18 replies to this topic

[jiff]

I recently saw something in a docu where they gave garlic to mice and it cured cancer. This was very impressive.

But I don't know how much garlic the mice got and how much this would be for humans.

 

I tried eating 2 cloves of raw crushed garlic which I mixed with olive oil and then downed it. But I always got instant stomach pain.

Now I worry if this is even safe or if the garlic could damage the stomach.

 

I am also not sure at all if simply eating 2 cloves of garlic is even worth it. I read that the stomach acid destroys the allicin.

If that's the case then it's maybe totally useless.

 

I'm demotivated now. I mean if I make myself eat garlic then I at least have to be sure that it's worth it. :(

 

 

[Kalliste]

I also ate a clove of garlic alone. That was painful. Make a nice dish with Garlic in it. I'll heat a plate of different vegetables and olive oil and mix garlic into it. Sometimes pressed, sometimes powder. Avoid dairy if you are looking for the true dragons breath moment.

 

The science is promising in vitro and uncertain in vivo, as usual. I suspect we will find out that it is at the very least positive for the gut where high local concentrations can be achieved.

[RJ100]

Raw garlic on an empty stomach sucks. I typically will crush some garlic and let it sit for a few minutes, then mix it with EVOO, pasta and usually something else like basil, sliced sausage, tomatoes, etc. I figure I'm still getting the raw garlic benefits without the discomfort.

[Kalliste]

Eating it on empty stomach is not discomfort, it is grueling pain. I drank a liter of milk to relieve it and it still took a while to calm down.

[Clacksberg]

There must at least be some potency left after it hits the stomach acid

because i've used it to clear Norwalk/Noro virus (gets passed around a lot at the school where i work) many times.

If you catch the bug early..

[ceridwen]

Wondering if olives stuffed with garlic cloves are stuffed with fresh garlic

[Invariant]

According to examine.com, there is pretty decent evidence for a variety of positive effects of garlic: http://examine.com/supplements/Garlic

 

You could try a supplement if you don't like cooking.

[YOLF]

FYI, don't use garlic in a microwave. I read somewhere that it eliminates the benefits. I do take chopped garlic along with goji berries with my after breakfast supplements. Hasn't given me a problem yet.

[son of shen nong]

Gotta give a lot of love & awareness to your alimentary canal if you want to get into garlic hardcore.  As someone who has experienced the joys of esophageal ulcers, gastritis (primarily in the fundus), & anxiety related digestive issues, no doubt about it, in my mind.  Of course, as the enteric nervous system (ENS), our second brain, or first, if your pecking order  is like mine, has its residence there, if you do garlic right, I'm sure you would enjoy numerous benefits from it.  Getting it to work in concert w other elements of your diet is key, imo.

Example: I love roasted garlic.  Milder & more flavorful.  Mixed in hummus, after the initial flavor burst in the mouth, it does a slow slide down your esophagus to where you can actually feel globs of it oozing/falling into your stomach.

As a remedy to battle the onset of a rhinovirus, fresh crushed or minced garlic combined w a good honey and propolis mixture & then strategically placed back by your molars for slow chewing/sucking works wonderfully.  If you're sensitive enough to the pathogenic bacteria, you can usually obliterate the little bastards b4 they replicate in large enough numbers to inconvenience you for days instead of hours or one day.

I have found a quick saute of garlic is a good way to introduce larger quantities of it into my system.  Crush, slice, whatever, your garlic & set it aside.  Heat up your oil slowly.  You don't want to burn the garlic.  If you do it turns brown & is not as palatable.  Two good cooking oils are organic virgin olive & organic virgin coconut.  Ideally, try & get your garlic in just b4 the oil starts to sizzle.  Conversely, by applying heat to garlic you lessen the heat of the garlic, so to speak.  The following is my technique, & by way of being a technique, a rule of thumb, so feel free to make adjustments here to suit your tastes.

After a little less than a minute, take the pan off your stove, manipulate/concentrate the garlic & oil to one side of your frypan, & with a fork firmly held in your other hand, press down on the garlic a bit.  This helps to release some of the garlic oil to the cooking oil.  If you wish, & I typically do this a few times while cooking it, take a bit of the garlic on your fork & blow on it a little (it's very hot).  Then taste.  You're toning down the heat based on where you want it to be.  Garlic too hot.  Put it back on the stove, let it sizzle a bit more, take out, squeeze a bit w fork, taste again.  Get the garlic to suit your taste.

I don't see it mentioned anywhere, except sometimes w TCM (haven't studied aryuveda much, but I'm assuming it's there too) but when food greatly pleases the mouth, when it's delicious, the body relaxes as a reflex action & your digestive system becomes more effective.

You can work this w raw garlic too, just sort of juggle the proportions between sauted & raw.

Of course, the sauted garlic I would never eat by itself.  Shitakes, enoki, other shrooms, steamed veges, refried beans, greens, a little pasta, feta, all work well w garlic. 

Exactly how much garlic r u planning on eating @ one time, if I may ask?

