. . .FIREBERT: The healing power of : Garlic (5)

Monday, January 4, 2010

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.
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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.

Squeeze them first with a fork...and wait 10 minutes before consumption.

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. It does, however, repel mosquitoes.

Garlic oil shows protective effect against heart disease in diabetes

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.

35 health benefits of garlic:

1. Helps treat atherosclerosis.

2. Helps lower cholesterol.

3. Has the ability to lower blood pressure.

4. Helps treat gout.

5. Treating and preventing the flu and upper respiratory tract infections.

6. Prevents the growth and spread of bacteria.

7. Helps treat Tuberculosis.

8. Treating purulent wounds.

9. Helps treat Trichomoniasis (a sexually transmitted infection.)

10. Boosts your metabolism.

11. Prevents the spread of collon cancer…

12. …gall bladder cancer…

13. …rectal cancer…

14. …breast cancer…

15. …and prostate cancer.

16. Helps aid digestion.

16. Treats a yeast infection.

17. Dissolves blood clots.

18. Increases appetite.

19. Kills intestinal worms and parasites.

20. Helps treat cataracts.

21. Helps treat arthritis.

22. Helps treat diabetes.

23. Help treat staph infection.

24. Hells get rid of a tooth ache.

25. Treats acne.

26. Kills warts.

27. Helps treat tetter.

28. Helps in the treatment of boils on the skin.

29. Has a soothing effect on the intestines.

30. Garlic phytoncides are used to treat asthma…

31. …chronic bronchitis…

31. …and whooping cough.

32. Helps cure insomnia.

33. Slows the process of aging.

34. Inhibits the growth of Candida albicans.

35. Strengthens the body’s immune system.

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 !)

B.
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