GARLIC: The Immune System SUPERHERO
Not only is garlic a much-loved daily culinary staple, adding flavour to most recipes – it’s also good for you.
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For thousands of years, dating back to at least 2000 BC, people the world over have hailed garlic as an elixir of good health. Its cloves were said to help treat the common cold, keep the plague at bay, and even ward off vampires! Today, despite its notorious bad odour, garlic remains a low-calorie, immunity-boosting superhero.
WebMD states that one clove contains calcium, potassium and more than 100 sulphuric compounds, including Allicin, which are powerful enough to wipe out bacteria and infection. It’s for this reason that garlic was used to prevent gangrene in both world wars. Raw garlic is most beneficial for health since heat and water inactivate sulphur enzymes, lowering garlic’s antibiotic effects. In clinical trials, garlic’s toxin-fighting ability seems to lower blood pressure and cholesterol and kill parasites in the body.
Research findings from the Dole Nutrition Institute indicate that garlic’s sulphur containing antibacterial compounds fight infection by clearing away toxins and germs. In addition, garlic consumption seems to enhance the activity of white blood cells and T-helper cells, which are integral to a robust immune response.
Healthcare information company RealAge reports that garlic enhances immune response in cells in the laboratory. At low to moderate
doses, one of the compounds formed when garlic is heated appears to make certain cells of the immune system more active against cancer cells.
A study published in the journal Advances In Therapy found a daily garlic intake can reduce the occurrence of colds by 63 %. Plus, the average length of cold symptoms in the study were reduced by 70 %, from five days to 1.5 % days in the garlic supplement group. Now that’s nothing to sneeze at! Take two to three cloves of raw or cooked garlic a day, brew your own garlic tea with a splash of honey or ginger for taste, or lavish your daily meals with it and relieve a stuffy nose or sinusitis, knock a cold on its head, and fortify your immune system.
Just remember, the health benefits of garlic, cooked or raw, are only experienced when the clove has been crushed – this is when Allicin is released. One of the recommended ways to take garlic is to just put it between your teeth, crush it gently so that it breaks and then swallow. Easy!