Garlic’s Verified Health Benefits
According to recent studies, garlic may really have some health advantages, including the capacity to prevent the common cold and decrease blood pressure and cholesterol.
Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.
Greek Physician Hippocrates
A member of the Allium (onion) family, garlic is a plant. It shares a family tree with leeks, shallots, and onions.
A clove is one of the names for each part of a garlic bulb. Depending on how you count, a single bulb has 10–20 cloves.
Due to its powerful aroma and mouthwatering flavor, garlic is a widely used cooking ingredient and grows in many regions of the world.
Scientists now understand that the majority of the health advantages of garlic are due to the sulphur compounds that are created when a garlic clove is chopped, crushed, or swallowed.
Allicin is conceivably the most well-known chemical. However, when fresh garlic has been chopped or crushed, allicin, an unstable component, is only momentarily present in the garlic (2Trusted Source).
Diallyl disulfide and s-allyl cysteine are additional substances that could contribute to the health advantages of garlic (3Trusted Source).
Garlic contains Sulphur chemicals that enter your body through your digestive tract. After then, they spread throughout your body and have a significant biological impact.
Supplemental garlic is proven to improve immune system performance.
In a significant 12-week research, daily garlic supplementation decreased the incidence of colds by 63% when compared to a placebo (5Trusted Source).
Additionally, the average duration of cold symptoms was cut in half, from 5 days in the placebo group to just 1.5 days in the garlic group, a reduction of 70%.
More people die from cardiovascular disorders like heart attacks and strokes than practically any other type of illness.
Hypertension, often known as high blood pressure, is one of the main risk factors for various illnesses.
Garlic supplements have been shown in human tests to significantly lower blood pressure in those with high blood pressure (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source).
In a 24-week research, aged garlic extract doses of 600–1,500 mg were just as efficient in lowering blood pressure as the medication atenolol (12Trusted Source).
For a supplement to produce the desired benefits, the dosage must be rather high. The recommended dosage equals to four garlic cloves daily.
Free radicals’ oxidative damage accelerates the ageing process.
Antioxidants found in garlic boost the body’s defences against oxidative damage.
Supplements containing large dosages of garlic have been proven to considerably lower oxidative stress in persons with high blood pressure and to boost antioxidant enzymes in humans.
The combined impact on lowering blood pressure and cholesterol as well as the antioxidant capabilities may lessen the risk of dementia and other prevalent brain diseases (21Trusted Source, 22Trusted Source).
One of the first “performance boosting” drugs was garlic.
To lessen weariness and increase workers’ productivity, it was historically employed in ancient societies.