Mannatech Warns Against Fake Aloe Vera Products

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Mannatech is encouraging consumers of aloe vera products to be cautious of fake aloe vera products on the market or products that include no or only minute amounts of the healthful ingredients found in aloe vera.

This advice is Mannatech’s response to a recent exposé published by Bloomberg News where it was discovered that many aloe vera-based products found in more than 23,000 stores across the United States didn’t actually include aloe vera.

According to Bloomberg’s independent testing, they found:

Aloe’s three chemical markers — acemannan, malic acid and glucose — were absent in the tests for Wal-Mart, Target and CVS products conducted by a lab hired by Bloomberg News. The three samples contained a cheaper element called maltodextrin, a sugar sometimes used to imitate aloe.

Because of this report, Mannatech is calling on developers of aloe vera products to provide transparency and full disclosure of their product suppliers and ingredients that compose their aloe vera products.

“Developers of aloe vera products have to maintain the trust of their customers who believe in aloe vera for its many healthful properties,” said Mannatech’s CEO and President, Alfredo “Al” Bala. “Mannatech believes we owe it to our customers to ensure that we deliver what we promise. By being transparent, we demonstrate that our aloe vera products are of the highest quality and are what we say they are. Therefore, we make information available about our aloe gel supplier, country of origin and processing techniques because this is the right thing to do for our business and especially for our customers. Those who present products claiming to have effective aloe vera ingredients that turn out to be fake are depriving customers of the plant’s benefits, while degrading consumer confidence in aloe and making it difficult for the entire industry.”

It is well-known that many of Mannatech’s nutritional supplement and skin care products include gel powders from the aloe vera plant, specifically the polysaccharide gel extract rich in acemannan, which Mannatech offers under the trade name, Manapol®.

For more than 20 years, Manapol powder has been an essential ingredient in core Mannatech products. Mannatech’s Advanced Ambrotose® powder and Ambrotose Complex powder are among the company’s top-selling products containing the aloe vera gel extract, and are known for their cognitive, immune and gastrointestinal benefits.* Mannatech’s Ambrotose product technology has been validated by scientific studies, having been the subject of 17 human clinical trials that have been published, 12 of which were double-blind, placebo-controlled studies—the gold standard for product validation.

Mannatech takes great pains to provide its customers with real, beneficial aloe vera-based products. This includes transparency down to the plant in the ground. A big part of the transparency promise Mannatech makes is tied to the technology and supply Mannatech painstakingly developed through the years. For example, recently Mannatech announced it has secured its continuing source of Manapol with an exclusive deal with Natural Aloe Costa Rica.

Natural Aloe Costa Rica has worked closely with Mannatech for many years to develop some of the most potent and pure aloe vera gel extracts available. This supplier is unique for its ability to deliver pure, potent and legitimate aloe vera extract for a number of reasons:

  • It farms in Costa Rica’s volcanic soils, which are very nutrient-dense
  • The aloe vera leaves it harvests are processed all within the same day; the aloe doesn’t have time to degrade
  • Aloe vera is grown organically in Costa Rica, and the acemannan content is very high
  • The innovative and proprietary extraction process ensures the gel extract is as pure and potent as possible
  • Natural Aloe Costa Rica uses farming techniques that produce aloe vera plants that yield a higher volume of aloe gel containing acemannan

From a scientific perspective, one of the chemical signatures of acemannan must be present for a product to be considered a real aloe vera product. Based on the definition of acemannan, it requires a molecular weight of at least one million Daltons, and very few aloe products claiming to be acemannan meet these requirements. Mannatech’s Manapol powder has a guaranteed molecular weight of more than one million Daltons1.

According to Dr. Steve Nugent, Mannatech’s Senior Global Wellness Director and Chairman of Mannatech’s Global Scientific Advisory Board, “No other company, aside from Mannatech, has access to the best source of acemannan as defined by science. Manapol powder supplied from Natural Aloe Costa Rica exceeds what is required to meet the scientific definition of acemannan, which has been defined by the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) as requiring a molecular weight of one to two million Daltons. This is where the potency and power of the aloe vera plant resides.”

So for those seeking products that are derived from real aloe vera, Mannatech suggests taking a long look at the source of aloe vera. If a company stands behind their product, they should be transparent about its suppliers.

“We invite other developers of aloe vera products to provide an equal level of transparency to ensure that consumers have confidence in the aloe products they are purchasing,” said Bala.

For more information about Mannatech and its products, please visit: www.mannatech.com. For more information about Mannatech’s science and product ingredients, please visit: www.MannatechScience.org.

1 Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) has defined acemannan as requiring a molecular weight of one to two million Daltons.