Healing Herbs Articles & Resources

During the Second World War, garlic was used as a disinfectant for wounds and as protection against gangrene in injured soldiers.

Now, research is showing that it protects against two of the most dreaded diseases of our time: heart disease and cancer.

Some have even argued that since our ancestors ate a diet rich in a variety of plants and herbs now missing in modern diets, we should consider phytonutrient-rich plants such as garlic to be essential nutrients!

I think this is a great idea, and you can easily incorporate into your own personal diet plan just by taking aged garlic supplements.

Garlic Basics

Garlic is a member of the lily family. Its genus (Allium) also includes onions. When a clove of garlic is crushed or chewed, an odorless sulfur-containing compound, alliin, is transformed to allicin, which gives garlic its characteristic odor. Allicin is the element of garlic that has been most intensively studied and which appears to have the most medicinal value. Allicin naturally breaks down to other compounds, including daily sulfide and ajoene, which are thought to have unique healing effects on the body.

Garlic Keeps Your Blood Vessels Clear

While early studies on the heart-protective effects of garlic showed that garlic supplementation tended to decrease "bad" LDL cholesterol and raise "good" HDL, more recent research has conflicted with those results.

Whether garlic affects blood cholesterol levels or not, it still dramatically reduces the buildup of plaque (the fatty deposits that clog blood vessels) in the arteries.

In one study from the journal Atherosclerosis, 152 subjects had the amount of plaque in two major arteries measured, and then took garlic powder for 48 months. The results showed that the growth of the plaques was slowed by five to 18 percent, and that in some subjects the plaques actually became smaller.

Several studies on non-human subjects show the same trend. It appears that garlic protects the heart by way of its potent antioxidant effects. Oxidized LDL, not just LDL, is what causes plaques to grow. In study after study garlic has shown itself to be a superior preventative against LDL oxidation. Garlic also protects against clogged blood vessels by decreasing the tendency of blood to clump or clot.

Garlic Protects Against Infections Of All Kinds

Whether you want to stave off bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic infections, garlic is good protection. Garlic has been shown in test-tube studies and animal studies to be deadly to Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that causes ulcers, and to the dreaded food-borne bacteria Salmonella, E. coli, Staphylococcus and Listeria.

Bacteria do not develop resistance to garlic—a good reason to favor garlic over antibiotics!
Phytochemicals in garlic are also effective at stopping cold, flu and herpes viruses in their tracks. The growth of Candida albicans, the fungal yeast that causes vaginal yeast infections and intestinal candidiasis, is slowed by garlic. Garlic kills parasites such as Giardia and Entamoeba, both common causes of chronic diarrhea.

Cancer Prevention With Garlic

Studies on gastrointestinal, colon, and breast cancer show that in populations that consume more garlic, cancer risk is significantly lower. It appears that phytochemicals in garlic interfere with the growth of several kinds of cancer cells.

Garlic is also rich in selenium, the cancer-fighting mineral, and in sulfur, which supports the detoxification process. Several studies have shown that carcinogenic chemicals are detoxified more efficiently throughout the body when garlic is added to the mix. It also helps control the production of free radicals, which have been strongly implicated as a cause of cancer.

Can Garlic Prevent "Senior Moments?"

One interesting study in the journal Experimental Gerontology described the effects of garlic extract on learning and memory impairment in aging mice. Mice specially bred to age more rapidly than their normal counterparts were used.

About half of the mice were fed a 2 percent garlic diet for eight to nine months. It was found that the garlic-supplemented mice better retained their ability to learn and remember than their counterparts who didn't consume garlic.

I believe that everyone can benefit from adding garlic to their diets. Cook with it whenever you can. Fresh and powdered are both beneficial. I also recommend you take supplemental garlic. The aged garlic extracts, containing at least percent allium, have been the most thoroughly studied.

Margie – “The Arthritis Lady”
.com

REFERENCES:

Abramovitz D, et al, "Allicin-induced decrease in formation of fatty streaks (atherosclerosis) in mice fed a cholesterol-rich diet," Coronary Artery Diseases, 1999 Oct;10(7):515-9.
Ankri S, Mirelman D, "Antimicrobial properties of allicin from garlic," Microbes and Infection, 1999 Feb;1(2):125-129.
Challier B, Perarnau JM, Viel JF, "Garlic, onion, and cereal fibre as protective factors for breast cancer: a French case-control study," European Journal of Epidemiology, 1998 Dec;14(8):737-47.
Ide N, Lau BH,"Aged garlic extract attenuates intracellular oxidative stress," Phytomedicine, 1999 May;6(2):125-31.
Koscielny J, et al, "The antiatherosclerotic effect of Allium sativum," Atherosclerosis, 1999 May;144(1):237-49.
Kumar M, Berwal JS, "Sensitivity of food pathogens to garlic (Allium sativum)," Journal of Applied Microbiology, 1998 Feb;84(2):213-5.
Munday R, Munday CM, "Low doses of diallyl disulfide, a compound derived from garlic, increase tissue activities of quinone reductase and glutathione transferase in the gastrointestinal tract of the rat," Nutrition and Cancer, 1999;34(1):42-8.
Mishiyama N, Moriguchi T, Saito H, "Beneficial effects of aged garlic extract on learning and memory impairment in the senescence-accelerated mouse," Experimental Gerontology, 1997;32:149-60.
Polasa K, Krishnaswamy K, "Reduction of urinary mutagen excretion in rats fed garlic," Cancer Letters, 1997;114:185-6.
Siegers CP, et al, "The effects of garlic preparations against human tumor cell proliferation," Phytomedicine, 1999 Mar;6(1):7-11.
Singh A, Shukla Y, "Antitumor activity of diallyl sulfide in two-stage mouse skin model of carcinogenesis," Biomedical and Environmental Science, 1998 Sep; 11(3):258-63.
Sivam GP, et al, "Helicobacter pylori--in vitro susceptibility to garlic (Allium sativum) extract," Nutrition and Cancer, 1997;27:118-21.
Steinmetz KA, et al, "Vegetables, fruit, and colon cancer in the Iowa women's health study," American Journal of Epidemiology, 1994;139:1-5.
Takezaki T, et al, "Comparative study of lifestyles of residents in high and low risk areas for gastric cancer risk in Jiangsu Province, China; with special reference to allium vegetables," Journal of Epidemiology, 1999 Nov;9(5):297-305.
Venugopal P, Venogopal T, "Antidermatophytic activity of garlic (Allium sativum) in vitro," International Journal of Dermatology, 1995;34(4):278-9.
Weber ND, et al, "In vitro virucidal effects of Allium sativum (garlic) extract and compounds," Planta Med, 1992 Oct;58(5):417-23.