[LaViidaLocaa]

Good to see I'm not the only one who noticed sides from raw garlic on an empty stomach. I started incorporating it first thing after breaking my fast, but always got a strange dizzy feeling afterwards with some lingering nausea for a few minutes. Both pass though, but since I never had it and it's always after taking garlic on an empty stomach, it must be that. 

I've just read on Examine as well that it's not ideal on an empty stomach, so I'll be pushing it later in the day together with a meal.

 

Still not sure whether or not just eating a clove vs crushing and leaving vs extracts are the way to go. Have to read more upon it.

[timar]

Still not sure whether or not just eating a clove vs crushing and leaving vs extracts are the way to go. Have to read more upon it.

 

The most potent cancer-fighting compounds, allicin and related compounds, responsible for garlic's typical pungent smell, are formed through the action of the enyzme alliinase, whenever you cut or crush a clove (ever wondered why an intact clove of garlic doesn't smell at all? Now you know why). The amount of allicin therefore depends on the amount of the enzyme and its precurser compound alliin released from the cells and on the time the enzyme is allowed to act on the alliin. Which means that you can greatly increase the physiological potency of garlic by 1) crushing the cloves instead of chopping them and 2) letting the chrushed garlic sit for a few minutes at room temperature before adding it to the dish you are preparing. Heat completely deactivates the enzyme and even if you mix the crushed garlic into cold food, it is greatly diluted and won't act as efficiently. However, once the allicin is formed, it quickly decomposes into similarly bioactive compounds such as diallyl disulfide which are heat stable. You really don't need to eat the garlic raw - just crush it, let it stand for some minutes and then add it to whatever you like. I would never force myself to eat concentrated raw garlic for health reasons (*shudder*), as there are so many delicious dishes that can take a good amount of garlic (I gave some examples in the What did you eat today? topic).

 

I'm affraid that olives stuffed with garlic are probably low in allicin compounds because the whole cloves are brined which is likely to deactivate the enzyme before it can form significant amounts of allicin. This is why they taste so mild compared to fresh garlic.

 

If you want to ameliorate the social shortcomings of garlic consumption ("breath of death"), combine it with dairy protein and chlorophyll-rich greens, as both have been shown to bind and olfactory neutralize the odorous compounds both chemically and practically. One of my favorite recipes containing a good armount of raw garlic features both ingredients. Of course, your breath still won't smell as a fresh breeze of air when you have eaten it, but it is certainly not as bad as if you would have eaten the garlic on its own:

 

Greek Tirosalata with Garlic:

• 200 g/8 oz Feta cheese (from sheep and goat's milk)
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. of lemon juice
• As much garlic, chilli and herbs as you like. (For this amount I usually take four to six cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp. of chilli, 1 tsp. of thyme and 1 tbsp. of freshly chopped parsley)

Crumble the garlic into the olive oil and thoroughly mix it until it becomes a paste. Add the lemon juice and the chilli. Crush the garlic onto the paste but wait a few minutes until you stir it in in order to maximize the allicin content. I don't stir in the parsley but sprinkle it on top.

 

Serve with Greek rusk bread, Kalamata olives, a glass of red wine and, ideally, some chorta. Then close your eyes while hearing the calm Mediterranean sea gently caressing the coast of the island of Crete. Aah!

 

Recommended reading: Garlic: Nature's Original Remedy by Stephen Fulder, Ph.D. and John Blackwood.

Edited by timar, 05 December 2015 - 10:37 PM.

[LaViidaLocaa]

 

Still not sure whether or not just eating a clove vs crushing and leaving vs extracts are the way to go. Have to read more upon it.

 

The most potent cancer-fighting compounds, allicin and related compounds, responsible for garlic's typical pungent smell, are formed through the action of the enyzme alliinase, whenever you cut or crush a clove (ever wondered why an intact clove of garlic doesn't smell at all? Now you know why). The amount of allicin therefore depends on the amount of the enzyme and its precurser compound alliin released from the cells and on the time the enzyme is allowed to act on the alliin. Which means that you can greatly increase the physiological potency of garlic by 1) crushing the cloves instead of chopping them and 2) letting the chrushed garlic sit for a few minutes at room temperature before adding it to the dish you are preparing. Heat completely deactivates the enzyme and even if you mix the crushed garlic into cold food, it is greatly diluted and won't act as efficiently. However, once the allicin is formed, it quickly decomposes into similarly bioactive compounds such as diallyl disulfide which are heat stable. You really don't need to eat the garlic raw - just crush it, let it stand for some minutes and then add it to whatever you like. I would never force myself to eat concentrated raw garlic for health reasons (*shudder*), as there are so many delicious dishes that can take a good amount of garlic (I gave some examples in the What did you eat today? topic).

 

I'm affraid that olives stuffed with garlic are probably low in allicin compounds because the whole cloves are brined which is likely to deactivate the enzyme before it can form significant amounts of allicin. This is why they taste so mild compared to fresh garlic.

