Does garlic do more than cause bad breath?
So Doc, garlic is one of the most common herbs used in alternative medicine. Does it prevent heart attacks?
No. There exists no science that garlic prevents heart attacks. But it may have helped build the pyramids in Egypt.
What? I knew it caused bad breath but the Pyramids?
Yes. The Egyptians fed garlic to their laborers because they felt it increased strength. Cloves of garlic were even found in King Tut’s tomb. The Greeks gave it to their soldiers before battle and their athletes before competition. Hippocrates used it for medical therapy for the lungs and stomach. One chief physician for the Roman army believed garlic “cleansed the arteries.” In ancient India, garlic was used for heart disease and arthritis. In China it was used for diarrhea, worms, and depression.
I’d be depressed too if I had worms and diarrhea. So what about the bad breath?
Allyl methyl sulfide is a compound in garlic that we cannot digest. This compound gets into our blood and is carried to the lungs and skin where it acts as a repellant to anyone with at least one nostril. Some people think that the compound is also a mosquito repellant. I did spray my yard with garlic several times one summer; my kids stopped complaining about mosquitoes probably because they didn’t go outside much after that.
Where does garlic come from?
Garlic is part of the onion “family” and probably originated in Asia. Eighty percent of the world’s garlic comes from China where the herb has been used for thousands of years. It eventually made its way to medieval Europe where it was worn, hung in windows or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes to ward off vampires.
Hmmm, mosquitoes and vampires . . . are you sure it won’t ward off heart disease?
Like I said, there is no direct science that garlic prevents heart attacks. However, there is some science to suggest it can lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Lowering cholesterol and blood pressure has been shown to prevent heart disease.
How good is garlic at lowering cholesterol?
How much garlic was needed to lower cholesterol?
All the studies were done with supplements that used either garlic powder, garlic oil or aged garlic powder. The garlic doses ranged from 600 to 2,400mg/day. No study really looked at dietary garlic because it’s harder to give everyone the same dose with garlic cloves.
What’s the stuff in garlic that lowers cholesterol?
Probably sulfur compounds. These compounds are the stuff in garlic that prevents the body from making cholesterol. The compound that has the most effect on our bodies is called allicin.
Allicin . . . you mean the girl in my second grade class in elementary school?
No, allicin is a compound from garlic that can become many different sulfur based compounds. These compounds are mostly found within the cells of the plant, so chewing and crushing the garlic destroys the cell walls and releases the allicin into our bodies. Most supplements tout the amount of allicin that can be obtained from their tablets.
How much allicin should you get a day?
There’s not a set amount, but the good news is that eating one clove of garlic can give you the amount of allicin found in one to twenty-seven tablets of supplements, depending on the brand. For example, one tablet of Kwai garlic powder contains 1.8mg of allicin. One clove of garlic can contain anywhere from 7.5mg to 13.5mg of allicin. That’s equal to at least 4 tablets of Kwai garlic powder.
Woah! How much does a garlic supplement cost?
Kwai garlic powder costs $25 for 100 tablets. Allicor (long acting garlic powder) costs $17 for 60 tablets. Kyolic aged garlic powder costs $22 for 300 tablets. Compare that to a bulb of garlic containing about 10 cloves for 0.42 cents at Walmart.
Does garlic lower blood pressure?
The latest summary of the science showed that garlic supplements can lower systolic blood pressure by 9mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 4mmHg. The doses were about the same as the cholesterol studies. Scientists think that some of the sulfur compounds in garlic can cause the blood vessels to get bigger (dilate) which causes lower blood pressure.
Does garlic thin the blood too? I hear that garlic should be avoided with blood thinners.
Garlic contains compounds which have been shown in test tubes to prevent blood clotting. Think of blood clots like a brick wall. Garlic can keep the bricks (platelets) from sticking together. The effect has not been evaluated in real people.
Okay doc, what’s the bottom line?
Science suggests that garlic can lower cholesterol and blood pressure. I would add a clove of garlic to my diet on a regular basis. The garlic should be crushed and/or chewed. Save your money by avoiding supplements.