How is Garlic Healthier When Taken?

Question

People everywhere speak of garlic as a miraculous antibiotics. Does it matter how we have it? I mean, if raw or cooked? Does it cause the same effect?

Answer 1

it can cause the effect of no one wanting to come near you,comes out your skin and breath,garlic pearls from the health shop which you take daily if you want the benefit of an antibiotic

Answer 2

Raw is the best way but who can stand it    roast it with olive oil  yem  it still gets in your system

Answer 3

When you cook it, some of the good minerals and chemicals in the garlic are lost.  Not a lot, but some.

So the rawer the better.

Answer 4

Raw garlic may prevent blood clots and keep blood pressure down, but most recipes call for cooked garlic. Having decided to look into the benefits of both, some Scientists have heated the herb several ways and found that when baked or boiled for up to three minutes, it's just as healthy as raw. Crushed garlic is even better: It retains some benefits when cooked for up to six minutes (crushing seems to release more of the healthy thiosulfinates).

Microwaved garlic, however, was a bust: Nuking for even a few minutes neutralized garlic's anti-clotting effects. For more

taste and benefits add the crushed garlic to the food near the end of the cooking; approximately five minutes.

Answer 5

***

Health Benefits and Uses

Garlic health benefits and medicinal properties have long been known (1). Garlic has long been considered a herbal "wonder drug", with a reputation in folklore for preventing everything from the common cold and flu to the Plague! It has been used extensively in herbal medicine (phytotherapy, sometimes spelt phitotherapy). Raw garlic is used by some to treat the symptoms of acne and there is some evidence that it can assist in managing high cholesterol levels. It can even be effective as a natural mosquito repellent.

In general, a stronger tasting clove of garlic has more sulphur content and hence more medicinal value. Some people have suggested that organically grown garlic tends towards a higher sulphur level and hence greater benefit to health. In my experience it certainly tastes better and I buy organic whenever possible.

Some people prefer to take garlic supplements. These pills and capsules have the advantage of avoiding garlic breath.

Modern science has shown that garlic is a powerful antibiotic, albeit broad-spectrum rather than targeted. The body does not appear to build up resistance to the garlic, so its positive health benefits continue over time.

Healthy Antioxidant

Studies (2) have shown that garlic - especially aged garlic - can have a powerful antioxidant effect. Antioxidants help to protect the body against damaging "free radicals".

***

Garlic and Health

Garlic has long been considered a medicinal food. It was used to protect against plague by monks in the Middle Ages. Hippocrates used garlic vapors to treat cervical cancer. Garlic poultices were placed on wounds during World War II as an inexpensive, and apparently quite effective replacement for antibiotics which were scarce during wartime.

Now science is beginning to prove the medicinal properties of garlic that our ancestors took for granted. Studies have shown garlic can suppress the growth of tumors, and is a potent antioxidant good for cardiovascular health.

Other studies show garlic can reduce LDLs or "bad" cholesterol and is a good blood-thinning agent to avoid blood clots which could potentially lead to heart attack or stroke.

All of this natural medicine comes at a cost of only 4 calories per clove.

***

Health Effects of Garlic

ELLEN TATTELMAN, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York

A PDF version of this document is available. Download PDF now (4 pages /80 KB).



Garlic has long been used medicinally, most recently for its cardiovascular, antineoplastic, and antimicrobial properties. Sulfur compounds, including allicin, appear to be the active components in the root bulb of the garlic plant. Studies show significant but modest lipid-lowering effects and antiplatelet activity. Significant blood pressure reduction is not consistently noted. There is some evidence for antineoplastic activity and insufficient evidence for clinical antimicrobial activity. Side effects generally are mild and uncommon. Garlic appears to have no effect on drug metabolism, but patients taking anticoagulants should be cautious. It seems prudent to stop taking high dosages of garlic seven to 10 days before surgery because garlic can prolong bleeding time. (Am Fam Physician 2005;72:103-6. Copyright© 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians.)

Garlic (Allium sativum) has been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes. Sanskrit records show its medicinal use about 5,000 years ago, and it has been used for at least 3,000 years in Chinese medicine. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans used garlic for healing purposes.1 In 1858, Pasteur noted garlic's antibacterial activity, and it was used as an antiseptic to prevent gangrene during World War I and World War II.2

Historically, garlic has been used around the world to treat many conditions, including hypertension, infections, and snakebites, and some cultures have used it to ward off evil spirits. Currently, garlic is used for reducing cholesterol levels and cardiovascular risk, as well as for its antineoplastic and antimicrobial properties.1

Pharmacology

The root bulb of the garlic plant is used medicinally. It can be used fresh, dehydrated, or as a steam-distilled oil.

