Garlic health benefits are wide ranging. Nature has provided us with a superb nostrum in the form of garlic. The strange bulb – which is shunned by many – is staunchly defended by others as a prodigious cure-all.

Consumed garlic helps reduce blood pressure by thinning the blood and minimize blood-lipids such as triglycerides and cholesterol. The compound ajoene is as potent as aspirin in preventing sticky blood-platelets from clumping, a coagulation that can lead to a stroke or a heart attack. In studies performed upon animals at the Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, another garlic compound, diallyl sulfide, appeared to inhibit tumor formation. Researchers speculate that diallyl sulfide enables the liver to detoxify cancer-causing chemicals.

In studies conducted at the University of Minnesota and New York University Medical Center, garlic-derived sulfur compounds inhibited tumors of the stomach and skin. Garlic also contains bioflavonoids, the caner fighters found in cruciferous vegetable like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.

The most acrid and odoriferous compound in garlic is allicin, which is a proven antibiotic. During World War I, the lives of thousands of soldiers were saved when their wounds were wrapped in garlic-soaked bandages. In moderate doses, allicin hinders more than 23 kinds of bacteria, at least 60 types of fungi, and yeast, including Candida Albicans and salmonella; in larger doses, it eradicates them.

Garlic does contain certain irritants that might cause distress in people with stomach disorder or hernias; however, many people seem to find moderate daily amounts of some cloves of garlic tolerable and beneficial.

Garlic powders and garlic salts contain very little anti-bacterial and anti-clotting properties; therefore, you should consider consuming only fresh garlic. The volatile oils of garlic are fragile and even the slightest cooking of a clove destroys the antibiotic, allicin.

The many studies involving garlic lead to the conclusion that it is a valuable addition to a juice-fast. Its detoxifying properties accelerate the cleansing process and help to eliminate harmful bacteria, over-acidity, and troublesome omnipresent intestinal parasites. Put a couple of cloves of garlic into the juices, and add it to you vegetable juices for a cleansing bonus. The garlic clove itself is deceptively-odorless, but, the more finely you chop it – especially if it is mashed – the sharper the odor and taste become.

As simply stated in The Official Garlic Lover’s Handbook, “The more you do to it, the more it will do to you.”