Garlic

Introduction
Garlic is the name given to the leek (herb) with gar (spear) shaped leaves. Its Latin name Allium sativum is derived from al = burning, sativum = harvested. The plant may have arisen as a wild variant (“ramson”) in Siberia, but it has spread world-wide, and is harvested in China, India, Gilroy in California, and in many other places. As a food, it was favored by the Hebrews in biblical Egypt, and it is now beloved in both homespun and gourmet cooking everywhere. Garlic has had a long-held reputation as a medicine, and it was regarded by the popular 17th century British herbalist, Culpeper, as the “poor man’s treacle”, implying that it had value as an antidote to poisons and as a panacea for illnesses. Chicago is named after the Indian term for the place where the wild garlic grows.

What It Is Used For

It's medicinal properties has been known for a long time and has been specially proven during World War II. Because of Garlic's antibacterial compound known as Allicin, lives were saved by preventing wounds from having infection and later develop into gangrene when the juice of garlic was applied to the wounds.

Garlic is known as nature's antibiotic. It's juices inhibits the growth of fungi and viruses thus prevents viral, yeast and viral infections. Preliminary test also shows some positive results in the treatment of AIDS.

Garlic contains several potent antioxidants, and there is evidence that its addition to the diet may help reduce the incidence of gastric and colorectal cancers.

The chemicals in garlic can help reduce serum cholesterol, hypertension, blood clotting, blood sugar, bowel parasites, respiratory and other infections, and the aging process itself.

Garlic has also been used topically (on the skin) to treat corns, warts, calluses, ear infections, muscle pain, nerve pain, arthritis, and sciatica.

Today as more research is done with garlic, more medicinal and therapeutic properties become more evident.

How It Is Used

• For disinfecting wound, crush and juice the garlic bulb and apply. You may cover the afflicted area with a gauze and bandage.
• For sore throat and toothache, peal the skin and chew. Swallow the juice.
• Aside from being an herbal medicine for hypertension, arteriosclerosis and other ailments, garlic is also recommended for maintaining good health - eat raw garlic bulb, and include bawang regularly in the food you eat. It's healthy and taste good in a variety of dishes.

What the Science Says
Much present research is aimed at identifying the compounds responsible for the health-protective effects of garlic. The most active medicinal components of garlic are the sulfur-containing compounds, and the compound allicin is the major source of its antimicrobial action. (The characteristic strong odor of fresh garlic is also largely due to allicin.) Some garlic experts also consider allicin the key to its cardiovascular benefits as well, but this is more controversial. Researchers report about the other benefits of garlic :

• Garlic's anti-cancer properties may be partly due to selenium -- an element found in garlic.
• Garlic may slow the progression of coronary artery calcification in patients on statin therapy.
• In addition to its cholesterol-lowering potential, blood-pressure-lowering effects and antioxidant properties, garlic may help moderate levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that is a marker for coronary artery disease.
• Garlic may inhibit platelet aggregation -- a major contributing factor to cardiovascular disease -- by suppressing calcium mobilization.
• Garlic may reduce precancerous gastric lesions.
• Garlic may suppress progression of precancerous lesions of the large bowel.

Side Effects and Cautions

The ingestion of one to two cloves of raw garlic per day is considered safe in adults. The most common side effect of ingested garlic is breath and body odor. Consumption of excessive amounts of raw garlic, especially on an empty stomach, can cause gastrointestinal upset, flatulence, and changes in the intestinal flora. There have been reports of allergic dermatitis, burns, and blisters from topical application of raw garlic.

Garlic appears to have no effect on drug metabolism, although recent studies in healthy volunteers show conflicting results related to garlic's effect on protease inhibitor pharmacokinetics. It has been suggested that patients taking anticoagulants use caution when taking garlic because of its antithrombotic properties. It seems prudent to stop taking high dosages of garlic seven to 10 days before surgery because garlic can prolong bleeding time and has been associated (in one case report) with spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma.