Are there health benefits to garlic?

[Darlene]

Interesting read for emergency purposes:

 

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/health...#anchordisaster

 

Before we get into the physiological effects of garlic, I would like to say that I am not a chemist; neither am I a botanist, biologist nor medical doctor. But I can read and I do love garlic enough to read everything about it I can. I am merely trying to pass on, to you the results of what I have read and otherwise learned in order to help stimulate enough of an interest in you for further study. Don't just take my word for it, Google it yourself and see where your research takes you.

 

I was also immensely fortunate to be able to attend all four Garlic is Life Symposia from 1998 through 2003 where research scientists from several disciplines came from all over came to deliver lectures to their peers and attend the lectures of all the other scientists. There have never before or after been any other meetings that brought together so many multi-degreed scientists to discuss their findings amongst their peers. These people formed a sort of allium intelligensia and bonded quite well with each other over the 3-4 days of each symposium. The information in this section mostly comes from these lectures and personal conversations with these esteemed and honored scientists who have done the objective studies that have shown the real effects garlic has on health when used in different ways. They didn't have an agenda, just a willingness to learn as much as they could about this wonderous bulb.

Click here to read all about the Garlic is Life Symposia

 

Unfortunately, not all studies are as objective as these, sometimes vested financial interests of the pharmaceuticals industry sponsor studies with the apparent intent to show garlic to have no health benefits and thus seek to undermine the confidence of the public in garlic. There was a study done at a famous Minnesota health clinic a few years ago that purported to show garlic had no health benefits because no changes were measured after consuming the pills. What they did not mention was that the pills they used in the study did not dissolve and therefore the subjects of the study received no garlic. The proper conclusion should have been that the particular pill used did not work because it did not dissolve - a fact well known to other researchers as well. Instead, they drew the conclusion that garlic has no health benefits, in spite of the thousands of other studies which prove otherwise.

 

There is another more recent study publicized on Yahoo in February, 2007 making similar claims. I have been too busy to look into it yet but I already know anything that flies into the face of so many thousands of objective studies to suddenly show dramatically different results needs to be looked into more closely. Many thousands of people have died from taking prescription medications,even according to the labels but no one has died from eating garlic - think about it.

 

I find this sort of pseudoscience to be repugnant. The average American does not have enough information about this and will probably take their word for it rather than try to find out more about it. That's what this webpage and the one on Chemistry of Garlic and Garlic Pills and Oils are all about - to help the public learn the facts so they can make up their minds in a more informed manner.

 

If you find disagreement with the contents of this section, please leave us your comments, as we plan to update this section with the latest information as it becomes available to us. We would not knowingly or intentionally misinform anyone. Where possible, we will cite the specific source of our information and urge you read it to help you be better informed. If you are aware of research papers that you do not see discussed here, please either forward them to us or tell us where we may obtain copies so that we can update our data base.

 

 

 

We realize we are in the middle of a controversial subject area and wish to help you to make intelligent choices based on having the maximum amount of information. We are not trying to practice medicine, give medical advice or anything of the kind. Around our place, we just happen to like the flavor of garlic and are overjoyed that information exists to show that it has beneficial effects on our bodies. Our goal is to inform others about the research that indicates these benefits and let researchers defend their own findings.

 

 

 

 

The Physiological Effects of Garlic

 

Studies by competent multi-degreed scientists have shown beyond any reasonable doubt that consuming garlic generally has the following physical effects:

Garlic lowers blood pressure a little.

Garlic lowers LDL Cholesterol a little.

Garlic helps reduce atherosclerotic buildup (plaque) within the arterial system. One recent study shows this effect to be greater in women than men.

Garlic lowers or helps to regulate blood sugar.

Garlic helps to prevent blood clots from forming, thus reducing the possibility of strokes and thromboses (It may not be good for hemophiliacs).

Garlic helps to prevent cancer, especially of the digestive system, prevents certain tumors from growing larger and reduces the size of certain tumors.

Garlic helps to remove heavy metals such as lead and mercury from the body.

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 anti-fungal and anti-viral properties.

Garlic dramatically reduces yeast infections due to Candida species.

Garlic has anti-oxidant properties and is a source of selenium.

Garlic probably has other benefits as well.

 

 

Modern medical discoveries have shown that, contrary to prior medical opinion, numerous diseases are caused or contributed to by infectious processes caused by bacteria or viruses, or both - gastric ulcers, ulcerative colitis, coronary artery disease, Kaposi's sarcoma and cervical cancer to name a few. Garlic may be helpful in treating or preventing some of these conditions.