 

If you want to ameliorate the social shortcomings of garlic consumption ("breath of death"), combine it with dairy protein and chlorophyll-rich greens, as both have been shown to bind and olfactory neutralize the odorous compounds both chemically and practically. One of my favorite recipes containing a good armount of raw garlic features both ingredients. Of course, your breath still won't smell as a fresh breeze of air when you have eaten it, but it is certainly not as bad as if you would have eaten the garlic on its own:

 

Greek Tirosalata with Garlic:

• 200 g/8 oz Feta cheese (from sheep and goat's milk)
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. of lemon juice
• As much garlic, chilli and herbs as you like. (For this amount I usually take four to six cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp. of chilli, 1 tsp. of thyme and 1 tbsp. of freshly chopped parsley)

Crumble the garlic into the olive oil and thoroughly mix it until it becomes a paste. Add the lemon juice and the chilli. Crush the garlic onto the paste but wait a few minutes until you stir it in in order to maximize the allicin content. I don't stir in the parsley but sprinkle it on top.

 

Serve with Greek rusk bread, Kalamata olives, a glass of red wine and, ideally, some chorta. Then close your eyes while hearing the calm Mediterranean sea gently caressing the coast of the island of Crete. Aah!

 

Recommended reading: Garlic: Nature's Original Remedy by Stephen Fulder, Ph.D. and John Blackwood.

 

 

Awesome, thank you! It makes my mouth water already!

[LaViidaLocaa]

Just came across this article, maybe the smell isn't so bad as we think it is Just make sure the people you talk to only reach the height of your armpits, not your mouth.

 

"Consumption of garlic positively affects hedonic perception of axillary body odour."

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/26551789

[Matt]

Why not just crush the garlic and put it on some toast w/ olive oil? You can also throw it in some beans or lots of other meals... Best not to eat it just by itself!  I have been using Allicin Max for about 5 years now (I think) and really like it. You can just take the capsules without any negative effects... but what I do is open the capsules and put it on some toast with olive oil and bananas. Actually tastes very nice!

[timar]

Given all the other good stuff in fresh garlic (inulin, selenocystein etc.), what is the purpose of using allicin supplements other than avoiding the smell and the taste? (In contrast to curcumin vs. turmeric, the allicin supplements are not providing much higher concentrations of the active compounds) Sure, if you don't like garlic or want to avoid bad breath, go for the supps. But opening up a capsule and putting its content on bread? I'd always prefer the whole food in such a case.

 

Btw. here's more quality information on garlic: Linus Pauling Institute, Examine.com

Edited by timar, 06 December 2015 - 08:21 PM.

[YOLF]

FWIW, I just take it in powdered form with ginger, turmeric, and onion powders. It's great and I see immediate benefits, and have a stronger, more attractive look on it. I bought some giant bottles of deodorized garlic gelcaps a while back and I'm still taking them, but I don't think I've actually seen any benefits from them. This is one of those times where you stick to the whole food for the constellation of benefits.

 

[TheFountain]

I eat a bit of granulated Garlic almost every single day.  I mix it with eggs or put it on a Hamburger. I use to do the whole clove thing but it started irritating my stomach, probably due to the way I was eating it (biting food ten biting the clove). I should chop it up and put it in something instead. Also, too much garlic intensifies dreams. 

[proileri]

When discussing garlic, note that many of the benefits of garlic have been found out by research done on Aged Garlic Extract (aka Kyolic). Apparently the long aging process produces a compound called S-allyl mercaptocysteine (SAMC), which doesn't appear in fresh garlic. Fresh garlic might have other beneficial things in it, but SAMC seems to be pretty powerful by itself. 

[Matt]

Given all the other good stuff in fresh garlic (inulin, selenocystein etc.), what is the purpose of using allicin supplements other than avoiding the smell and the taste? (In contrast to curcumin vs. turmeric, the allicin supplements are not providing much higher concentrations of the active compounds) Sure, if you don't like garlic or want to avoid bad breath, go for the supps. But opening up a capsule and putting its content on bread? I'd always prefer the whole food in such a case.

 

Btw. here's more quality information on garlic: Linus Pauling Institute, Examine.com

 

The Allicin in one capsule has as much Stabalized Allicin as 40 bulbs of garlic. Well, you don't have to put it on toast or whatever, you can just swallow them. It just tastes nice that's all.

I used Allicin to cure chronic  prostatitis / UTI caused by E coli. Antibiotics would usually clear the bladder, like trimethoprim or amoxicillin, but never prostate. After it became resisted to the trim, and then started to get resistant to doxycycline, I had to think of a way to lower the MIC for the bacteria and break up the biofilm. Allicin seems to be synergistic in vivo in animal models against bacterial infections.   I had taken antibiotics on and off for years but nothing ever worked to totally get rid of it until I used allicin with doxycycline, and it has never returned since... And it's been quite a few years now. I used to have UTI's a lot growing up... and one time I had a UTI that was left untreated for a while. ;/ CBP is a very hard condition to treat as well...  I think I was one of the only one's a help forum that managed to cure it after having it for years...

I always take them now as a preventative. No infections since.

Edited by Matt, 21 December 2015 - 04:33 PM.