Polysaccharides in Aloe Vera Juice

A frequently asked question about Aloe Vera Juice is "What is it's polysaccharide content?", "What exactly are polysaccharides and how do they relate to Aloe Vera Juice?"
Polysaccharides are made up of thousands of smaller units called monosaccharides. When a plant creates its food via photosynthesis, it combines oxygen, water and carbon dioxide to form the basic glucose molecule. These molecules are the basic unit of all plant material and the basic source of energy for the animals that eat the plants. These glucose units combine to form two basic categories of chemicals, CELLULOSE
andSTARCH. The cellulose material serves as the physical support for the plant while the starch serves as the food storage. It is the starch and all of its derivatives we use as our source of food.

Although both cellulose and starch belong to the same group (carbohydrates), they vary in chemical structure the cellulose molecules are "held" together by a different method than starch. So, although their basic structural units are the same, the way they are put together makes them quite different. Cellulose being wood, and starch being a food source.

Polysaccharides in Aloe Vera:

As with all living material, the chemical structure of these compounds are very complex. There are 3 basic types of polysaccharides found naturally in the inner gel (parenchyma tissue), of the Aloe Vera leaf.

B 1-4 glucomannan: This group of polysaccharides is most closely related to cellulose. It is from this group that the polysaccharide known as acemannon was isolated. This group is believed to be largely responsible for many of the Aloe leaf's special properties.

Galactose base polysaccharides: This group differs from the first in that the polysaccharide is held together with galactose units as opposed to glucose units of the previous form. Most natural gums such as carrageenan gum (Irish moss), belong to this group of polysaccharides.

Acid polysaccharides: These are polysaccharides with an acid group attached. Pectin is a well known chemical of this group.

All of these polysaccharides plus cellulose are found in the inner gel of the Aloe leaf. To date, the exact role that each plays in the amazing properties of Aloe Gel, either separately or in various combinations, is undetermined.

Polysaccharide level in Aloe Juice:

The method used to determine the polysaccharide level in Aloe is known as the "alcohol precipitation test".

Carbohydrates, and therefore all polysaccharides, starches and sugars are insoluble in alcohol. So any test based on the precipitation of solids by alcohol would be very non-specific. The results from this test do not differentiate between any of the alcohol insoluble material in the Aloe.

On the average, there are about 0.5% solids in the pure depulped Aloe fillet. That is, in every 100 grams of Aloe Gel, there is only 0.5 grams of solids. Of these solids, about 35% are alcohol insoluble. Therefore there are 0.175% alcohol insolubles, or 1,750 mg/liter of this material in pure Aloe Gel.

This number of 1,750 is what has been referred to as the polysaccharide level of Aloe Juice. But, as we have just discussed, there are many more compounds in this 1,750mg/liter than just polysaccharides. It has been shown that the glucose linkage type polysaccharides (the ones thought to be mostly responsible for Aloe's character), make up about 37% of these solids. Making the TRUE polysaccharide content of Aloe Juice about 650 mg/liter.

Problems with the test:

As we have stated, there are many non-aloe materials that will behave exactly the same way as true aloe polysaccharides in the alcohol precipitation test. That means that an Aloe Juice whose solids have been increased by the addition of other carbohydrates (such as starch) could be viewed as polysaccharide enriched when using this test method.

How to tell real Aloe from the adulterated Aloe:

Unfortunately, there is no official government test to assay the quality of Aloe, nor is there any regulatory body to enforce that testing is performed accurately. The best way to tell the quality of an Aloe Juice is exactly the same way you would evaluate any food or drink. That is by taste. Aloe Vera has a distinct taste that is difficult to match or disguise.

The best rule to follow is: " If it doesn't taste like Aloe, it probably isn't Aloe!"