effect of aloe vera on some indicators of cell damage after a period of aerobic exercise in male athletes

introduction: aloe vera is a medicinal plant with antioxidant activity. the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of aloe vera on some indicators of cell damage after a period of aerobic exercise in male athletes of 15-18 years old. methods: in this clinical trial study, 20 male students with average weight of 64.85 ± 51 and height of 172.05 ± 6.4 were randomly assigned to 2 groups of aloe vera supplement (n = 10) and placebo (n = 10). then aerobic training was conducted for 4 weeks. the supplemented group took 3 capsules, each capsule contains 2 g of dried aloe vera and placebo group took 3 capsules/day containing dextran after every meal. to determine the index of cell injury markers creatine kinase (ck), lactate dehydrogenase (ldh) and reactive protein c (crp) were determined and blood samples were collected 24 hours before and after each test. the data were analyzed using anova and independent t test. significance level was considered as p ≤ .05. results: the use of aloe vera during aerobic exercise significantly reduced ldh (p = .006) in the supplement group (15% reduction) compared to placebo group and crp with 11% reduction in the supplement group compared to placebo (p = .008). there was no significant reduction in ck. conclusion: the findings of this study showed that aloe vera reduces cell damage and inflammation indicators. this result may reflect the role of aloe vera as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent.