Whole-leaf aloe

In a US National Toxicology Program study, rats given drinking water with non-decolorized whole-leaf aloe extract developed intestinal tumors. IARC classifies whole-leaf aloe extract as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), and California lists the non-decolorized form under Proposition 65. In 2018 EFSA concluded that aloe extracts containing hydroxyanthracene derivatives should be treated as genotoxic and carcinogenic unless shown otherwise. Decolorized aloe has most of these compounds removed.

The findings are for non-decolorized extract, and whole-leaf aloe can be decolorized; the label doesn't say which. There is no human evidence of cancer, and the amount here isn't declared.

Limited evidence · Presence only; amount unknown · General population

1. Safety of hydroxyanthracene derivatives for use in food, European Food Safety Authority
2. IARC Monographs Volume 108: Aloe vera, whole leaf extract (Group 2B), International Agency for Research on Cancer
3. NTP Technical Report 577: Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of a nondecolorized whole leaf extract of Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera), U.S. National Toxicology Program
4. Proposition 65: Aloe vera, non-decolorized whole leaf extract, California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
5. General Court judgment in Case T-189/21, Aloe Vera of Europe v Commission (annulling the Regulation (EU) 2021/468 prohibition for aloe leaf preparations), General Court of the European Union