The Health Benefits of Garlic

Anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-oxident

Garlic has been valued as a food ingredient with medicinal properties since time immemorial. Ancient cultures in both the East and the West used garlic as a flavoring herb as well as an agent for killing germs and treating various health conditions. Military doctors during the World Wars used crushed garlic to treat infectious diseases including dysentery, typhoid, cholera, smallpox and tuberculosis.

The scientific community has made extensive investigation into garlic's health benefits over many decades. The result is that we now have a better understanding of garlic's healing properties which can be attributed to garlic's chemical make-up. We have learnt that at the very least, garlic contains 33 sulfur compounds, 17 amino acids (including all of the essential ones), a number of minerals including germanium, calcium, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and vitamins including A, B1, and C.

Clinical studies have shown that amongst other benefits, garlic:

• is a natural antibiotic against viruses, bacteria, protozoa, parasites, and fungi such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger;
• provides protection against carcinogens and cancer cells; strengthens the immune system by enhancing NK-cell activity, macrophages and cytotoxic T-cell activity;
• helps to reduce clogging and hardening of the arteries, boosting circulation;
• helps control liver and gallbladder damage by increasing the body's capacity to absorb and assimilate thiamine, which acts beneficially on liver cells;
• helps in the elimination of lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic poisoning by binding the heavy metals and facilitating excretion;
• is highly anti-oxidant due to its high content of germanium, glutathione, selenium and zinc, making it an effective scavenger of free radicals​