Stability of the main Aloe fractions and Aloe-based commercial products under different conditions

Aloe-based household preparations and commercial products are used worldwide as a source of nutraceutical compounds, among which anthraquinones and acemannan are the most known. However, it is reported that improper storage conditions could lead to significant degradation processes, resulting in a low content of active substances. The aim of this work was to study the stability of aloin and â-polysaccharides in aloe-based products during storage, as a function of temperature and chemical agents added. Generally, aloin degradation in whole leaf homogenate was fast, and neither ascorbate nor the antimicrobial agents could increase stability; a lower temperature slightly improved stability, (DT50 up to 26 days at +4°C). Regarding the stability of â-polysaccharides, a strong influence of the storage temperature was observed, while antimicrobial agents did not show significant reduction of degradation. For both compounds, household and commercial products were significantly more stable.