 

Recent discoveries by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren at Royal Perth Hospital in Australia show that stomach ulcers are either caused by bacteria (Helicobacter Pylori) or contributed to by it and that antibiotics can make most ulcers go away. I remember reading of tests showing that raw garlic kills H.Pylori in vitro, but not necessarity in vivo, perhaps because the allicin formed by eating raw garlic is no longer allicin by the time it gets to the stomach, having been converted to other compounds by saliva. Maybe if they had crushed the garlic and waited 10 minutes before consuming it they might have gotten different results since there would have been more allicin formed than there would be if one ate the raw garlic immediately. I read of an in vitro study done by Dr. Gowsala Savim of Bastyr University wherein she showed that combining allicin with a known effective antibiotic was more effective than either one by itself.

 

Dr. Martin Blaser of Vanderbilt University in Nashville has indicated that Crohn's disease and uncerative colitis may also be inflammatory diseases caused by or contributed to by Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. Is it possible that eating raw garlic might help to alleviate these conditions? Since I have been eating two to four cloves of raw garlic daily, my own digestive disorder has gone away. I was afflicted with spastic/irritable colon for 20 years before I started eating raw garlic and it gradually went away completely in about six months after I began eating raw garlic. I had gotten off the public water system the year before and onto untreated rural creek water. If you have never suffered from this disorder, you cannot imagine the joy of having your first "normal" bowel movement in many years. During those first few months I also took one or two acidophyllus pills a day, but haven't taken any for the last seven years. Clearly, it was not the allicin as I first thought, but the breakdown sulfides and/or other compounds since the allicin was dissolved into other compounds in the mouth, esophagus and stomach and only the breakdown products continued the journey.

 

Coronary artery disease results from a buildup of plaque within the arterial system. In these atherosclerotic deposits are found greater than usual amounts of cytomegalovirus and the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae. An ongoing test at Humboldt University in Berlin indicates that after 18 months of a 54 month test, garlic reduced existing levels of atherosclerosis and inhibited new growth of plaque. Numerous tests have shown that garlic reduces LDL cholesterol. Other studies have shown that people who eat more garlic have stronger more more flexible aortas that are less likely to tear.

 

Recent studies show that garlic is more effective in reducing cholesterol in women than in men. That's kinda understandable when you consider the differences between men's and women's endocrinal chemistry. Hormones that are good for one can be bad for the other and I think there needs to be a whole lot more research into female endocrinal chemistry and how that affects womens health in general, rather than relying on old data that assumed mens' and womens' organs functioned the same and clearly, that is not so since the endocrine systems have very different levels of the same compounds.

 

If garlic has all these benefits, why aren't doctors and hospitals recommending it for their patients? In many other countries, they are, but not in the United States. Why? One reason is that medical doctors have very little nutritional instruction or herbal medicine in their training and may be unaware of garlic's benefits. Another reason is that it may sound too much like quackery to them. A third reason is that pharmaceutical manufacturers do not recommend garlic (perhaps for financial reasons). And, perhaps modern allopathic physicians concentrate more on alleviating symptoms, healing and surgery than prevention of illness through better nutrition and healthier lifestyles, although that may be more the responsibility of the patient than the doctor. But the over-riding consideration may be that garlic, like all natural plants, is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to quantify and it is all but impossible to isolate a single chemical compound that is responsible for garlic's many effects. Indeed, research indicates that there are many such compounds in garlic.

 

In late 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration withdrew its previous recommendation that people take beta-carotene pills because they discovered that the pills of concentrated beta-carotene were less effective compared to eating foods that contain beta- carotene, naturally. They determined that it was the combination of beta-carotene and the other compounds in those foods that did the job, not beta- carotene alone. And, so it seems to be with garlic. While much research has been done that show garlic actually produces the effects listed above, those results need to be re-examined in a new light because not all garlic is created equal.

 

For tests of the efficacy of garlic in treating various ailments to be truly accurate, tests need to be done in parallel using an organically grown strong garlic, such as Metechi or Chinese Purple and a medium garlic such as Inchelium Red and also a milder garlic such as Chet's Italian Red or Simoneti to determine the difference in results. While they're at it, they should conduct tests using the same garlics grown with farm chemicals. Even then the tests will vary due to the differences in soil types, climate and other planting, growing, harvesting and storage conditions as well as differences in the sizes of cloves used and how long those garlics have been out of the ground as storage time affects the chemistry of garlic.

