Aloe Vera is perhaps the most versatile plant on earth. Packed with vitamins, minerals, polysaccharides, phytosterols, antioxidants, and amino acids, this one plant is as effective for internal concerns as external ones and as popular for looking better as for feeling better. 

Aloe Vera is extremely nutritious and safe to eat in regular consumption as a beverage, juice, or powder mix. Due to the large amounts of minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins, Aloe Vera is the perfect dietary supplement, it has shown bio-enhancer and excipient proprieties to release other active ingredients, acting as a powerful vehicle as well.

For the most part, the trends in the pet supplement market mirror what’s happening in the human dietary supplement market today, where formulations continue to move away from general wellness, such as multivitamins and standalone minerals, toward age-related, condition-specific products that address health issues such as obesity, diabetes, arthritis, and cardiovascular and vision dysfunctions.

The same is happening within the pet supplements market, but faster.

When supplements first appeared in the pet arena, a majority came in the form of vitamin and mineral formulas, then joint support and skin and coat maintenance supplements came along. Now there are products that address more specific conditions, such as cataracts, memory loss, liver health, and incontinence. Some formulations even address hip and joint dysfunctions of certain breeds, as well as behavioral disorders associated with household stress or separation anxiety.

Pet food manufacturers recognize the importance of supplemental nutrients in promoting health, as well as reducing the effects of certain conditions in animals.

Other drivers behind consumers with pets searching out functional ingredients for their pets include:

• The growing elderly pet population. Older animals are prone to many of the same types of chronic conditions that plague elderly people, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, cataracts and even thinning hair.
• Rising veterinary healthcare costs. Just as consumers are looking to reduce their own healthcare costs by purchasing natural foods and nutritional supplements, they are equally interested in taking charge of the health of their dogs, cats, and other companion animals by purchasing products that promote health and vitality.
• The perception of natural ingredients as safer alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Nutraceuticals rarely cause side effects or interact with prescription drugs. While there are a few reported adverse events with supplements, they don’t compare to the potential adverse reactions of pharmaceuticals. 

Dietary supplements for animals such as vitamin and mineral products have been marketed for many years. Most of these products include ingredients that are approved food additives. Today, FDA accepts the marketing of oral supplements for animals provided there is a “recognized benefit, purpose or utility” and they are not a substitute for a complete and balanced diet or represented to prevent or cure disease.

Aloe Vera enhances the pet’s health.

Aloe Vera is an excellent natural option for this pet market, containing stabilized gel from the inner part of the Aloe leaf. It contains over 75 known active compounds in natural balance which helps maintain good health in animals as well as in people. Aloe has the effect of tonic; they support the immune system, healthy appetite, vitality, and energy in active animals, lessening their sensitivity to external irritants. Aloe Vera is an ideal supplement that maintains pets in top form.

New products with Aloe are directed to the pet market under the natural nourish line. Consumers in the small animal market are interested in ingredients they feel will offer their pets the best quality of life as well as the greatest longevity. Pet owners are choosing premium food, and they expect the nutrients, minerals, and vitamins to provide benefits to their pet’s health, expecting supplements that would be source of many specific ingredients to aid in treating various health conditions.

 Pet health is a top priority for consumers, and the functionality of products influences buying decisions. Manufacturers are introducing more and more pet food variants to address different aspects of pet health. Pet supplements are defined as either dietary or therapeutic supplements. Dietary supplements (also called dietary nutrients) are substances added to pet foods to make them nutritionally complete and balanced. Therapeutic supplements (also called nutraceuticals) are foods or food nutrients that are taken orally to provide a health benefit, either for the prevention or treatment of disease.

Bioavailability of nutrients and the importance of supplemental nutrients in promoting health.

Aloe Vera is unveiling a nutritional breakthrough that will help pets’ well-being. It has been claimed that the polysaccharides in Aloe Vera gel have therapeutic properties such as immune stimulation, anti-inflammatory effects, wound healing, promotion of radiation damage repair, anti-bacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-diabetic and anti-neoplastic activities, stimulation of hematopoiesis and antioxidant effects.

Antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, antioxidant, and other activities of Aloe’s compounds are well described and backed up by numerous scientific reports. In the meanwhile, an increasing number of studies addressing the gastrointestinal effects of Aloe Vera; Aloe Vera and probiotics combined may aid intestinal microflora, gut morphology, gastric emptying, and activity of endogenous digestive secretions. Acemannan, a compound found in Aloe Vera gel, stimulates immune system response. The gel is gentle enough to use on delicate eye and ear tissue and makes a versatile topical treatment as well as a nutritional supplement. Aloe Vera can complement many treatments and boost the effectiveness of some medicinal substances by increasing their rate of absorption.

 Aloe’s polysaccharides contribute to drug absorption due to their enhancing properties. Currently, the new trend in the global Aloe Vera market is the use of Aloe Vera considering it as a vehicle of other actives, such as vitamins, minerals, aminoacids, botanical extracts, and so on, also as bioavailable enhancers of herbal origin. The results of a study of two different Aloe Vera preparations indicate that Aloe improves the absorption of vitamin C and E. The absorption is slower and vitamins last longer in the plasma with Aloe, this increases the bioavailability of vitamins C and E in humans.

Consumers are increasingly looking for ways to eat healthier with foods that contain unique ingredients formulated to provide more than traditional nutrition. This same view is taken when purchasing pet foods.

Adding Aloe Vera gel to pet food formulations can ease a lot of problems with domestic animals; the plant is not a universal remedy, but it does supply a reasonable amount of micronutrients which fulfill – within a holistic therapy – an important task in the prophylaxis, after treatment and accompanying treatment of illnesses.