Definition
Garlic, known for its powerful smell, is part of the onion and chives family. It has several health benefits, including optimizing the digestive process, increasing nutrient absorption and improving the function carried out by the pancreas and liver.
How to Do It
Garlic can be ingested in different ways. You can eat a clove of garlic before any other meal, in the morning. And you can use it in salads, soups, sauces. It also comes in the form of cream or gel which can be applied to areas with ringworm, jock itch, or athlete’s foot.
Benefits
- Boost immune system
- Improve bone health
- Improves the blood circulation process
- May improve brain health and memory related diseases
- Increase exercise endurance
- Reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, decreasing heart disease risk
Time Commitment
2-5 minutes when cooking/as needed
Why it works
- Having a high concentration of vitamin B6, garlic has the potential to improve the production of hemoglobin, hence its benefits in circulatory and cardiac terms.
- Garlic’s ability to decrease level may be due to the fact that garlic has a high manganese content, which is responsible, for the processing and assimilation of cholesterol, proteins and carbohydrates.
- The antioxidant effect provided by garlic is primarily due S-cysteine and allicin.
- It has been pointed out that the improvement of the immune system that garlic can provide is due to the strengthening of some types of cells, such as macrophages, eosinophils, lymphocytes, among others [7]
Suggested Frequency
Daily
Side Effects
Keeping skin in contact with raw garlic for long periods of time can cause irritation or burns.
Too much garlic may:
- Give unpleasant breath or body odor
- Upset stomach or GI upset
Required Equipment
Raw garlic powder, cream, gel, or pill
Gurus/Celebrities/Doing it
Chrissy Teigen
Bella Thorne
Related Products
Eat Berries , Eat Asparagus, Eat Broccoli, Eat Artichokes, Eat Arugula, Eat Cauliflower
Suggested Time of Day
During normal meal time
Notes
- If you have a bleeding disorder or are taking blood-thinning medications, talk to your doctor before increasing your garlic intake.
- For those sensitive to garlic, cook it in oil, throw out the garlic, and keep the garlic infused oil to cook with.
- Garlic and its composition are currently being studied in more detail because it has numerous properties, including: antithrombotic, antimicrobial, antifungal, and hypolipidemic.
Supporting Studies and Articles
Expand Collapse- Preventing the common cold with a garlic supplement: a double-blind, placebo-controlled survey. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11697022
- Dietary garlic and hip osteoarthritis: evidence of a protective effect and putative mechanism of action. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21143861
- Intake of garlic and its bioactive components. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11238796
- Effect of garlic (Allium sativum) oil on exercise tolerance in patients with coronary artery disease. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15881870
- Garlic as a lipid lowering agent--a meta-analysis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8169881
- Effects of Allium sativum (garlic) on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24035939
- Immunomodulation and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Garlic Compounds https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4417560/