 

As you can see, it is not so simple as it initially appears. That is why some of the tests have used "stabilized" garlic pills, but even they have their differences due to the same reasons just mentioned. There is certainly ample room for much more experimentation into garlics and a fertile field for researchers to try to obtain grants to do some of the vast amount of work yet to be done. The future of garlic in health care and in prevention programs is wide open.

 

Modern pharmaceutical manufacturers seem obsessed with the concept that for each herbal or traditional medicine that produces the desired healing effect, there is a single "magic bullet" compound in the herb that does the job. They feel that if they can identify it, then chemically synthesize it and administer it in amounts much more concentrated than occurs naturally they can achieve better, more predictable results. Research has shown that even when they synthesyze diallyl disulfide as a petroleum distillate, it does not have the same effect as the garlic-derived version, apparently because of its ongoing chemical reactions with its own volatile compounds. This volatility gives garlic a synergism (life?) that is not present in the synthetic version. Garlic just won't hold still long enough for them to get a good look since everything in it seems to disintegrate into other things right before their eyes, and even when they find the magic bullet, they can synthesize the bullet, but not the magic.

 

Garlic and Cancer

Garlic's role in cancer seems to be more to prevent it than to cure it, at least based on the ways we now use it. Garlic eaters just get less cancer than non-garlic eaters, according to demographic surveys. Using garlic in various ways inhibits cancer cells from reproducing, that is, it slows down the process and may actually reverse it in the early stages.

 

One of the breakdown products of allicin is S-allyl Cysteine (SAC), a water-soluble chemical shown by studies at Penn State to kill or retard the growth of breast cancer cells. Another study at the same university showed diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl trisulfide (DATS), both oil-soluble, that kill or retard the development of lung, skin and colon cancers. DATS is much more effective than DADS, because of the additional sulfur atom, and DADS was much more effective than SAC.

 

Why is solubility important? Because there are two circulatory systems in the human body, one for water-soluble solutions (the arterial/venous system) and one for fat or oil-soluble compounds (the lymphatic system). Since some cancer cells spread via the lymphatic system, that would seem to imply that some are oil-soluble and can be found by DADS or DATS via the lymphatic system. SAC can spread throughout the body to find cancer cells via the circulatory system, due to its water-solubility. If you can send compounds that retard the cellular division and, therefore, growth of cancer cells into your body via both channels, you increase your chances of being able to control, or maybe slow down the rate of development of the cancer. It's good to know that garlic has both kinds of compounds. Garlic naturally has a high level of selenium, which has been shown to have anti-tumor properties also.

Click here to read the Penn State report on SAC and DATS.

 

By knowing a little bit about how Mother Nature designed the human body, you can use your inside knowledge (pun intended) to enhance the effectiveness of your garlic. Since alcohol goes into the blood stream fast because it is absorbed through the lining of the stomach rather than waiting until it gets to the small intestine like most things, mixing crushed fresh garlic with wine or brandy may help speed it into your system. If you want to get some oil-soluble compounds into you system, you can put crushed fresh garlic in a little olive oil and swallow it. It will find its way into the lymphatic system because the oil should act as a carrier to take it there. Even if it doesn't seem to help, it hasn't cost much and at least you'll have had a delicious snack, especially if you dip a crouton or bruschetta in the garlicky oil to help it go down.

 

As mentioned elsewhere in this document, rubbing crushed fresh garlic on the skin will get more of garlics compounds into your system faster than eating it, it stands to reason that you could do the same thing by rubbing garlic-laced booze or oil directly on the skin and absorb it through diffusion. Since vitamin C is an anti-carcinogenic, why not mix crushed garlic with orange juice or grapefruit juice and take a bath in it? (Unless you're allergic!) Transdermal application merits looking into. It may sound a bit quackish to suggest some of these things, but if one has cancer and there is a chance it may help, why not try it? If I were a cancer patient, I would probably be trying some pretty weird things, but if any of them worked, I wouldn't care how weird someone else thought they were. Garlic breath is better than no breath. I'm not claiming these things will cure cancer (After all, if thousands of doctors and billions of dollars can't, what chance does a backwoods farmer with a few bulbs of garlic have?), only that I would try them if I had cancer. Question - If any of those weird things worked, would they still be weird?

 

I remember reading that there were studies recently with cancer patients showing that medications taken with grapefruit juice were more effective than the same dosage taken with water or other citrus juices. The doctors concluded that there must be something in grapefruit juice that really gives medicines a boost. They didn't know what it was, but it really made a difference. There was enough difference reported that I decided to try it when I had a headache I tried it and my usual dosage of my usual pill worked faster and better than before. Warning! consuming grapefruit within 2 hours of taking prescription medications can cause you to get too much of it so check with your doctor first if you can.

