ABSTRACT: Garlic has been used for at least 6,000 years and has so many wonderful health benefits, particularly for lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure to cardiovascular health
CONTENT: When I decided to write this article I had known about some of the wonderful benefits of garlic for years but not all. For instance, long time ago, I remember hearing that garlic was a natural antibiotic and in many ways was even better than Vitamin-C in helping in not only preventing, but shortening the length of time of the common cold.
I was also curious however, as to the history of this most used herb and how far back the use of garlic went. I was surprised to learn that garlic, which is known in the Latin as Allium sativum and part of the onion family, had been cultivated and used as far back as 6,000 years ago, and was first grown in the Central Asia area. In fact, most of our garlic that we buy in stores even today, is still predominantly grown and comes from the Asian countries. During the early millenniums of civilization, and as trade became more and more popular between other regions of the world, it was quickly adapted and used in Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean areas. In many cases, garlic was so highly prized and considered so valuable that it was even used as currency.
The most amazing fact I learned was that while garlic had been used for thousands and thousands of years in these regions of the world, it didn't become popular or used much in America, except of course by immigrants who came from Europe or Asia countries until the earlier part of the twentieth century. (1) This fact is something that I think would surprise most of us today. I had just naturally assumed that garlic had always been used here in America. I mean can you imagine not having that wonderful garlicky taste on one's pizza, pasta meals, or in soups, to only mention a few foods that we add garlic to? And how about that delicious mouth-watering taste of buttery garlic bread itself? Since I love the taste of garlic in food, I practically add a bit of garlic in all my meals, I even sprinkle a bit of garlic powder on my hamburgers to enhance the burger's flavor.
Over the past few years, more and more benefits are showing up on how healthy garlic is for you. As a result of this, a really large industry has been created in garlic pill supplements, such as Garlique, Kwai and Kyolic, just to name a few. Naturally, fresh garlic is great to use, however, garlic pills have an obvious advantage, in that one can take stronger doses than the equivalent of fresh garlic. I for instance take Nature's Bounty 1,000 mg. To eat the equivalent of 1,000 mg of fresh garlic I would have to eat an awful lot of fresh garlic bulbs and I sincerely doubt if I would have many friends, since lets face it, garlic is rather pungent.
The list of benefits garlic has is quite staggering. I've already mentioned that garlic is a known natural antibiotic and can help prevent or shorten not only the duration of colds, but the flu as well. One of the major reasons for the ever-growing popularity of garlic pills and garlic in general, however, is that it is known to help promote cardiovascular health, lower cholesterol and also lower blood pressure levels. Garlic is also known for it's anticancer properties and can prevent certain types of cancers, from esophageal, stomach, colon and even breast and skin cancers.(2)
With everything however, there are some precautions when using garlic. First of all, one has to remember that garlic is also a natural blood thinner, thus the reason for its benefits for the lowering of cholesterol levels, blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Therefore, high doses of garlic especially as in pill form, should be used with caution when taking any anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen, naproxen or even common aspirin. It also goes without saying that garlic can interact with any blood thinner medication such as heparin, or enoxaparin or any anticoagulant medication that reduces the blood from clotting, such as warfarin. One even has to use caution in taking too much garlic with other natural herbal supplements such as ginko biloba, ginger, and even willow bark, which by the way, is the natural form of aspirin itself. For a full listing of what medications may interact with garlic, you may refer to this website Garlic Interactions
As with anything when taking any supplement or medication, do talk with your physician about the safety factors involved, especially if you do take any of the prescribed medications that I've listed. All in all, however, I think the overall benefits of garlic far outweigh the risks and moderation is the key.
History of Garlic
http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/garlichistory.htm (1)
More References to Garlic
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/g/garlic06.html
http://www.emaxhealth.com/19/1024.html(2)
http://www.garlic-central.com/garlic-health.html
http://www.naturalhealthremedies.org/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-garlic/
Possible Side Effects or Drug interactions
http://gsm.about.com/compact/showtext.asp?cpnum=2221&monotype=full&match=M&gname=Garlic,*Allium*sativum&r=6078
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