The Health Benefits of Garlic
What are the health benefits of garlic?
Many people think the only thing garlic does is flavoring your food and give you bad breath, but this is not true. There are many health benefits of garlic, and it has been considered a “cure all” for centuries. Below are just some of the health benefits.
Acne
Many people will have acne from time to time. Acne can be caused by a number of things, including stress, diet and hormones in the body. Garlic by itself will not cure your acne, but using it along with facial creams and washes will help.
Garlic is believed to work because of the blood cleansing and antibiotic properties. Make sure that the garlic you use in your food is crushed and chopped up. This will help to release the compounds in the garlic. Another way to use garlic is to put a few cloves in a bottle of olive oil and then sprinkle some over your salad or other foods.
Cardiovascular Health and High Cholesterol
Garlic is used a lot in Far Eastern foods and Mediterranean foods. Studies have also shown that people from these areas have a low occurrence of cardiovascular disease.
Cholesterol can be hard to understand. It is essential to health, but it could also kill you. This is because there are two kinds of Cholesterol – LDL and HDL. The first type is thought to be bad. Medicine today has found that garlic has the ingredient allicin, which is thought to control the levels of LDL in the body.
However, there have been mixed results in the studies that have been carried out on the benefits of garlic. This only proves that natural remedies need to be taken more seriously. We know that the drug companies have no real reason to research natural cures due to the low finances. If you have a cholesterol problem, go on and take garlic. Be sure that it is part of a balanced diet, and do not ignore what your doctor tells you.
Antioxidant
Allicin found in garlic naturally increases the amount of the enzymes glutathione peroxidase and atalase in your blood stream. It can also help protect your body against the harmful effect of nicotine and it can also help slow the aging process of your liver.
Anti-Bacterial
Garlic has one percent of the power of penicillin and can help prevent against many different bacteria like Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli, and Cryptococcal meningitis, Staphylococcus, and Candida albican. Bacteria tend to develop a resistance to most antibiotics, but they do not resist against garlic.
These benefits were discovered in the nineteenth century when the English priests caught an infectious fever, but the French priests who ate garlic everyday did not.
Blood Clots
Clinical trials that were published in the Journal of Hypertension showed that volunteer’s blood pressures were reduced by up to five percent after they took garlic supplements. This may not sound like much at first, but a small reduction can reduce the chance of heart disease by up to twenty five percent, and can reduce the risk of a stroke by up to forty percent.
Fighting the Common Cold
Studies have shown that daily intake of garlic reduced the risk of the volunteers catching a cold by fifty percent. The researchers also found out then even if the people caught a cold, when they took garlic supplements, they made a faster recovery. If this is not enough to convince you, just one clove every day will improve the amounts of vitamins A, B, and C, as well as a lot of different minerals including iodine, potassium, selenium, iron, zinc, calcium, and magnesium in your body.
Stomach Cancer
Some scientists have conducted research that suggests that garlic could even help prevent stomach cancer. The idea behind this is the allicin found in garlic may help protect against cancerous changes in the stomach wall. More research is clearly needed to be done, but there is no doubt that taking garlic everyday has many health benefits.
Garlic Breath
Many people do not want to eat garlic because they do not want the “garlic breath”. If this is the problem then an odorless garlic supplement is another option. Garlic can also be the cause of flatulence and heartburn in some people. To help prevent “garlic breath” you can chew parsley after eating garlic. This will help to neutralize your bad breath.
Things to remember
1. Garlic is the most effective when used raw and chopped and crushed.
2. Two to three cloves will help prevent getting a cold, and one clove a day will improve your overall health
3. When using garlic while you cook, wait until the final ten minutes to add the garlic
4. Taking too much garlic can irritate your digestive system
5. Micro waving garlic will destroy the active ingredients
6. Taking garlic does not replace a healthy diet
7. When taking certain drugs, be careful about taking garlic supplements because it can interact and cause your prescriptions to be less effective
8. Be sure that you do not eat or take garlic supplements two weeks before having a surgery. This is because garlic can interfere with the clotting of the blood and increase your risk for serious bleeding.
9. Always ask a doctor if you have any questions.
There is no doubt that taking garlic supplements, or eating a clove of garlic a day has many health benefits. Using garlic along with eating a well balanced diet is the best thing to do. Always consult a doctor if you are on any medications.
I am an aspiring artist and writer from Phoenix Arizona. I enjoy golfing, skiing, college football, and hanging out with my two favorite girls (my wife and 4 year old daughter).
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