National Garlic Day 2020: Garlic Uses, Advantages, Side Effects, and Precautions

National Garlic Day is celebrated every year on April 19. Garlic was likewise referred to or rather nicknamed as the Stinking Rose. As indicated by popular belief, garlic originates from the Lily family. This group of the family additionally incorporates onions, leeks, and shallots. The fragrant and potent root has been flavoring dishes for a large number of years.

Garlic is a herb that is developed the world over. This herb is identified with onion, leeks, and chives. It is believed that garlic is native to Siberia, however, spread to different parts of the world more than 5000 years ago.

It is most normally used for conditions identified with the heart and blood system. These conditions incorporate high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol or different fats (lipids) in the blood (hyperlipidemia), and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).

In foods and drinks, fresh garlic, garlic powder, and garlic oil are used to include enhance.

How can Garlic work?

Garlic creates a chemical called allicin. This is the thing that appears to make its work for specific conditions. Allicin likewise makes garlic smell. A few products are made “odorless” by aging the garlic, yet this procedure can likewise make it less successful. It’s a smart thought to search for supplements that are coated (enteric coating) so they will break up in the intestine and not in the stomach.

Uses of Garlic

Right now, garlic is broadly used for a few conditions connected to the blood system and heart, including atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), high cholesterol, heart attack, coronary heart disease, and high blood pressure.

It is likewise used today by certain individuals for the prevention of lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, rectal cancer, and colon cancer.

It is important to include that solitary a portion of these uses is upheld by research.

An investigation published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology cautioned that short-term heating lessens the anti-inflammatory impacts of fresh raw garlic extracts. This might be an issue for certain individuals who don’t care for or can’t endure the taste and additionally smell of fresh garlic.

Advantages of Garlic

The following are examples of some scientific investigations published in peer-reviewed academic journals about the therapeutic advantages (or not) of garlic.

• Lung cancer risk

Individuals who ate raw garlic at least two times per week during the 7 year study period had a 44 percent lower risk of creating lung cancer, as indicated by a study directed at the Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention in China.

The scientists, who published their investigation in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, completed up close and personal interviews with 1,424 lung cancer patients and 4,543 healthy people. They were gotten some information about their eating regimen and lifestyle, remembering inquiries for smoking and how frequently they ate garlic.

The study creators expressed: “Protective association between intake of raw garlic and lung cancer has been observed with a dose-response pattern, suggesting that it may potentially serve as a chemopreventive agent for lung cancer.”

• Brain cancer

Organo-sulfur compounds found in garlic have been recognized as viable in decimating the cells in glioblastomas, a kind of destructive brain tumor.

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina detailed in the journal Cancer that three pure organo-sulfur compounds from garlic – DAS, DADS, and DATS – “demonstrated efficacy in eradicating brain cancer cells, but DATS proved to be the most effective.”

Co-author, Ray Swapan, Ph.D., said “This research highlights the great promise of plant-originated compounds as a natural medicine for controlling the malignant growth of human brain tumor cells. More studies are needed in animal models of brain tumors before application of this therapeutic strategy to brain tumor patients.”

• Hip osteoarthritis

Ladies whose diets were wealthy in allium vegetables had lower levels of osteoarthritis, a group at King’s College London and the University of East Anglia, both in England, revealed in the journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. Examples of allium vegetables incorporate garlic, leeks, shallots, onions, and rakkyo.

The study authors said their discoveries featured the conceivable effect of diet on osteoarthritis results as well as exhibited the potential for using compounds that exist in garlic to create treatments for the condition.

The long-term examination, including over 1,000 healthy female twins, found that those whose dietary habits included a lot of fruit and vegetables, “particularly alliums such as garlic,” had fewer indications of early osteoarthritis in the hip joint.

• Potentially a powerful antibiotic

Diallyl sulfide, a compound in garlic, was 100 times more powerful than two well-known antibiotics in battling the Campylobacter bacterium, as indicated by a study published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Campylobacter bacterium is one of the most widely recognized reasons for intestinal infections.

Senior author, Dr. Xiaonan Lu, from Washington State University, stated, “This work is very exciting to me because it shows that this compound has the potential to reduce disease-causing bacteria in the environment and our food supply.”

• Heart protection

Diallyl trisulfide, a component of garlic oil, secures the heart during cardiovascular surgery and after a heart attack, specialists at Emory University School of Medicine found. They additionally accept diallyl trisulfide could be used as a treatment for heart failure.

Hydrogen sulfide gas has been appeared to preserve the heart from harm.

In any case, it is an unstable compound and hard to deliver as treatment.

Along these lines, the researchers decided to concentrate on diallyl trisulfide, a garlic oil component, as a more secure approach to deliver the advantages of hydrogen sulfide to the heart.

In experiments using lab mice, the group found that, after a heart attack, the mice that had gotten diallyl sulfide had 61 percent less heart harm in the territory in danger, contrasted and the untreated mice.

In another examination, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that garlic oil may help protect diabetes patients from cardiomyopathy.

Cardiomyopathy is the main source of death among diabetes patients. It is a chronic disease of the myocardium (heart muscle), which is abnormally thickened, developed, as well as hardened.

The group took care of diabetic laboratory rats either garlic oil or corn oil. Those who took care of this oil experienced essentially more changes related to assurance against heart harm, contrasted and the creatures that were taken care of corn oil.

The investigation authors wrote, “In conclusion, garlic oil possesses significant potential for protecting hearts from diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy.”

Human examinations should be performed to affirm the results of this investigation.

