Soft Drink: The healing power of : Garlic (5)

Garlic isn't just a great culinary herb; it's been researched scientifically more than any other herb for its medicinal properties.

Garlic contains protein, phosphorus, potassium, Vitamins A, B, B2, and C, calcium, sulfur, selenium, germanium, alliin, aluminum, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper, and iron. When broken down by the enzyme alliinase, alliin becomes the active ingredient allicin, an amino acid.

Consume Garlic Raw or Cook It Lightly

Raw crushed garlic is the most beneficial, but cooking lightly preserves garlic’s health-protective effects. Cooking for 10 minutes or more or microwaving for any length of time will completely strip garlic of its benefits, so garlic should be heated for the shortest amount of time possible.

Good for What Ails You

Garlic's volatile oil is composed of sulfur-containing compounds that are responsible for its strong odor. Recent studies indicate that some of these sulfur compounds are powerful cancer-inhibitors, preventing cells from turning cancerous by augmenting the body's mechanisms for removing toxic substances and enhancing immunity. The National Cancer Institute has reported that people who ate the greatest amount of onions and garlic had the lowest incidence of stomach, intestinal and colorectal cancers.

Clinical trials have proven that it lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, thins blood to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, and is antibiotic. It's considered as potent as penicillin, but without the side effects.

Garlic is a powerful antioxidant that protects cell membranes and DNA. It enhances activity of white blood cells and T-helper cells, the body's natural killer cells, which are essential to the entire immune system. Studies have shown it stimulates the liver's detoxifying enzymes, which neutralize carcinogens and other environmental toxins.

Garlic increases the flow of blood and lymph, promotes perspiration, expels phlegm and otherwise makes the body unfriendly to harmful micro-organisms. It's regarded as a preventative for colds, flu and other infectious diseases. Recent studies indicate that certain compounds prevent blood clot formation.

Medicinal activity is highest in fresh garlic or garlic oil with a high allicin content.

About the only thing garlic can't do is ward off vampires.( How did they find out that...?Bert) It does, however, repel mosquitoes.

Garlic oil shows protective effect against heart disease in diabetes

September 29, 2010

Garlic has "significant" potential for preventing cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is a leading cause of death in people with diabetes, scientists have concluded in a new study. Their report, which also explains why people with diabetes are at high risk for diabetic cardiomyopathy, appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Wei-Wen Kuo and colleagues note that people with diabetes have at least twice the risk of death from heart disease as others, with heart disease accounting for 80 percent of all diabetes-related deaths. They are especially vulnerable to a form of heart disease termed diabetic cardiomyopathy, which inflames and weakens the heart's muscle tissue. Kuo's group had hints from past studies that garlic might protect against heart disease in general and also help control the abnormally high blood sugar levels that occur in diabetes. But they realized that few studies had been done specifically on garlic's effects on diabetic cardiomyopathy.

The scientists fed either garlic oil or corn oil to laboratory rats with diabetes. Animals given garlic oil experienced beneficial changes associated with protection against heart damage. The changes appeared to be associated with the potent antioxidant properties of garlic oil, the scientists say, adding that they identified more than 20 substances in garlic oil that may contribute to the effect. "In conclusion, garlic oil possesses significant potential for protecting hearts from diabetes-induced cardiomyopathy," the report notes.

Growing Garlic Organically

There are two basic types of garlic: hardneck and softneck, which is the kind that can be braided. Hardneck varieties have fewer bulbs and don't store as well. Don't use garlic purchased at a grocery store; get it from a reputable source or a farmer's market.

Garlic needs full sun and well-drained soil high in organic matter. For the best production, garlic should be planted in the fall. In the spring, bulbs will resume growth and will have larger bulbs when harvested than bulbs planted in the early spring.

Separate the cloves and plant them 2 to 3 inches deep, spaced 6 inches apart, with the tips pointing up. Use only the largest cloves, to produce the largest bulbs.

Garlic bulbs are heavy feeders. Use a nitrogen fertilizer at planting and again when the stalks reach 6 inches. Its shallow root system makes it sensitive to moisture stress, especially from the end of May to mid-July when the bulbs are forming. Water-stressed garlic will mature earlier and produce small bulbs. Stop watering when the foliage begins to wither to avoid stained bulbs and diseases.

Mulch with 3 to 4 inches of any pesticide- and weed seed-free material like grass clippings or clean straw. In the spring, remove the mulch after the last frosts to allow the ground to warm up. Replace the mulch when plants are about 6 inches high to help retain moisture.

Be vigilant with weeding. Garlic can't compete well with weeds and will produce smaller bulbs. Garlic has few insect or disease problems, although various fungi can cause decay in the ground or in storage.

Harvesting and Storing Garlic

Harvest garlic when half the leaves have turned brown. Loosen the soil underneath the bulb and carefully pull up the entire plant by the shoot. Knock off the soil and allow to dry in a well-ventilated room. Leave the tops intact. After curing for 3 to 4 weeks, the roots should be dried. Cut the tops to an inch above the main bulb and trim roots close to the base of the bulb.

Clean by removing the outermost skins and brushing away any remaining soil. Don't wash the bulbs, as the moisture could encourage disease. Garlic stores best as whole bulbs.

Store in a cool place. Hardneck garlic can be stored for 3 or 4 months at room temperature, while softneck garlic can be kept at room temperature for 6 to 8 months. Storing hardneck garlic at 32 degrees F will extend storage life up to 7 months. If the garlic will be used for seed to replant in the garden, store at room temperature until planting.

Proponents advise eating a clove of fresh garlic daily. Heating or cooking garlic inactivates the enzyme, but chopping 10 minutes before cooking will allow allicin to form.

Contraindications

Some people are allergic to garlic. People using anticoagulants or who are scheduled to have surgery should avoid garlic. Pregnant and breast-feeding women shouldn't use garlic in medicinal doses. For diabetics, it can interfere with insulin therapy in medicinal doses.

Otherwise, garlic is one of the healthiest things you can eat and is generally considered safe even in medicinal amounts.

1. List of health problems ( and what to do !)

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