 

We can borrow from the single magic bullet concept and find ways to intensify and use garlics DADS and DATS and SAC compounds in as many ways as possible, especially since garlic has few undesireable side effects like many modern medicines taken in powerful concentrations, such as in some cholesterol lowering drugs and chemotherapy drugs. For example, pickling garlic increases the level of SAC over time and using well-aged pickled will get more SAC into your system.

 

 

Also, chopping or crushing garlic and letting it wait 14 minutes and then baking it or microwaving it increases the amount of DADS and DATS in the cooked residue - same with boiling it in an enclosed pot or in milk. The water or milk in which the garlic is boiled is also rich in DADS and DATS - drink it. We need to be a little careful about trying to fool Mother Nature as she has a few billion years head start on us - It may be best to work with her rather than against her - hence the different ways of getting garlic into the system.

 

I can't tell anyone else what to do since I don't want anyone accusing me of trying to practice medicine here, but I would do the above things if I were a cancer patient. I would also eat more than my share of pickled garlic (along with extra vitamins A, C, D and E and selenium) because it contains ever increasing amounts of S-allyl cysteine. I would eat it as a supplement only, not as a replacement for fresh garlic, which I would eat and otherwise use copious amounts of.

 

In order to gain a better understanding of some of the terms used by researchers in their papers, it might be a good idea for you to read the section on the chemistry of garlic in order to gain more insight into what is meant by allicin, ajoene, diallyl disulfide, etc. There is nothing static about garlic, everything in it is in a constant state of change and its chemical properties are a function of what it is mixed with and under what circumstances. A large team of scientists could spend their lifetimes working with it and barely crack the surface. The more we come to understand about it, the more of it we will want to eat and the healthier we will be. Is it really accidental that people in the republic of Georgia in the former USSR live longer than most other people and also have more different kinds of garlic than any other country?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disaster Survivor's Underground Guide to Using Garlic in a Medical Emergency

 

Updated July 5, 2006

 

 

Garlic is Nature's underground medicine cabinet.

 

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Seeing the suffering by the people who survived Katrina and the flooding along the Gulf Coast for hundreds of miles caused me to feel anguish that I was unable to help. Yet, I had information that if it were available to those who survived, only to perish in the aftermath, might have resulted in fewer deaths and less suffering. Although this information has been on my website all along, I feel compelled to make it a chapter of its own and put it where people can see it. Every family should have a first aid/medical emergency kit that includes general first aid treatment information and things like this for such occasions.

 

Before we get into the first aid and emergency uses of garlic, I would like to say that I am not a doctor nor am I attempting to practice medicine or give medical advice. But I can read and I do love garlic enough to read everything about it I can. I am merely saying how I would use garlic, knowing what I have learned about it. If this helps desperate people find ways to help themselves when organized medical help is not immediately available, so much the better. At times like that, people have to make their own decisions about things. Much of the information I will present here is not commonly known and you're not likely to find it all anyplace else, because it comes from my personal experience as well as conversations with many accredited garlic researchers.

 

It is my sole intention to provide free information that may be of help to survivors of Katrina or other disasters, especially in rural areas, that may save their lives or treat their injuries and infections when no medical help is available. People in cities will likely have resources not available to those who live in remote areas. It would certainly be my suggestion that people with medical emergencies seek professional help as soon as is reasonably possible. Nothing in here should be seen as an alternative to professional medical care but only desperate measures that might work in the absence of any medical care. This information is equally valid for the earthquake survivors in Pakistan and elsewhere, post-Tsunami and other flood disasters and survivors of similar disasters wherever they may occur.

 

If you find disagreement with the contents of this section, please leave us your comments, as we plan to update this section with the latest information as it becomes available to us. We would not knowingly or intentionally misinform anyone. I do not even pretend that this is complete and I will be adding to it from time to time as I learn/remember more.

