Benefits of Garlic
Garlic has a powerful pungent or “hot” flavor when raw, which mellows considerably when it is cooked. Raw or cooked, garlic is noted for its strong characteristic odor. Garlic has been used throughout all of recorded history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The portion of the plant most often consumed is an underground storage structure called a head. A head of garlic is composed of a dozen or more discrete cloves, each of which is a botanical bulb an underground structure comprised of thickened leaf bases. Each garlic clove may often be composed of just one leaf base, unlike onions which almost always have multiple layers. The above-ground portions of the garlic plant are also sometimes consumed, particularly while immature and tender.
Benefits of Garlic:
· Garlic regularly reduces the risk of esophageal, stomach, and colon cancer. This is partly due to garlic’s ability to reduce the formation of carcinogenic compounds.
· Garlic supports the cardiovascular system. It may lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood, inhibit platelet stickiness (aggregation), and increase fibrinolysis-which results in a slowing of blood coagulation.
· Garlic has antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal activity’ It may work against some intestinal parasites.
· Garlic appears to have roughly 1 % the strength of penicillin against certain types of bacteria. This means it is not a substitute for antibiotics, but it can be considered as a support against some bacterial infections
· Garlic is regarded as one of the most effective remedies to lower blood pressure. The pressure and tension are reduced because it has the power to ease the spasm of the small arteries.
· Raw Garlic is a potent natural antibiotic and, while far less strong than modern antibiotics, can still kill some strains of bacteria that have become immune or resistant to modern antibiotics.
· Garlic has also been used successfully for a variety of skin disorders Pimples disappear without scar when rubbed with raw garlic several times a day.
· The external use of garlic helps to clear the skin of spots and pimple, and boils.
· Garlic is an excellent remedy for whooping cough. It should be given more often if the coughing spells are frequent and violent.
Side effects
· Raw garlic is very strong, so eating too much could produce problems, for example irritation of or even damage to the digestive tract.
· Symptoms of garlic allergy include skin rash, temperature and headaches.
· Garlic could potentially disrupt anti-coagulants, so it’s best avoided before surgery.