Healthy Benefits of Garlic

 

Garlic has been used since ancient times 

to treat a variety of medical conditions, and modern science has recently confirmed many of these beneficial effects, so in this Blog I'm looking at six health benefits of garlic.

1) The active compounds in garlic

 

can reduce blood pressure. Cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes are the world's biggest killers.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one of the most 

important drivers of these diseases, and many human  have found garlic supplementation to have a significant impact on reducing blood pressure in people with high blood pressure. Garlic extract at doses of 600 to 1,500 milligrams was just as effective as the drug at reducing blood pressure over a 24-week period. But it seems supplement doses must be fairly high

to have these desired effects.

 

The needed to have this effect, which is the active ingredient in garlic that gives it that distinct smell, is equivalent to about four cloves of garlic per day.

2) Garlic can combat sickness, 

including the common cold. Garlic supplementation is known to boost the function of the immune system, a daily garlic supplement reduced the number of colds by 63% compared with placebo. The average length of cold symptoms was also reduced by 70% from five days in placebo to just one and a half days in the garlic group,  that a high dose of garlic extract, 2.56 grams per day, can reduce the number of days sick with cold or flu by 61%. So it seems in those who take garlic supplements daily, it can reduce the rate of getting a common cold by 60 to 70%. But if you do happen to get sick, supplementation doesn't appear to reduce the length or severity of your sickness.

3) Garlic improves cholesterol levels, 

which may lower the risk of heart disease. Garlic can lower a total and L D L bad cholesterol. For those with high cholesterol, garlic supplementation appears to reduce total and/or L D L cholesterol by about 10 to 15%. Looking at L D L, the so-called bad, and H D L, the so-called good cholesterol, specifically, garlic appears to lower L D L and reliably increase H D L, which is of course a good thing.

4) Garlic contains antioxidants 

that may help prevent Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Oxidative damage from free radicals contributes to the aging process. Garlic contains antioxidants that support the body's protective mechanisms against oxidative damage. High doses of garlic supplements have been shown to increase antioxidant enzymes in humans, as well as significantly reduce oxidative stress in those with high blood pressure. So the combined effects of reducing cholesterol and high blood pressure and its antioxidant properties may help with preventing brain diseases like Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.

5) Eating garlic can help detoxify 

heavy metals in the body. So I thought this one was interesting. It seems at high doses, the sulfa compounds in garlic can help prevent against organ damage from heavy metal toxicity. Garlic reduced lead levels in the blood by 19%. It also reduced many clinical signs of toxicity, including headaches and blood pressure. Three doses of garlic each day even outperformed the drug D-Penicilliamine in symptom reduction.

6) Garlic is easy to include in your diet 

and tastes absolutely delicious, this last one is not a health benefit but I want to highlight that it's very easy and delicious to include garlic in your current diet. You don't have to rely on garlic supplements to get a good dose of it The minimum effective dose for therapeutic effects is once clove eaten with meals at least two times a day. But just keep in mind that there are some downsides to garlic. The most obvious one is bad breath. Also if you have sensitivities, or allergies, then garlic is obviously not a good choice.

                                     ❤Thank You ❤