Aloeride® aloe vera

Our first PR man was a delightful red head who for years had refused to take his family away from England on summer holidays for fear of sunburn. At one point his wife and family forced him to go to Cyprus where he sat under parasols, covered in sun factor 300 and still got sunburned.

As summer approached we gave him and his family plenty of Aloeride®. It was the first time he didn't sizzle. Alastair even went as far as venturing out onto the beach on a windy day, the time you don't readily notice that you burn. And coming back to England, his skin didn't immediately peal but instead his tanned appearance stayed with him for weeks. 

How does Aloeride® help you on your holiday?...
1) Most people work inside buildings and have relatively little exposure to direct sunlight; they go on holiday 'to the sun' and without time for adaptation their skin gets an onslaught of Ultra-Violet light. Sunshine dehydrates your skin, bombardes it with photons that create free radicals and can burn it. As always, a little of what you fancy does you good whilst too much harms...

2) Free radicals oxidise the fats in your skin including the fats within cell membranes. Ultimately (without enough defences) if the onslaught is big enough, lasts for long enough or happens often enough, the DNA inside cells gets damaged. Also free radicals take the elasticity out of support tissue like collagen (i.e. your tan may look good now but you could be paying your dues in wrinkles later).

3) HELP: Other than being sensible about sunlight exposure (see below), the best help your skin gets against UV over-exposure comes from within (as only this works 24/7). Via the bloodstream Aloeride® delivers masses of molecules* to your skin that are known to speed up epithelial repair (e.g. skin tissue). It is for good reason that aloe vera got its accolade 'burn plant'. These molecules reduce the irritation/inflammation of your skin and speed up natural repair. In respect of free radicals, the Mediterranean Diet has worked well for the people around the Mediterranean Sea precisely because it provides masses of anti-oxidants that offset free radicals. Follow that example by eating lots of dark green leafy salads and lots of different fruits and berries. Endulge in freshly caught fish, flaxseed and walnuts for your omega-3 fats. A bit of red wine is jolly good for you and lots of fresh water will keep you and your skin hydrated.

* examples of sunburn relevant molecules within Aloeride®: beneficial anthraquinones and salicylic acid for pain killing, plant steroids and sterols for reduction of inflammation, 20 out of 22 necessary aminoacids as building blocks for new cells, gibberellin to delay ageing, and the ultra important polysacharrides for anti-inflammatory effect, for immune modultory effect (clearing up damaged cells) and for fibroblast stimulation (tissue repair).

Once you're sunburnt the damage is done, there's no quick-fix sunburn treatment, it may take several days or more for skin to begin to heal. Here are tips for IMMEDIATE RELIEF after sunburn:

• Take 2 Aloeride® aloe vera capsules twice a day (i.e. 4/day) with a large glass of water and keep on drinking water regularly to rehydrate yourself (in tropical countries you'll probably be taking salt tablets also).
• Frequently disperse the heat, soak in a cool but not cold bath to which you may add a large quantity of calendula, black or green tea; alternatively just have a cooling but not cold shower. Ideally just let the water evaporate off you, you drying only takes a little longer and it goes without saying that any towelling should be no more than carefully dabbing a towel onto the burned skin.
• Take 500 to 1000 milligrams of paracetamol if you're not allergic to that, do not give children or teeagers aspirin (may cause Reye's syndrome which is potentially fatal).
• Never ice the burns as ice may stick to your skin and cause further injury to already damaged skin. Never use oil-based products on burns as these stop the pores from breathing.

If you have blistering of the skin then do leave these blisters intact, prevent a secondary infection by keeping the area clean. When the blistered area is bigger than one entire arm or the whole abdomen then seek medical attention. Burns of the face and neck can sometimes swell enough to cause difficulty with breathing, in such cases seek medical attention. Burns that completely circle the hands or feet may cause such severe swelling that blood flow is restricted. If swollen or tight hands and feet become numb and tingly, blue, cold, or 'fall asleep' seek medical attention.

Most people LOVE THE SUNSHINE and there are some very good reasons for that. A light tan doesn't just make people look (and feel) good, there is a whole range of physiological benefits that follow from sensible exposure to UV light. Many customers with red hair or fair skin - before and since Alastair - use Aloeride® to help them enjoy their holiday more. The helping your skin from the inside out approach is sensible and safe. Over-exposure to sunlight carries the serious risk of skin cancer but that warning puts in the shade the fact that this free and effortless photon energy has equally serious health benefits. Here are some sensible tips for you:

1. Take note of how the natives handle the sunlight. In Spain or Mexico almost everybody holds a siesta in the shade during the hottest time of the day. In France or Italy during that time most people have lunch on a terrace under huge parasols. So when the sun is at it highest position in the sky, get out of the sunlight or at least cover yourself up. And please be aware that wet clothing lets UV light through more readily than dry clothing does....