Garlic has a high concentration of sulfur-containing compounds. The thiosulfinates, including allicin, appear to be the active substances in garlic. Allicin is formed when alliin, a sulfur-containing amino acid, comes into contact with the enzyme alliinase when raw garlic is chopped, crushed, or chewed. Dried garlic preparations containing alliin and alliinase must be enteric coated to be effective because stomach acid inhibits alliinase. Because alliinase also is deactivated by heat, cooked garlic is less powerful medicinally. The antimicrobial, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, and antithrombotic effects that have been attributed to garlic are thought to be related to allicin and other breakdown products. The antineoplastic effects may be related to the sulfur compounds or to other, unknown components.1

Uses and Efficacy

Garlic has been studied extensively in vitro, in animal and human clinical trials, and in epidemiologic evaluations for its multiple medicinal properties. The quality of human trials has been variable, making comparisons among the trials difficult. Some trials are not well blinded; some are only of short duration; some have only small numbers of patients; and many are not well controlled. In addition, many different garlic preparations have been used, with unpredictable release of active ingredients.

lipid-lowering effects

Many randomized clinical trials have studied the effects of garlic on lipid levels. Results from two meta-analyses conducted in 19933 and 19944 of garlic's effect on total cholesterol show a significant reduction in total cholesterol levels (9 to 12 percent) compared with placebo. Since then, additional, better-designed trials have been published, with conflicting results.5-8 A meta-analysis published in 20009 that included these trials concluded that garlic is superior to placebo in reducing total cholesterol levels, but that the extent of the effect is modest (4 to 6 percent). A more recent meta-analysis10 of placebo-controlled trials using standardized dried garlic powder showed significant reductions in total cholesterol levels (19.2 mg per dL [0.50 mmol per L]), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (6.7 mg per dL [0.20 mmol per L]) and triglyceride levels (21.1 mg per dL [0.24 mmol per L]) at eight to 12 weeks; these reductions were not sustained at six months of treatment. This difference in reduction may be due to differences in the studies (i.e., shorter or longer follow-up periods, fewer long-term studies, time-dependent effects of garlic,11 or nonadherence in the studies of longer duration).

A European trial12 comparing garlic with a commercial lipid-lowering drug (bezafibrate, a fibric acid derivative not available in the United States) found them to be equally effective in decreasing lipids to a statistically significant extent. One trial13 of garlic extract treatment in children with hypercholesterolemia found no adverse effects, but also no significant beneficial effect on lipid levels. A trial testing garlic's effect on lipid levels, sponsored by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, is underway.14

Strength of Recommendation



Key clinical recommendations

Label

References



Patients should be advised that garlic has a modest, short-term, lipid-lowering effect.

C

5 to 13



Patients at risk of thrombosis should be advised that garlic may have a modest but significant effect on platelet aggregation compared with placebo.

C

10



Patients should be advised that there may be a reduction in the risk ofcancer, particularly stomach and colon cancer, with high consumption of garlic and other allium vegetables (e.g., onions, leeks, shallots, chives).

C

11, 20, 21



A = consistent, good-quality patient-oriented evidence; B = inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence; C = consensus, disease-oriented evidence, usual practice, opinion, or case series. For information about the SORT evidence rating system, see page 15 or http://www.aafp.org/afpsort.xml.



antihypertensive effects

The antihypertensive effects of garlic have been studied but remain controversial. In a 1994 meta-analysis15 assessing the effect of garlic on hypertension, three trials showed significant reductions in systolic blood pressure (7.7 mm Hg greater reduction), and four trials showed reductions in diastolic blood pressure (5 mm Hg greater reduction) with garlic treatment compared with placebo. In a more recent meta-analysis,10 23 placebo-controlled trials were analyzed. Only three trials showed a statistically significant reduction in diastolic blood pressure (2 to 7 percent), and one showed a statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (approximately 3 percent) in patients treated with garlic compared with placebo.

other cardiovascular-related effects

A recent review10 of 10 trials assessing the effect of garlic on thrombotic risk showed modest but significant decreases in platelet aggregation with garlic compared with placebo, but mixed results on fibrinolytic activity and plasma viscosity were reported. The same review analyzed 12 trials of garlic supplementation in diabetic and nondiabetic adults; only one trial showed a significant decrease in glucose levels in nondiabetic patients who took garlic when compared with placebo. Atherosclerotic plaque volume reduction in humans also has been noted in two trials comparing garlic treatment with placebo.16-18 One observational study19 showed that regular garlic powder intake weakened age- and pressure-related increases in aortic stiffness.

antineoplastic effects

Epidemiologic e