It’s not just vampires that are repelled by the scent of garlic. Believe it or not the fear of the notorious garlic breath is enough to put some people off eating this delicious and nutritious veggie for life!
But wait a minute! You might want to overlook this compared to the massive benefits we can get from this ancient bulb. And anyway, did you know that chewing on parsley can counteract the garlic smell? Either that or make sure you and your date eat the same garlic laced dish and you’ll both be healthier for it.
Raw garlic is more potent both in flavour and in antibacterial properties than when cooked. Raw, it inhibits intestinal parasites, bacteria, fungus and some viruses. Some studies also shown that amazingly, that bacteria don’t seem to develop immunity to the antibiotic property of garlic compared to modern medicines.
Garlic is also known for its blood thinning properties. Aggregation of platelets or the blood-clotting components are thinned out by a chemical known as ajoene in garlic. This helps to ease the flow of blood in blood vessels and reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks! Garlic also significantly reduces blood vessel tension by 72%, lowering blood pressure which makes it especially good for people with hypertension.
Another promising property of garlic is that it can help to fight certain cancers. When cooking with meat, exposure of protein products to high temperature releases carcinogens. By adding chopped garlic a few minutes before the cooking is done the formation of these carcinogenic compounds is inhibited.
If you would like to maximize the health benefits of garlic in cooking, leave the garlic at room temperature for fifteen minutes after chopping. This will kick-start enzyme reactions to further release the healthy components of garlic.
Just like every food has its own wonders, garlic may be problematic in certain areas:
- Over consumption of garlic will lead to too much hydrogen sulphides reaching the blood stream causing the over-dilation of blood vessels, causing low blood pressure and thus the individual may experience headaches and dizziness. A high concentration of hydrogen sulphides in the body will also cause irregular heartbeats as the heart try to pump faster to deliver more blood to the brain.
- Also, consuming large amount of raw garlic can cause heartburn, flatulence and body odor. Any odour from the body will smell of garlic so you might want to consume in moderation or take it when you are at home and not likely to come into contact with too many people. The reason for the bad breath is due to the rich amount of sulphur compounds in garlic. When these compounds get broken down and enter the blood stream which in turn travel to the lungs, the breath exhaled will smell of these compounds. The human nose is highly sensitive to the smell off sulphur products, thus a small amount is easily detected.
- Garlic’s blood thinning properties may pose a problem to an individual who is susceptible to bleeding easily or will be exposed to a situation when blood loss will occur (such as having a surgery). Patients taking aspirin should also be wary of eating garlic.
All in all, more benefits of eating garlic are still under study. There are even supporters of garlic as a wonderful home remedy to providing relief to toothache and acne. Advantages we can get from garlic are almost countless to some point as other old people would call it, a miracle spice; but anything that is excessive won’t yield any best.
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