 

I realize we are in the middle of a controversial subject area and wish to allow you to make intelligent choices based on having the maximum amount of information. I am not trying to practice medicine, give medical advice or anything of the kind. Around our place, we just happen to like the flavor of garlic and are overjoyed that information exists to show that it has beneficial effects on our bodies. Our goal is to inform others about the research that indicates these benefits and let researchers defend their own findings. In short, please don't sue me, I'm only trying to help. If you don't think it is helpful, don't do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Medical Emergency and First Aid Uses of Garlic

 

When people have medical emergencies and there is no doctor around, as in Katrina's aftermath, a bulb of garlic can be a lifesaver - literally, if you know how to use it. Crushed raw garlic is a very powerful antibiotic, but it must be applied to the site of the infection, including Staph and Strep, to be effective. It will burn like fire for a minute or two but it is the best way I know of to kill staph without a prescription medicine. Most importantly, garlic will still kill strains of staph that have become immune to modern antibiotics because it kills in a different way and the bacteria cannot become immune to it, But it must be applied in one form or another to the site of the infection.

 

It is best to let crushed raw garlic set for 7 or 14 minutes before using so that it can form the maximum amount of allicin in order to have greater antibacterial properties. The reason is that crushing garlic forms sulfenic acid (thus the burning sensation) which steadily breaks down into allicin, the highly antibiotic compound that kills bacteria. For reasons not clearly understood, every 6 and 1/4 minutes or so there is a rapid dramatic increase in the rate of conversion for about 30 seconds and then it drops off to normal again for another 6 and 1/4 minute cycle and then it sharply increases again for another 30 seconds or so and again drops back to the normal rate. By waiting seven minutes, you benefit from the first great wave and by waiting 14 minutes, you get the extra boost of the second surge.

 

Desperate hungry survivors will eat things they never would consider normally. If there's a piece of meat that's not fresh , but you're going to cook it and eat it anyway, rub crushed garlic all over it and the garlic will kill most if not all exposed bacteria. If you eat raw garlic in the same mouthful of food with other food, it will kill some of the bacteria present, but garlic will kill a lot more if you rub it on the food before eating. Saliva deactivates allicin, as do all digestive juices and it is the allicin that kills the bacteria. If you're going to eat it anyway, at least protect yourself the best you can with garlic.

 

Crushed raw garlic can be used to kill bacteria and other tiny lifeforms such as E. coli in contaminated water when there is no other water available. Just crush it and let it wait as above and then mix it into a bottle of strained water and let set for an hour or two or overnight to have time to kill as many of the bacteria as possible. While it will not make the water taste any better and there may be things in it garlic doesn't work on, like oil, it's at least less toxic than before and if death is the alternative, less toxic is preferrable to more toxic. Garlic's antibiotic properties also make it useful for sterilizing things like dishes, pans, etc.

 

Water stabilizes allicin, the active ingredient in garlic for a while and its half-life in water is 28 days, during which time is still possesses antibiotic properties, according to Dr. Larry Lawson (Lawson & Wang, 1994). That's important to remember. Conversely, crushed garlic left alone at room temp loses allicin rapidly the first day and gradually each day and after a week or ten days, there's little allicin left. If you only have a little, putting the crushed garlic in water will keep it useable much longer than if you just set it on a saucer. My guess is that it would burn less when treating wounds that way but it's just a guess, I have no way of knowing for sure since I have not tried it on myself yet.

 

Garlic is a very old treatment for snake bite and it is supposed to work although I have never tried it, myself. Crush it and rub directly into and around the fang marks. It will burn like fire for a minute or two and then settle down. Most snake venom is fat soluble and therefore spreads via the lymphatic system, not the blood circulatory system - so does garlic's sulfur compounds. It should be rubbed all around the area so that it can seep into the skin and into the area's lymphatic system. Try not to move around much as movement is what causes the lymphatic fluid to flow and spread the poison. Eating garlic also helps as it gets garlic into the lymphatic system elsewhere in the body and gets it into circulation. Venomous snake bite is very serious and life threatening and garlic may not be the ideal treatment, but it's better than dying without trying anything and you might even live to tell about it.

 

Method of application makes a big difference. A few years ago I caught a staph infection in my finger. I recognized it because I had to go to the doctor and get expensive antibiotics when it happened before so I decided to fight it with garlic this time and I increased my usual daily intake of strong raw garlic. After a week or so, there was no improvement and it just continued to swell until it was about twice normal size, or more. It didn't make any difference how much raw garlic I ate, it only slowed it down but didn't stop it. Then in desperation, I crushed a large clove of strong garlic and rubbed the juice and pulp directly all over my distended digit. There was a acute burning sensation at the site of the infection, but it went away in a minute or two and was replaced with a throbbing feeling which then was gradually replaced over a hour or so by a feeling of less pain and pressure. Feeling better, I went to bed and upon awaking in the morning, the swelling had decreased by nearly half and it felt better yet. I treated it again that morning and there was no burning and again that night and it continued to improve and in a couple more days returned to normal. That's results!

