What Makes Garlic Good for You?

What makes garlic good for you? Since the beginning of written history, garlic has been utilized for medical purposes, food, and flavor. The ancient medical literature covered garlic's therapeutic benefits from far-flung places like Egypt, China, India, Greece, and Rome.

Long-known health advantages of garlic include treating colds and decreasing cholesterol and blood pressure. Vitamins C, B6, manganese, and selenium are all present in garlic, but allicin, an antioxidant, is regarded to be the key to garlic's health benefits.

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Is Raw Garlic Good for You?

Garlic changes in flavor and texture when cooked, becoming softer, gentler, and creamier and gaining a more subdued flavor and scent. But in addition to being cooked, sulfur compounds make raw garlic good for you.

Even though raw garlic tends to have a stronger, more pungent flavor, it is safe to eat, and a wonderful ingredient in many recipes and is frequently used in sauces, dressings, and dips like pesto and aioli.

Crushing or chopping fresh garlic releases allicin, a compound that gives garlic its characteristic flavor and aroma. Interestingly, a recent study on allicin's chemistry and biological properties of allicin indicates that allicin may assist in boosting immune system performance and provide some protection from diseases, including cancer and heart disease.

Based on the findings of another study on the bioavailability and bioequivalence of allicin, the quantity of allicin in garlic can be significantly reduced by roasting, boiling, heating, or pickling it.

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Benefits of Eating Raw Garlic

Garlic's allicin, which has potent antioxidant activity and the capacity to fend off dangerous free radicals in the body, has drawn researchers' attention to its potential health benefits.

Alliin and alliinase, the two main chemicals, are retained in various cells in fresh cloves, which may account for some of this. When cloves are crushed or sliced up, the reaction between alliin and alliinase that gives its distinctive flavor is greatly intensified; this makes raw garlic good for you.

However, because it is rather fragile, allicin deteriorates in a day. The best way to use garlic is to eat it fresh within a few minutes of breaking the cloves because heat also destroys allicin.

1) Potent antibiotic

When ingested on an empty stomach, the antibiotic strength increases dramatically, which makes garlic good for you. Taking a bite of raw garlic exposes the bacteria to the powerful antibacterial effects of the herb, assisting in the prevention of bacterial action in the stomach.

Raw garlic in the morning increases appetite (Image via Pexels/ Skitterphoto)

Allicin, allin, and ajeone are only a few of the many sulfur compounds in garlic that have antibacterial and antifungal properties. Cold and cough symptoms can be treated with volatile oil and its antibacterial components. This makes raw garlic good for you.

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2) Improves digestion

Consuming raw garlic in the morning increases appetite and digestion; taking garlic is good for you. Effective weight loss is supported, among other things, by improved digestion. CoRawarlic can help with stomach issues, including diarrhea; which makes garlic good for you.

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3) Reduces cholesterol levels

"Bad" LDL cholesterol and "good" HDL cholesterol are the two types of cholesterol. Serious health problems can result from hao much LDL cholesterol and not enough HDL cholesterol.

It has been demonstrated that garlic can reduce LDL and total cholesterol by 10 to 15%.

Additionally, eating garlic does not affect your levels of HDL or good cholesterol. Garlic should be a part of your diet if you have heart disease or have a family history of the condition. This makes raw garlic good for you.

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Potential Side Effects of Eating Raw Garlic

Although raw garlic may have several health advantages, there are a few possible downsides. The taste and smell of raw garlic is much stronger than those of cooked garlic, which some people could find repulsive.

The taste and smell of raw garlic are much stronger than those of cooked garlic (Image via Pexels/ Karolina Grabowska)

Additionally, limiting garlic consumption is frequently recommended for those with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) to reduce heartburn. A burning sensation in the chest or stomach may result from the digestive tract being irritated by some chemicals in raw garlic.

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If you consume garlic regularly, you'll experience more of its advantages. One to two cloves are advised to be consumed daily. Except for those who are allergic to or detest it, there aren't any compelling reasons to avoid eating garlic.

Now that you know why garlic is good for you, they don't make up for the need for a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle in general. In other words, no food, not even garlic, can make or break your health.