Garlic and health

Health tip # 23

Garlic and health is the title of today’s topic. Al-Mighty God has blessed us too many items which help us to improve our health. Garlic is one of them. Garlic is being used since old times ,  to keep the high blood pressure in control. The researchers confirm that consumption of garlic helps to improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels. We will talk about garlic’s effects on our health, in this article.

Contents:

• What is Garlic ?
• Garlic Nutritional chart;
• New research.
• Health benefits of garlic.

What is garlic :

Allium sativum ( Garlic ) is a perennial flowering plant that grows from a bulb. It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to 1 m (3 ft). The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and approximately 1.25–2.5 cm (0.5–1.0 in) wide, with an acute apex. The plant may produce pink to purple flowers from July to September in the Northern Hemisphere. The bulb has a strong odor and is typically made up of 10 to 20 cloves. The Garlic is used  while preparing foods. Beside that Garlic has strong effects to improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels. For more information about cholesterol, please read our article ” Let us know our cholesterol – Part 1 “.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture:

• Garlic and onion are in the same plant subfamily called Allium.
• Garlic is considered a vegetable, not an herb or spice.
• Garlic can reduce total cholesterol levels by 10 to 15 %.
• Garlic has been shown to boost the immune system and reduce the severity of cold and flu symptoms .
• Garlic can help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, including colorectal and stomach cancer.

Garlic nutritional chart;

Researchers do not say easily that consumption  of   garlic improve many health conditions. Garlic has many important nutrition to improve human health. Here is a chart of garlic nutrition in 100 gram of raw garlic . Usually one medium to large garlic cloves weights between 3 to 8 gram each clove.

Garlic nutritional chart

Calories                           149

Carbohydrates                 33.1 g

Fiber                                    2.1 g

Fats                                     0,5 g

Protein                               6.4 g

Vitamin B6                       1.2 mg

Vitamin C                       31.2 mg

Thiamin                          0 ,2  mg

Riboflavin                         0.1 mg

Manganese                        1.7 mg

Selenium                          14.2 mcg

Calcium                           181.0 mg

Copper                                 0,3 mg

Phosphorus                     153.0 mg

Potassium                        401.0 mg

Iron                                         1.7 mg

Beside above, garlic also contain Vitamin A, E, K, Niacin, Folate, Pantothenic acid, Choline, Zinc, Magnesium and Sodium.

New research.

Thanks to the scientists and researchers who continue to find new horizons of different subjects. The researchers reviewed the existing studies about garlic to find how garlic affects on human health. They centralized their attention how garlic consumption effects on human cholesterol , blood glucose and triglyceride  levels.

A research based in China , collected data from 29 trials to find how garlic affects on cholesterol, blood glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and triglyceride. The study appears in the journal Nutrients. 

According to previous studies, it was known that garlic has a compound known as Allicin. This compound has some properties like antibacterial  , antifungal and antiviral. To find out if garlic has any effects to improve blood glucose and lipid metabolism, the researchers conducted 22 study  meetings . There were 29 trials to focus on the subject. The 1,567 participants were from different countries and age groups  18 and alders . The participants needed eat/drink garlic for more than 2 weeks and report their HbA1c, fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein ( HDL) , low- density lipoprotein cholesterol ( LDL) and triglyceride.

The participants were given garlic in different form during trial like:

• Garlic powder.
• Garlic oil.
• Old garlic extract.
• Garlic powder pill or tablets.
• Garlic extract capsule.
• Raw garlic.

Some participants consumed 300 to 22,400 mg of garlic in one day. While other consumed 800 to 4,200 mg per day.

The researcher used all these data to find out if garlic consumption could improve metabolic markers. The found that:

• Garlic supplements lowered fasting blood glucose levels.
• Garlic lowered HbA1c levels.
• Garlic reduced total cholesterol levels.
• Garlic lowered LDL, also known as ” bad cholesterol ” .
• Garlic increased HDL levels ,   known as ” good cholesterol.
• The researchers did NOT find any impact on TRIGLYCERIDE levels.
• Researcher also found that garlic consumption may have the potential for use in preventing or managing some cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.

Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD,  a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at Memorial Care Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA said in his own words as under;

“This meta-analysis included  many different trials that studied the effects of garlic. However , these studies varied quite a bit in their designs, and thus do not allow us to pinpoint the exact active compounds that could be responsible for garlic’s beneficial effects. Experts believe garlic has beneficial effects on blood sugar control and cholesterol levels through its sulfur-based compounds, such as allicin, alliin and diallyl disulfide , but that more research is necessary to learn exactly how it works. This study is unlikely to change our specific dietary recommendations, but it should be noted that garlic would be considered a nutritious and healthy addition to any diet “.

Health benefits of  eating garlic.

Eating garlic has many health benefits . Some of them are;

• It prevent from cough and cold.
• It is good for cardiac health.
• It improves brain functioning.
• It improve digestion.
• It keep blood sugar balanced.
• It boosts immunity.
• It improve skin health.
• It prevents cancer and peptic ulcer.
• It is good for weight loss.
• Garlic may improve athletic performance.
• Garlic fights UTI and improve renal health.
• It reduces exercise fatigue.
• It reduces blood toxicity.
• It overcome estrogen’s deficiency.
• Garlic prevents heart blockages.

source : medicalnewstoday.com

The last words:

Garlic is a common vegetable available every where. People  mostly do not know its health benefits. Some people dislike its odor. To remove its odor, it is better to cook it with vegetable.