• High cholesterol and high blood pressure

Analysts at Ankara University examined the impacts of garlic extract supplementation on the blood lipid (fat) profile of patients with high blood cholesterol. Their examination was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

The examination included 23 volunteers, all with high cholesterol; 13 of them likewise had high blood pressure. They were partitioned into two groups:

• The high-cholesterol normotensive group (normal blood pressure).
• The high-cholesterol hypertensive group (normal blood pressure).

They took garlic extract supplements for 4 months and were routinely checked for blood lipid parameters, as well as kidney and liver function.

Toward the finish of the 4 months, the analysts concluded “…garlic extract supplementation improves blood lipid profile, strengthens blood antioxidant potential, and causes significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressures. It also leads to a decrease in the level of oxidation product (MDA) in the blood samples, which demonstrates reduced oxidation reactions in the body.”

In other words, the garlic extract supplements decreased high cholesterol levels, and blood pressure in patients with hypertension. The researchers included that theirs was a small report – more work should be done.

• Prostate cancer

Specialists at the Department of Urology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China, did an examination assessing the connection between Allium vegetable consumption and prostate cancer risk.

They assembled and investigated published examinations up to May 2013 and detailed their discoveries in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention.

The investigation creators concluded, “Allium vegetables, especially garlic intake, are related to a decreased risk of prostate cancer.”

The group likewise remarked that because there are relatively few pertinent examinations, further, very much structured prospective investigations ought to be completed to affirm their discoveries.

• Alcohol-induced liver injury

Alcohol-induced liver injury is brought about by the long term over-consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Researchers at the Institute of Toxicology, School of Public Health, Shandong University, China, wanted to decide if diallyl disulfide (DADS), a garlic-derived organosulfur compound, may have defensive impacts against ethanol-induced oxidative pressure.

Their investigation was published in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta.

The analysts inferred that DADS may help ensure against ethanol-induced liver injury.

• Preterm (premature) delivery

Microbial diseases during pregnancy raise a lady’s risk of preterm delivery. Researchers at the Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, considered what sway foods may have on antimicrobial infections and preterm delivery risk.

The examination and its discoveries were published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Ronny Myhre and partners focused on the impacts of Alliums and dried fruits because a literature search had recognized these two foods as indicating the best guarantee for lessening preterm delivery risk.

The group examined the intake of dried fruit and Alliums among 18,888 ladies in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort, of whom 5 percent (950) experienced spontaneous PTD (preterm delivery).

The examination authors concluded, “Intake of food with antimicrobial and prebiotic compounds may be of importance to reduce the risk of spontaneous PTD. In particular, garlic was associated with an overall lower risk of spontaneous PTD.”

• Garlic and the common cold

A group of specialists from St. Joseph Family Medicine Residency, Indiana, did an investigation titled “Treatment of the Common Cold in Children and Adults,” published in American Family Physician.

They detailed that “Prophylactic use of garlic may decrease the frequency of colds in adults, but does not affect the duration of symptoms.” Prophylactic use implies using it normally to prevent disease.

Even though there is some examination to propose that raw garlic has the most advantages, different investigations have taken a gander at overall allium intake, both raw and cooked, and have discovered advantages. In this way, you can appreciate garlic in a variety of approaches to procure its advantages.

Side Effects and Safety

At the point when taken by mouth: Garlic is LIKELY SAFE for a great many people when taken by mouth suitably. It has been used securely in inquire about for as long as 7 years. At the point when taken by mouth, it can cause awful breath, a burning sensation in the mouth or stomach, heartburn, gas, nausea, vomiting, body odor, and diarrhea. These side effects are often more regrettable with raw garlic. It may likewise build the danger of bleeding. There have been reports of bleeding after surgery in individuals who have taken it. Asthma has been accounted for in individuals working with garlic, and other allergic reactions are conceivable.

At the point when applied to the skin: Garlic products are POSSIBLY SAFE when applied to the skin. Gels, pastes, and mouthwashes containing it have been used for as long as 3 months. In any case, when applied to the skin, garlic may cause skin harm that is like a burn.

Raw garlic is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when applied to the skin. It may cause serious skin irritation when it is applied to the skin.

Special Precautions & Warnings:

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Garlic is LIKELY SAFE to use during pregnancy when taken in the amounts regularly found in food. It is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when used in medicinal amounts during pregnancy and when breast-feeding. There isn’t sufficient solid data about the security of applying garlic to the skin if you are pregnant or breast-feeding. Stay on the safe side and avoid use.

Children: Garlic is POSSIBLY SAFE when taken by children as a medication short-term. Notwithstanding, garlic is POSSIBLY UNSAFE when taken by mouth in huge dosages. A few sources propose that high dosages of garlic could be hazardous or even deadly to children. The explanation behind this notice isn’t known. There are no case reports accessible of critical unfavorable events or mortality in children related to taking it by mouth. At the point when applied to the skin, garlic may make harm to the skin that is like a burn.

Bleeding disorder: Garlic, particularly fresh garlic, may build the danger of bleeding.

Diabetes: Garlic can lower blood sugar. In principle, taking it may make blood sugar excessively low in individuals with diabetes.

Stomach or digestion issues: Garlic can bother the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Use with alert on the off chance that you have stomach or digestion issues.

Low blood pressure: Garlic can lower blood pressure. In principle, taking it may make blood pressure excessively low in individuals with low pulse.

Surgery: Garlic may prolong bleeding and interfere with blood pressure. It may likewise lower blood sugar levels. Quit taking garlic at least two weeks before a scheduled surgery.