 

This transdermal application allowed the allicin to seep right through the skin and go directly to the site of the infection rather than trying to get there via the circulatory system. The direct route allowed it to be more concentrated when it got there and it made short work of the staph infection. How it was applied made all the difference in this case. Transdermal application bypasses the chemical changes imposed by the stomach and intestinal juices and the thinning out by being dissolved into the bloodstream and filtered by the liver. Applying it directly to the affected part allows a more intense and purer concentration right at the site of the infection and gets much better results. Note: RAW GARLIC CAN BURN DELICATE SKIN - use caution if your skin is sensitive or susceptible to rashes or other skin reactions. People who are or may be allergic to garlic or any of its sulfur compounds shouldn't try this, or anything on this website, without asking their doctor first, but how can you do that if he or she is nowhere around? Sometimes you just have to decide for yourself.

 

If you have a deep infection, the garlic may not be able to get to the bottom of it and if there's no doctor available, you may have to lance and drain the wound in order for the garlic to get close enough to do any good. Pouring hydrogen peroxide into a opened, drained cavity is an old rancher's trick to treat infections in cattle but I don't know if it's acceptable practice among humans or not. If you have to do it, it will feel like you just lit your foot, leg, wherever the wound is, on fire for a few minutes and then it will start to get better. It may require several treatments, but that's better than dying.

 

Staph is nothing to mess with and it can be fatal. If you can get to a doctor, do so and don't try to treat yourself. This information is only for when there is no doctor available and you're on your own with your life at stake. Your job is to survive until help arrives and you can get to a doctor. I am not practicing medicine or giving medical advice, simply informing you of your options.

 

If a person has a bacterial infection in the colon and there is no Gastro-intestinal specialist or pharmacy around, then a garlic and warm water enema may prove effective in ridding the colon of the offending germs. Simply crush a couple of cloves (not bulbs or heads), wait 14 or 15 minutes or more, add to warm water, strain out the larger particles and use. Garlic that has been diluted by water is much milder and less subject to burning sensitive skin in most normal people although there may be a temporary slight burning sensation around the anus, but it's more like warming than burning. Lying on the back or the left side is a better way than sitting on a toilet because in the upright position, you only fill the descending colon but not the transverse or the ascending colon but on your back or left side, you can fill all three parts of the colon and spread garlics germ killing power throughout the entire colon. results are usually pretty fast - a few hours. It would seem beneficial to try to hold the liquid as long as one conveniently can in order for the antibiotic effect to have the best chance of working. I have used this folk treatment myself and found it to be highly effective in only a few hours or overnight. I took acidophyllus in conjunction with the enema and it seemed to help restore firm stools. Repeat if necessary and with an additional clove or two as needed.

 

Garlic that is more pungent, that is, hotter when eaten raw, is generally more efficatious than milder tasting garlic but I have usually used milder garlics with good results. From the moment garlic is harvested until it is planted, eaten or otherwise used, it is undergoing constant change as it loses moisture through natural dehydration and that makes it impossible to quantify so that exact dosages could not be determined even if research were done to determine dosages. It's inexact to say the least. That's why I consider garlic to be a dietary supplement rather than a medicine; medicines are much more exact.

 

A way to use garlic on a stuffy nose, sore throat and infection that has gone into the lungs is to crush the small end of a clove and use it like a Vick's inhaler so you breathe the fumes through your nostrils. This will help clear the passages as well as fight the germs. Eating garlic is not enough, it has to get to the site of the infection as directly as possible and breathing it in takes it all the way into the lungs. Another way to do the same thing is to crush the garlic and wrap gauze, cheesecloth or thin fabric around it and breathe through the gauze to get the vapors into the lungs. One study showed that crushed garlic vapors alone kill many kinds of bacteria, including staph and strep up to four or more inches away. Another way is to put crushed garlic into a plastic tubing and blow air over the crushed garlic and onto a wound site that may be otherwise hard to get to. Be creative in how you use your garlicky resources, your life may be on the line.

 

Drug-resistant Tuberculosis, that is, Tuberculosis that has developed immunity to standard antibiotics has evolved and since 1.6 million people die each year from Tuberculosis, it is a big concern to doctors all over the world in March 2007. I have seen research that clearly showed that vapors from crushed raw garlic killed bacteria up to eight inches away and my bet would be that crushed raw garlic vapors breathed into the lungs through a gauze mask would kill the bacteria outright, drug-resistant or not since garlic kills in a different way than those antibiotics. Is any doctor anywhere willing to suggest such a treatment? Perhaps in some third world backwoods where they can't afford prescription medicines someone may try it and discover that it works. Of course, garlic being a cheap herb instead of an expensive prescription medication may irritate some people, but from my perspective I say why not give it an honest try? It just might work.

