The odoriferous compounds of sulphur and selenium within garlic provide this plant with a natural defence mechanism deterring parasites, fungi and bacteria. When eaten, these antimicrobial properties are advantageously passed on to humans, explaining why, for centuries, garlic has been perceived as a universal cure-all remedy.
Modern research has further established that garlic is beneficial to help maintain cardiovascular health, including normal healthy arterial health, blood flow, cholesterol, triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels. Garlic is also thought to supports the immune systems efforts in the fight against abnormal tissue growth.
The key active ingredient
The key to the curative powers of garlic is a sulphurous compound named allicin. Allicin is highly active, but unstable, the trick to utilising its powers is consuming large amounts of garlic, raw and fresh! The therapeutic properties of allicin are released only when fresh garlic is crushed or digested.
If the thought of ingesting hefty amounts of raw garlic is not appealing (not recommended with blood thinning medications), then Nature's Way® Garlicin® may be your best option. Garlicin® provides garlic as it is found in the fresh clove. Careful processing provides allinin and the enzyme allinase, that when combined during digestion of the tablet form bioactive allicin. The tablet's enteric coating ensures this process happens in the intestine, providing the best absorption and minimum bounce-back odour from the stomach.
Allicin's anti-bacteria attitude
Research has discovered the antibiotic activity of garlic is predominantly due to allicin. Its action is extraordinary in that even when diluted to only 1% of penicillin's strength it still completely inhibits a variety of gram-negative and grampositive bacteria.
Allicin is effective in supporting the body's fight against a vide variety of bacteria responsible for an array of illnesses such as food poisoning, pneumonia and gastric ulcers, even mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is responsible for Tuberculosis (TB). Interestingly, bacteria responsible for diarrhoea are more easily inhibited by garlic than the beneficial intestinal bacteria, suggesting “gut-friendly” antibiotic activity. Even more remarkable is the fact that most bacteria are unable to develop resistance to allicin, indicating its importance in fighting the worrisome increase of multi-drug resistant bacteria.
(Originally published in Health & Herbal News Magazine Volume 17, Issue 2)