick and their needles are nail sized and very sharp, so paying a little more like $2/pound is well worth it vs. $1/lb with needles. You need pliers or other tools to get them off and thick gloves.
I didn't notice much lowering of blood sugar with the Nopal leaves and it is known more for cholesterol lowering.
I tried the purple fruit, Tuna, and it made my blood glucose go sky high. It is sold for anti-inflammation properties and on TV infomercials as very expensive Nopale juice with added agave syrup, also which raises my BG high. You can buy prickly pears in regular supermarkets and juice yourself much less expensive.
I stopped drinking Aloe Vera juice when I discovered it is an AVOID for type B blood in the D'Adamo Eat Right For Your Type blood type diet. I never felt that good after it and possibly it was causing me digestive disturbance.
Nopal green leaf powder is sold it stores like Target, Walmart where Hispanic supplements are sold and I didn't find it helpful. Nopal purple fruit juice is sold in health food stores.
Possibly I will retry for a longer period using more Nopal leaves to get the effect. It has a strong green taste and I did sometimes mix it into kefir.
Susan