Just what makes garlic so good?

Known scientifically as Allium sativum, garlic contains more than 100 biologically useful chemicals, including substances with strange names as alliin, alliinase, allicin, S-allycysteine, daillyl sulfide, ally methyl trisulfide. In fact, garlic has been used medicinally for at least 3,000 years, but until recently, its benefits were considered little more than folklore.

Garlic protects you against Heart Disease.

Garlic can lower blood levels of “total” cholesterol and, particularly, of the dangerous low-density lipoprotein (LDL) form. Garlic is also an anticoagulant – a natural blood thinner. Doctors in Germany, recently found that garlic could help patients suffering from peripheral arterial occlusive disease, characterized by blood clots in the legs.

Garlic also protects against cancer.

Researchers have identified three ways garlic protects against cancer: by directing inhibiting tumor cell metabolism, by preventing the initiation and reproduction of cancer cells, and by boosting a person’s immune system to more efficiently fight cancer cells. Several studies have also shown that garlic reduces the risk of stomach cancer.

Garlic fights microbial and fungal infections.

One way garlic works is by promoting phagocytosis, the ability of white blood cells to fight infections. Another way is by stimulating other immune cells, such as macrophages and T-cells to fight bacterial and viral infections and to scavenge for cancer cells.

Copyright @2005 Perth Garlic Festival P.O. Box 2105,

57 Foster Street, Perth, ON. K7H 3M9  1-877-268-2833