Aloe vera and blood sugar in prediabetes and early diabetes
What it found
In five small trials in people with prediabetes or early untreated diabetes, aloe vera supplements lowered fasting blood sugar, HbA1c and some blood fats compared with placebo.
The authors say the evidence is weak and the results are inconclusive.
What they found
Studies in people
Fasting blood sugar
Across five trials with 328 people, aloe vera lowered fasting blood sugar more than placebo. The authors note the trials disagreed widely with each other.
HbA1c
In two trials, aloe vera lowered HbA1c, a marker of average blood sugar over time, more than placebo. The two trials gave similar results.
Insulin
Two trials looked at insulin levels and found no clear difference between aloe vera and placebo.
Blood fats
In four trials with 206 people, aloe vera lowered triglycerides and total cholesterol more than placebo. In three trials it also raised HDL cholesterol and lowered LDL cholesterol.
Side effects
Only one adverse event was reported across the included trials. The authors say there is limited evidence about the safety of aloe vera.
Other findings
Trial quality
Most trials did not fully report how they were run. Only one used intention-to-treat analysis, and none reported adequate concealment of which treatment each person received.
What the authors conclude
“Given the small number and poor quality of RCTs included in the meta-analysis, these results are inconclusive.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say aloe vera might reduce fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, and raise HDL cholesterol, in people with prediabetes and early untreated diabetes.
- They caution that the evidence on safety is limited and that the size of the effect is small, so the clinical relevance is uncertain.
- They call for large-scale, multi-center, placebo-controlled long-term trials to confirm these findings and to look at long-term effects.
How it was done
The authors wanted to settle disagreement over whether aloe vera helps with blood sugar and blood fats, since earlier studies in rodents gave mixed results and no clear conclusion could be drawn.
They searched three medical databases up to 28 January 2016 and pooled five randomized controlled trials with 415 participants. The trials lasted 6 to 12 weeks and compared aloe vera with placebo in people who were overweight or obese.
What it can’t tell you
- The trials were small, few and of poor quality, so the results are inconclusive.
- The trials lasted only 6 to 12 weeks, so the safety of taking aloe vera for longer is uncertain.
- The aloe vera products tested came from five different regions and were not standardized, so it is hard to say which preparation or dose might work.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Sichuan University, China
The paper
- Title
- Efficacy of Aloe Vera Supplementation on Prediabetes and Early Non-Treated Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
- Type
- Systematic review and meta-analysisThe authors follow a set, published method to find every relevant study, then combine the numbers from them into one result.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Zhang Y, Liu W, Liu D, Zhao T, Tian H (2016). Efficacy of Aloe Vera Supplementation on Prediabetes and Early Non-Treated Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu8070388Free full textPubMed 27347994DOI
Summary written 29 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error