2. Sure enough you will apply your sun creams and/or blockers but do not overlook the fact that your skin primarily gets its fats from good food. So increase your intake of good, unpolluted omega 3 fats via your diet whilst concurrently increasing your antioxidant intake (for even the best fats go rancid if your body has a lot of free radicals, and this is true even when there is no sunlight at all). Make sure you increase omega 3 and not omega 6 oils as the latter and sunlight do not combine well. Fats dissolve in soap, so it is obvious that the more you use soap, the more fats you'll take out of your skin. By the way, ingesting good fats does not make you fat but carbohydrates will, so go easy on the pasta ;-)


3. So keep yourself hydrated and in the tropics this may involve taking some salt tablets. An adult needs to drink 1.5 litre of water (this may be via green or white tea also) to replenish the normal physiological fluid loss during a day in the office or at home. So, out in the sun you need to drink much more water than that.


4. Many seasoned travellers know that on the beaches in the Caribbean you can get your back rubbed with a freshly cut chunk of aloe vera to soothe the pain of sunburn. However, less of these travellers know that a better effect can be achieved by taking Aloeride® aloe vera capsules before and during your trip as it helps the skin bounce back from a sudden change in sunlight exposure (simply take 1 Aloeride® capsule in the morning and 1 at night). However, it is vital that sun worshippers still follow guidelines about sensible exposure to the sun. Whilst this herb is effective in preventing and soothing sunburn, over-exposure will inevitably result in sore and reddened skin.
   
   However, a word of warning, the wrong aloe vera product may actually cause diarrhoea. So, before leaving on your next holiday, make sure that you take the right aloe vera capsule with you such as Aloeride® to effectively ease the range of ailments that you become prone to when travelling. Taken before and during your trip, it can help to ensure that you make the most of every day of your hard earned holiday.

Is there reasonable proof that aloe vera can help over-exposure to sunburn beyond empirical evidence that since time immemorial people used aloe vera for this? Other than the extensive research on burns, there is good quality research on the anti-ageing effect and effect on UV light exposure by Danhof, McKeown, Strickland and Yagi. But be aware, not all aloe vera products will give you the molecules that help your skin to stand up to UV light or provide enough of them.

So what is the health benefit from sunlight? Sunlight makes vitamin D which actually is a pre-hormone and its production requires a pre-cholesterol molecule to get UV-B from sunlight onto the skin. Then the liver converts it to calcidiol (storage form) which then is converted by every body cell into calcitriol (a.k.a. activated vitamin D) Vitamin D is the most potent steroid in your entire body.

Steroid hormones enable the manufacturing of proteins and enzymes by your genetic material (genome). Yet after you've produced about 20,000 units, sunshine begins to destroy vitamin D in the skin. In other words, the same sunlight that makes vitamin D in the first place begins to degrade it - a miracle of self control and safety. So the active form of vitamin D acts by enabling the genetic expression of proteins and enzymes crucial to health in hundreds of tissues throughout the body.One of the ways in which to increase vitamin D orally is via good, unpolluted fish oils but these are increasingly hard to find.

To find out whether you are deficient, the best vitamin D test is 25(OH)D - also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D - and optimal levels are 45-50 ng/mL or 115-128 nmol/L (these values are higher than the 'normal' values). The amount of vitamin D produced from sunlight depends on exposure time, latitude and altitude of location, amount of skin surface exposed, skin pigmentation and season. UV-B also stimulates the production of MSH (melanocyte-stimulating hormone), an important hormone in weight loss, energy production, and in giving you that wonderful tanned appearance (?-MSH ). However, UV-B does not penetrate very deeply into your skin. The darker the pigmentation or more tanned your skin, the less UV-B penetrates. Remember that glass allows only some 5% of UV-B to enter your home or your car, you must go outside to benefit from sunlight. The take home message is that sunlight has an awful lot going for it providing you avoid sunburn.

According to Professor Michael Hollick, Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics at the Boston University Medical Centre it is now estimated that the 1,000 IU of vitamin D a day is needed to satisfy the body's requirement and maintain circulating concentrations of calcidiol of at least 30ng/mL. Too much vitamin D over a longer period of time can be toxic and cause calcification in the kidneys and heart. Fortunately the warning signs are rather easy to notice: anorexia, disorientation, dehydration, fatigue, weight loss, weakness and vomiting.

Dr. Esther John, an epidemiologist at the Northern California Cancer Center, recommends taking a daily 10 to 15 minute walk in the sunshine as it not only clears your head, relieves stress and increases circulation, but also could cut your risk of breast cancer by 50%. Johns Hopkins University Medical School conducted a 10-year epidemiological study that showed exposure to full-spectrum light (including the ultraviolet frequencies) is positively related to the prevention of breast, colon and rectal cancers.

Our suggestion is to continue your safe exposure to sunlight so as to produce your body's most potent steroid in a fully natural way, to relax and look radiant. But keep it safe and use Aloeride® aloe vera for natural sunburn defence whenever you go on a sunny holiday, it helps the whole family.