 

A way to break up dried lung congestion is to crush garlic, wait 14 minutes and mix it into water and strain the particles out and do what I call reverse gargle. Take a mouthful of the garlic water , with the crushed particles strained out, and facing downward, purse your lips as if you were going to whistle and instead breathe in through your mouth so that the air bubbles in through the water and the garlic-laden moisture coats the throat and lungs and helps to break up dried phlegm as well as fighting germs - this doesn't take long as it forces you to cough up stuff, kinda similar to the "cold steam" of ultrasonic therapy, but with antibiotic properties. It may be the only hope of coping with viral pneumonia without a doctor. It becomes critically important to liquify and cough up the phlegm and if you have a better way to do it, please use your way.

 

Toothaches - if you get one of those massive brain-pounding toothaches and there's no dentist around, crushed raw garlic actually knocks out the infection and relieves pain. It has worked for me several times and all I do is to chew up the garlic some and pack the residue around the tooth. Yes, the burning sensation is quite hot and sometimes I wonder whether it is worth it but the hotness dissipates in a few minutes and the pain from the tooth lessens at the same time. Usually the pain is gone in 30 minutes to an hour and the swelling diminishes as well. It may have to be treated more than once and I treat it as needed and within a day or two neither the swelling or the pain return. Of course, it's good to see a dentist as soon as reasonably possible to do something about that cavity. In short, crushed raw garlic is a great way to deal with a toothache when you are in a desperate situation and there is no dentist available but is no substitute for seeing a dentist eventually.

 

Garlic may be an important thing to keep in mind these days when most strains of staph have become immune to everything except Vancomycin, and now there's even a strain that has become resistant to that. Garlic can still work if you can apply it to the right place(s). It's a thought. Allicin kills by invading staph, strep or other bacterial cells and causing them to swell up and burst, according to Dr. David Mirelman of The Weitzman Institute in Rehovek, Israel,- no wonder they can't become immune to it. People used to call garlic Russian Penicillin for a reason - it kills germs. Penicillin has the advantages of being quantifiable and injectible - garlic isn't either one, but it has the advantage of being able to be stored at room temperature a lot longer.

 

Garlic can interfere with prescription medications, particularly anti-clotting agents, resulting in increased dosages, so if I were on any prescriptions, I would check to see if garlic interferes with them. Use garlic wisely - the life you save may be your own.

 

If your house has a foul odor, even after you clean the mud out, garlic can actually be used as a house deodorant and fumigant, believe it or not. I have used this method of overcoming the smell of death twice, once when a small animal died in the heater of my car and again when a mouse died in an inaccessible area in a closet and it worked well both times to overcome the foul odors. Break several bulbs into cloves and crush the cloves and leave them all about the place (on saucers or paper plates) and then close it up for the night. When you come back the next day, the garlic will probably be the dominant odor, but that's usually preferrable to a mildewy or sewage or rotting smell. Leave in place as long as necessary. Usually as the odor of garlic diminishes over a few days, the other odor is gone, too. If not, treat again, with more garlic if needed. Of course to be truly effective, you have to remove the source of the foul smell or it will continue to produce the offending odor.

 

There are going to be many thousands of houses with mold problems as a result of Katrina and Rita. Is the mold, stachybotrys species, toxic? Juries have said yes and insurance companies no longer cover it, but there is a new study by Emil J. Bardana, Jr., M.D. of Oregon Health and Science University that casts doubt on that. He says "We know that mold can make people sick if they end up in the foods they eat, but there is little evidence that inhaled environmental mold exposure can cause the serious illnesses that have been attributed to it." It is implied that other physical conditions present in the people involved in the study could explain the symptoms in most cases. Who do you believe? Is it possible that the smell is so bad it makes you think you are sick?

 

As pointed out above, garlic's vapors can kill bacteria, I wonder if they can also kill fungi and black mold? I would certainly try to find out. Experts say that the black mold, stachybotrys sp., can be killed with a solution of 9 parts water and one part bleach. I would definitely air the house out if I had just sprayed every nook and cranny in it with bleach water. Then I would leave crushed garlic all about the place and close it up for the night and air it out again the next day. It may take multiple treatments and there are going to be some inaccessible places that will be missed. Don't forget the attic and under the house. Is the smell of bleach any more pleasant than the mold? I wonder if baking soda would work? Gardeners often use baking soda as a fungicide. I know of a house that has some black mold in it and I will test it to see whether a baking soda and water solution works or not and publish the results of the test here. I used baking soda on lumber with fungus on it when I built my shipping department and have had no fungal problems in there so I anticipate positive results.

