* Please Note: Traditional Use information is provided as a courtesy only. Although we have done our best to review the validity of these uses and we continue to revise this information as new data emerges, the traditional uses indicated on this page for this product may be wrong. This information is based on Traditional and Folklore Medicine which uses natural materials to support health. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA and is not necessarily based on scientific evidence from any source. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor.
Allium sativum L. (Liliaceae), sometimes called allium, garlic, wild garlic, and ramsom. In French it is Ail (hence the term aoli used to describe garlic-flavored mayonnaise); in German, Knoblauch.
Source
Garlic, a member of the Lily family, is one of the oldest cultivated plants. It probably came from Central Asia, but is now grown almost everywhere. Commercial products are made from the fresh or dried bulbs. The rest of the plant is not thought to have any medicinal value. Garlic bulbs are dried immediately after harvesting and then ground to a fine powder. When prepared in this fashion, the powder contains both the water soluble and fat soluble components of the bulbs.
Alternatively, garlic cloves can be soaked in corn or wheat germ oil and then put through a press. The process is called cold oil infusion, and the final product contains only the fat soluble components of the bulbs. Oil-based products generally lack the beneficial effects associated with ground whole bulbs. If the garlic is allowed to ferment, the smell disappears. Unfortunately, the medically useful components disappear as well.
Another way to process garlic is by freeze drying. This process preserves the medically active components and, at the same time, prevents the reaction that leads to the formation of allicin, the compound that gives garlic its distinctive odor. Once the tablet of freeze-dried garlic has been swallowed, allicin forms, and is released into the body just as if fresh, whole garlic had been taken.
History
Garlic may have come from the Middle East, but its common name is from the AngloSaxon words gar ("lance") and leac ("pot herb"). Garlic bulbs worn around the neck were thought to be good protection against vampires and witches. An Egyptian medical papyrus from 1550 BC recommended 22 different garlic-containing remedies. According to Herodotus, in order to prevent workers on the Egyptian pyramids from becoming ill, they were given large rations of onions, radishes, and garlic. Benedictine monks grew garlic in their monasteries during the Middle Ages, and garlic extracts were often used to treat cases of plague (probably without much success). In addition to using garlic as an antibiotic, both European and Oriental herbalists prescribe garlic for heart disease, especially heart failure (which used to be called "dropsy").
Traditional Claims
Expectorant, nervine, and antibiotic.
Commission E Recommendations
Garlic is used to treat geriatric vascular changes, high cholesterol, hypercholestermia and hyperlipidemia.
Proven Effects
Allicin, the active ingredient, forms when an odorless compound called alliin is activated by an enzyme called allinase. The results of animal studies suggest that garlic supplementation can lower cholesterol, remove cholesterol deposits from the walls of major arteries, lower blood pressure, and protect the heart.
Garlic has been recommended as a treatment for high blood pressure, as an antioxidant, and as a general "cardioprotective." It is now very widely taken by consumers hoping to lower elevated blood cholesterol levels. The idea seems to make sense because heart disease is relatively uncommon in Southern Europe, the area where the most garlic is consumed, although how allicin, or any other component found in garlic, could produce these effects is not known.
Clinical trials in the early 1990s tended to confirm the folklore. When volunteers took garlic supplements, cholesterol levels dropped anywhere from 9 to 13 percent. But when more rigorously controlled studies were undertaken a few years later, no beneficial effects could be found; cholesterol levels stayed the same, and so did blood pressure.
Health Benefits
When we look at the latest research we find a pattern of use emerging:
Helps Reduce High Cholesterol: By taking a garlic tablet equivalent to 4000 mcg of allicin (one of the powerful active agents in garlic) a drop of between 10 to 12 percent can be achieved in total cholesterol level. While the lowering effect of garlic is not massive, it has other benefits that may be even more effective in preventing heart disease: it elevates the levels of healthy cholesterol, known as HDL, by about 10 percent.
