Does aloe vera absorb formaldehyde?

Excessive formaldehyde can cause a variety of diseases. Modern research shows that formaldehyde is the main cause of many blood diseases. For this reason, special attention must be paid to removing formaldehyde when renovating a house. In addition to opening windows and placing various plants that help eliminate formaldehyde, aloe vera is recognized as a method to help absorb formaldehyde. So can aloe vera absorb formaldehyde? In addition to aloe vera, what other methods are there to remove formaldehyde in our daily life?

Gardenia ranks first

Open Baidu App to see more beautiful pictures

In terms of PM2.5 absorption rate, which is what people are most concerned about, among individual plants, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Euonymus japonicus, and Acer truncatum occupy the top three. Among them, Acer truncatum also tops the list in absorbing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen compounds. It can be said that it is the well-deserved top spot for air-purifying plants.

In the data on harmful substances absorbed per unit leaf area, the relatively small gardenia stands out and is far superior to other plants. In comprehensive comparison, the absorption effects of black arborvitae, magnolia grandiflora and ginkgo biloba on the three harmful substances are all ranked at the top.

Experiments show that among individual plants, the well-known aloe vera absorbs the least formaldehyde, and in the test of smog absorption per unit leaf area, the roadside tree sycamore also ranks at the bottom.

You will understand it completely after looking at the three pictures below! At the same time, I was also shocked. It turns out that everything we thought for so many years was wrong!

Formaldehyde absorption and detoxification striker: Milan

The eight plants selected by the researchers are cactus, succulent plant aloe, sun god of the Agave family, snapdragon of the annual and biennial herbaceous flower family, rubber tree of the tree family, Milan of the shrub family, white palm of the evergreen herbaceous family, and bamboo palm of the palm family. These are common in households and represent different types of plants.

In order to be comparable, the selected plants are of the same size and are placed separately in glass covers rich in a certain amount of formaldehyde. An evaporating dish containing the same volume of water is added inside, and air circulation is ensured in the cover so that the formaldehyde content in the air is the same as that in the aqueous solution in the evaporating dish. The solution is then extracted regularly, the formaldehyde content is measured, and compared with the content in the glass cover without the plants.

The results surprised the researchers: they measured the data every three days. In the first few days, the inconspicuous Milan absorbed formaldehyde the fastest, reaching 6.29 mg/L in the first three days, while the formaldehyde release in the glass cover was only 6.8 mg/L, and most of it was "eaten". During this period, its ability to absorb formaldehyde is nearly twice that of the sun god, 2.3 times that of aloe vera, and 13 times that of cactus!

A rising star in formaldehyde absorption: Sun God

It wasn't until 13 days later that the situation changed quietly. As the amount of formaldehyde released from the glass cover increased, various plants gradually got used to this environment. When our ability to absorb formaldehyde increased, on the 16th day, Heliotropia and Snapdragon surpassed Milan with a slight advantage: Heliotropia's absorption reached 9 mg/L, Snapdragon reached 9.13 mg/L, and Milan reached 8.96 mg/L.

"Obviously, keeping a pot of Milan at home has a good effect. The flowers are very fragrant and can absorb a lot of formaldehyde quickly in a short period of time. In terms of long-term effects, Sun God and Snapdragon are the best." The expert said that Snapdragon, White Palm and Rubber Tree also performed well in the early stage, and although Sun God and Aloe did not perform well in the early stage, they caught up after 13 days. Aloe, which was originally ranked second to last and far behind other plants, absorbed 7.61 mg/L on the 16th day, which was slightly higher than the rubber tree that was originally ranked second; by the 21st day, Aloe had surpassed Milan and was second only to Sun God and Snapdragon.

Worst for absorbing formaldehyde and poison: Cactus

The most surprising thing is that the cactus, which is known to have strong purification ability, is not very effective in removing formaldehyde. Experts classify it as a "plant that is difficult to absorb formaldehyde."

The experimenters injected 2 ppm of formaldehyde into the fog box and observed how the plants absorbed the formaldehyde within two hours. Monstera, Schefflera, Azalea, Cyclamen and Calla Lily ranked in the top five, among which Monstera absorbed nearly 90% of formaldehyde. Well-known green plants such as green ivy, spider plant, rubber tree, etc. are not ranked high, and aloe vera, which is promoted as a formaldehyde-absorbing plant, ranks last.