Health Fact: Garlic Wards Off (Besides Vampires!) Many Health Threats
August 28th 2007 14:36
For thousands of years, humans have revered garlic as both food and medicine. Medical experts believe that regular consumption of garlic - as little as half a clove a day - may cut the risk of several significant health threats.
Chemists say that when garlic is crushed, chopped, or chewed, an enzyme is released that converts one of garlic's key sulfur compounds, called alliin, into allicin. Allicin gives garlic its unique odor (the reason why garlic is often called the "stinking rose") and provides much of its healing properties.
Garlic has been shown to have numerous beneficial effects. Consider the following:
1) Garlic kills many disease-causing microorganisms. Doctors say that although it is only about 1 percent as effective as penicillin, it works against a wide spectrum of bacteria, viruses, and fungi - including some that antibiotics can't destroy.
2) In test tubes, garlic inhibits the growth of 'Helicobacter pylori,' the bacterium that causes most stomach ulcers.
3) The numerous sulfur compounds of garlic may also protect against certain types of cancer. A major study conducted in Iowa showed garlic to be the single most powerful protector against colon cancer.
4) It's not only garlic's sulfur compounds that appear to fight cancer. Garlic increases the production of an enzyme known as glutathione peroxidase, which helps detoxify carcinogens.
5) Garlic provides selenium, a mineral known to fight cancer.
6) Garlic lowers blood fats, known as triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease. And laboratory evidence suggests that it reduces the tendency of the blood to clot, which may help stave off heart attacks.
Much of the research surrounding garlic has focused on the ability of different preparations to lower cholesterol. There have been some positive results, but two recent studies have shown no such effect, perhaps suggesting that the cholesterol-lowering ingredient may not be present in all garlic products.
Most researchers agree that garlic offers the greatest benefit when eaten raw. Try mincing it in salsas and salad dressings. If you do cook garlic, chop it, wait 15 minutes, then cook it lightly to preserve its disease-fighting powers. Saute it for a minute or so in a pan, remove it, continue cooking your meal, and then return it to the finished dish.
If you are not a garlic lover, you can probably get many of garlic's benefits from a supplement. Shop carefully; some brands require that you take as many as 17 pills a day to equal the active compounds in one fresh clove. Look for brands that guarantee an allicin yield of 5,000 micrograms.
Enteric-coated pills are available that pass, undigested, into the small intestine, so that stomach acids don't destroy the all-important sulfur compounds. Enteric-coated pills also reduce or eliminate garlic's unsociable odor. Also odorless is aged garlic extract, the form used in many of the clinical studies and generally considered effective.
One caution from medical experts: Large amounts of garlic may "thin" the blood. If you take a blood-thinning prescription drug or aspirin for your heart, talk to your doctor before greatly increasing your garlic intake.
Chemists say that when garlic is crushed, chopped, or chewed, an enzyme is released that converts one of garlic's key sulfur compounds, called alliin, into allicin. Allicin gives garlic its unique odor (the reason why garlic is often called the "stinking rose") and provides much of its healing properties.
Garlic has been shown to have numerous beneficial effects. Consider the following:
1) Garlic kills many disease-causing microorganisms. Doctors say that although it is only about 1 percent as effective as penicillin, it works against a wide spectrum of bacteria, viruses, and fungi - including some that antibiotics can't destroy.
2) In test tubes, garlic inhibits the growth of 'Helicobacter pylori,' the bacterium that causes most stomach ulcers.
3) The numerous sulfur compounds of garlic may also protect against certain types of cancer. A major study conducted in Iowa showed garlic to be the single most powerful protector against colon cancer.
4) It's not only garlic's sulfur compounds that appear to fight cancer. Garlic increases the production of an enzyme known as glutathione peroxidase, which helps detoxify carcinogens.
5) Garlic provides selenium, a mineral known to fight cancer.
6) Garlic lowers blood fats, known as triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease. And laboratory evidence suggests that it reduces the tendency of the blood to clot, which may help stave off heart attacks.
Much of the research surrounding garlic has focused on the ability of different preparations to lower cholesterol. There have been some positive results, but two recent studies have shown no such effect, perhaps suggesting that the cholesterol-lowering ingredient may not be present in all garlic products.
Most researchers agree that garlic offers the greatest benefit when eaten raw. Try mincing it in salsas and salad dressings. If you do cook garlic, chop it, wait 15 minutes, then cook it lightly to preserve its disease-fighting powers. Saute it for a minute or so in a pan, remove it, continue cooking your meal, and then return it to the finished dish.
If you are not a garlic lover, you can probably get many of garlic's benefits from a supplement. Shop carefully; some brands require that you take as many as 17 pills a day to equal the active compounds in one fresh clove. Look for brands that guarantee an allicin yield of 5,000 micrograms.
Enteric-coated pills are available that pass, undigested, into the small intestine, so that stomach acids don't destroy the all-important sulfur compounds. Enteric-coated pills also reduce or eliminate garlic's unsociable odor. Also odorless is aged garlic extract, the form used in many of the clinical studies and generally considered effective.
One caution from medical experts: Large amounts of garlic may "thin" the blood. If you take a blood-thinning prescription drug or aspirin for your heart, talk to your doctor before greatly increasing your garlic intake.
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Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
Interesting re. 'wait 15 mins, then cook'... do u know why?
Comment by Bernadette
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