Effect of allicin from garlic powder on serum lipids and blood pressure in rats fed with a high cholesterol diet
Garlic also holds high
amounts of allicin and selenium, two natural compounds that aid in liver cleansing.
This older study demonstrates similar effects of diallyl disulfide (the major liver metabolite
of allicin from garlic) in inhibiting inflammatory cytokine expression, at plausible plasma concentrations.
Elkayam A1, Peleg E, Grossman E, Shabtay Z, Sharabi Y. «
Effects of allicin on cardiovascular risk factors in spontaneously hypertensive rats.»
Additional experiments suggested that the
concentrations of allicin found in raw garlic extract could account for all of garlic's effect on the nerve cells, further suggesting that allicin is the key component that makes your tongue burn.
Studies showing a positive effect of garlic and garlic preparations are those that deliver a sufficient
dosage of allicin.
Garlic is
full of allicin, a chemical that reacts with your body to fight off many harmful bacteria and viruses — including ones that may cause an acne flare - up or skin infection.
Use of allicin - containing supplements may trigger a range of side effects, including diarrhea, heartburn, gas, and nausea.
Su QS1, Tian Y, Zhang JG, Zhang H. «Effects
of allicin supplementation on plasma markers of exercise - induced muscle damage, IL - 6 and antioxidant capacity.»
In a small study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in 2001, for instance, 46 people with high cholesterol were placed on a low - fat diet and assigned to 12 weeks of treatment with either a placebo or enteric - coated garlic powder tablets designed to deliver 9.6
mg of allicin.
If you cut a whole bunch of garlic cloves, use some of the thick powder in a homemade soup that night, but then leave a large proportion of it in the cupboard for making the soup the next week, the latter will be totally
depleted of allicin.
Ajoene — allicin is formed as a by - product of alliin and allinase and ajoene is in turn formed as a by -
product of allicin.
While research on the specific health
effects of allicin is fairly limited, there's some evidence that using allicin supplements may offer certain beneficial effects.
To maximize the
amount of allicin, fresh garlic should be chopped or crushed, and it should be raw.
The interaction between alliin and alliinase brings about the
formation of allicin, which is considered the major biologically active component of garlic.
Gonen A1, Harats D, Rabinkov A, Miron T, Mirelman D, Wilchek M, Weiner L, Ulman E, Levkovitz H, Ben - Shushan D, Shaish A. «The antiatherogenic effect
of allicin: possible mode of action.»
One
of allicin's main medicinal powers is killing infectious fungi, bacteria, and viruses; that's why Louis Pasteur was recommending it back in the 1850s.