Efficacy and safety of Aloe vera syrup for the treatment of gastro-esophageal reflux disease： a pilot randomized positive-controlledtrial

OBJECTIVE： To investigate the use of Aloe vera （A.vera） for the treatment of gastroesophageal refluxdisease （GERD） symptoms and compare its effectswith those of omeprazole and ranitidine.METHODS： In this pilot, randomized controlled tri-al, 79 subjects were allocated to A. vera syrup （stan-dardized to 5.0 mg polysaccharide per mL of syrup）at a dose of 10 mL/d, omeprazole capsule （20 g/d）or ranitidine tablet （150 mg in a fasted state in themorning and 150 mg 30 min before sleep at night）for a period of 4 weeks. The frequencies of eight main symptoms of GERD （heartburn, food regurgi-tation, flatulence, belching, dysphagia, nausea,vomiting and acid regurgitation） were assessed atweeks 2 and 4 of the trial.