Garlic is a traditional food in our gastronomy and its consumption provides health benefits. Mainly because it is very nutritious, since it contains minerals and vitamins such as manganese, vitamins B6 and C, selenium, calcium, copper or potassium, to name a few. The truth is that it has traces of practically everything that is needed to survive, although in tiny quantities. It has few calories and it is recommended to include it in the framework of a balanced diet.
In addition, it contains allicin, with antibiotic properties. But yes, you should not believe all the supposed miracles attributed to him. It is often said that it fights cholesterol, promotes the immune system, reduces blood pressure, is anti-inflammatory, prevents colds, improves asthma, loses weight and even has anti-cancer effects.
It is one thing that garlic is an interesting food to include in your diet and another that eating raw garlic in the morning will cure all ailments. In fact, studies like this one carried out in Vancouver – in which its properties against cardiovascular diseases are analyzed – conclude that “there is insufficient evidence to determine that garlic provides therapeutic benefits in terms of reducing the risk of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity.” in patients diagnosed with hypertension.
And according to the United States National Cancer Institute, its potential benefits on cancer are not irrefutably conclusive and further research is needed.
It is known that eating raw garlic does not have important contraindications in normal doses, except for people who suffer from stomach irritation or allergies, but it is warned that it can counteract the effect of medications for blood circulation (it is a powerful anticoagulant) and it has also been reported. determined that it can reduce the effectiveness of drugs such as saquinavir, used in the treatment of HIV.
Eating garlic on an empty stomach has the same effects taken at any time of the day, but it is not much use if swallowed whole. The correct thing to do is to crush it or, better yet, cut it into thin slices and, if you want to soften the flavor a little, mix it with olive, flax, walnut or coconut oil. This is because its main therapeutic virtues come from allicin, a component that is not in garlic, but is only released when alliin, a sulfur amino acid that is present in it, comes into contact with oxygen. It also has other substances, many of which act in symbiosis with it.
Some of its active ingredients are found in extracts sold in health food stores and herbalists, but the effects are different depending on the method by which they were obtained. The most similar to natural is cold pressing, although for some uses a certain temperature is required.
Another of its characteristics is that allicin – the average content in garlic juice is 4 milligrams per gram – is very volatile and its effect is so immediate that it reaches the lungs in just seconds, and that is why it is considered appropriate to treat respiratory infections. It is even capable of passing through the skin and reaching the blood capillaries. You can easily experiment at home, seeing how after putting some peeled cloves on your feet and in contact with the skin, you can notice their flavor on your palate in a few moments.
The sulfoxide components, including alliin, which give it its characteristic smell and flavor, enter the body through the digestive tract and, according to experts, have a powerful biological effect.