Lowers Blood Pressure: Just how garlic lowers blood pressure is somewhat of a mystery. One mode of action may involve its sulfur-containing chemicals and could be related to its lipid (blood fat) lowering effect (described above) but the exact mechanism is not known. Whatever the action, you could experience a drop of up to 30 mmHg in systolic pressure (the top value in a blood pressure result) and about a 20 percent reduction in the diastolic result.
Reduces the "Stickiness" of the Blood: One of the true killers of our modern society is not necessarily high blood pressure but the stickiness of the blood. Having a viscous sticky liquid circulating around the body can cause trouble should it decide to gel up somewhere important. Once a clot forms, the tissue beyond dies due to a lack of oxygen. Your doctor may recommend a mini aspirin, while your naturopath will urge you to take extra garlic in the diet and a daily garlic pill to be on the safe side. Garlic is nature's dietary answer to conventional anticoagulant medication.
Modern clot-busting drugs can save the day in an acute emergency but for long-term management of clots, garlic may offer greater potential. Garlic and other natural agents such as the omega-3 fish oils, bromelain, and the herb capsicum promote fibrinolysis (the dissolving away of a fibrin clot) and help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Enhances the Immune System: Hippocrates described eating garlic to treat cancers. This was not such an odd suggestion when you consider how important the immune system is in controlling a cancerous condition. Human studies have clearly shown the great benefit garlic has on the ability of the immune system to fight infection and keep cancers at bay. The allicin component of garlic appears to have the most powerful anti-cancer effects.
Antibacterial Activity: Garlic juice is known to kill many bacteria even the troublesome Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and BrucelIa strains. More recent studies have not only confirmed garlic's powerful antibiotic activity but have gone on to show that unlike conventional antibiotics the risk of the bacteria becoming resistant is negligible.
Antifungal Actions: Unlike the powerful anti-fungal drugs, garlic is effective and very safe to use in any case of fungal infection. One of our common, unwelcome bugs is the yeast-like fungus called Candida albicans. Garlic has been shown to be more effective than the conventional therapy (nystatin), while building up the immune response to reduce the risk of re-infection.
Antiviral Effects: There are very few effective anti-viral agents around so it is a blessing to have a few cloves of garlic to hand when influenza forces you to bed. The active agents in garlic, known as allicin, have strong viral-killing actions. In studies the herb has killed off the herpes simplex virus (types 1 and 2), parainfluenza virus, vesicular stomatitis virus and the rhinovirus responsible for the common cold.
Antihelminthic (Worms) Properties: It is true, just as our forefathers stated "... kills worms in children...," garlic has been shown on numerous cases to shift roundworm and hookworm infestations.
Dosage
Participants in most of the garlic-cholesterol trials took the equivalent of 800 mg per day of the dried powder. Commission E recommends a daily dose equal to 4-12 mg of alliin, 2-5 grams fresh garlic, or 2-5 grams of garlic oil.
How To Take Garlic
Garlic can be taken in tablet, capsule or tincture forms. The odor on the breath is the deciding factor when choosing a garlic preparation. If you want to avoid a garlic odor, choose a strong standardized preparation that contains a high dose of allicin, in the region of 3.4 percent. Otherwise try the tincture form or any of the many proprietary garlic capsules.
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Directions
Take 1 capsule, 3 times daily, with meals.
Cautions
Concerns
Toxicity from garlic, in any form, has never been reported. Too much garlic, whether taken in pill form, or in a rich butter sauce, can of course, lead to an upset stomach. If enough garlic is ingested, the smell can be quite overpowering and persistent.
Warnings
None.
Drug Testing
No interaction with standard workplace urine drug tests has been reported.
Toxicity
There are very few adverse reactions to garlic. Large doses of garlic supplements can give stomach upsets or diarrhea but this is simply cured by reducing the dose.
Drug-Herb Interactions
Very high doses of garlic may interfere with blood thinning drugs like Coumadin. One report showed that blood-clotting time doubled in patients taking a combination of garlic and Coumadin.
Additional Information
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor. The essence of the current American rule on Traditional Uses is, as stated by FTC, "Claims based on historical or traditional use should be substantiated by confirming scientific evidence, or should be presented in such a way that consumers understand that the sole basis for the claim is a history of use of the product for a particular purpose."