 

I am not recommending that people move back into mold-infested houses, what I am saying is that if you already feel you have no other choice and are going to do it anyway, you should take every precaution to protect your health with whatever resources you have on hand.

 

Garlic kills many fungi on contact including athlete's foot fungus, and candida species yeast, also.

 

Garlic will do nothing to improve the hot muggy days and nights without power or having to return to ancient ways of washing and cooking without modern conveniences, but maybe eating it can give you the stamina to persist. The Roman army thought so and it required all its soldiers to eat garlic for strength and stamina. I can say that eating garlic makes you feel good, at least according to one researcher, whose name escapes me, who said "Eating garlic gives the consumer an enhanced sense of well-being." Maybe it will help you get through the depression and anxiety that comes with the aftermath of disaster. Sometimes your best weapon is a positive attitude and garlic can help with that by helping you to feel better to begin with and the better you feel, the less prone you are to depression.

 

When I discuss garlic in this article I am referring to fresh garlic that has not been irradiated or de-natured in any way and has not yet sprouted. Unfortunately, this excludes most grocery store garlic as it sprouts too soon to be able to store at room temperature for very long, usually only a week or two. Some grocery store garlic is from China and has been irradiated and will not sprout or grow and irradiated garlic loses pungency (hotness) and is of doubtful benefit since it is no longer alive like normal garlic, it is simply the dead body of a once-living garlic. The enzyme that is the spark of life that causes the chemical reactions that make garlic work is no longer present in irradiated garlic and I do not think it can form the organosulfur compounds that make garlic work, although I have seen no research to prove this, specifically, only other research that would imply it.

 

Homegrown garlic, on the other will usually store 4 to 8 months at room temp. and that makes it the best for emergency use. Homegrown garlic harvests before hurricane season and stores all the way through it, so every family in the hurricane zone should grow some and they will be prepared every year.

 

Dried, wilted or diseased garlic is not good for the uses suggested above, only healthy, firm bulbs will work. Not all garlics will work equally well as different ones have different characteristics and the stronger, longer storing ones are usually best. Properly dehydrated (high room temperature process) garlic will also work, but not quite as well as fresh garlic. Freeze-dried garlic and garlic dehydrated using higher than room temperature heat will not work as their allicin-producing potential has been destroyed. Room temp dehydration preserves the allicin making potential. Grocery store garlic usually doesn't work because most of it has been stored at 32 degrees and upon returning to room temp, it sprouts and rapidly deteriorates.

 

Not all garlics work equally well, some are better than others for these purposes. Garlics which are hotter when eaten raw have greater pharmacological potential than milder garlics, according to research done by Dr. Larry Lawson and published in his comprehensive treatise, The Science and Therapeutic Application of Allium Sativum L. and Related Species, which is the most authorative book on the subject written by probably the most qualified researcher.

 

In short, in the aftermath of a hurricane, earthquake, flood or similar disaster, if you have raw garlic and know how to use it, you have a better chance of surviving that those who do not.

 

 

 

[Lois]

I was already aware of the benefits of garlic, but this gave a lot of the how's and why's. For some reason I can feel more comfortable using a natural remedy when I have that type of reasoning behind it.

All that to say I always need to know why it works. LOL

[Darlene]

I'm the same way Lois. I don't do well with "just do it, it works..." I need to know how and why too.

 

[Mother]

I'm the same way. I want to know the particulars. This was an excellent article. I had most of this info piece-meal in different places but this brought it all together. I copied it for future 'proof' to those who do not believe that alternatives CAN be as affective as "modern" medicine. Thanks Darlene. Great find!

 

(((( )))))

[dogmom4]

BTTT

[Andrea]

Great article, how did I miss this one? Thanks for bumping this back to the top, Dogmom!

[Amishway Homesteaders]

wow! great report and well done .

I also LOVE garlic and eat it all the time in LOTS of things and sometimes just eat it all alone.

Oh wait , That works both ways as IF I do............. I will be! LOL

[Christy]

DS often pinches (UK slang for stealing) a piece of garlic when I'm cooking. Since he has Crohn's he's more than happy to go to a 3 clove a day method. He's going to be as happy as can be cos he just loves eating cloves of garlic.

Thanks for the bump.