Garlic

Note: some concerns have arisen about dietary garlic safety, particularly as it relates to garlic oil. More information can be found here. Low acidity plays a role in this preparation of garlic.

Anti-obesity – a constituent of garlic (1,2-vinyldithiin) demonstrated an ability to lower fat (lipid) accumulation and reduce inflammation of white adipose tissue https://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/139/11/2055

Anti-oxidant

Anti-oxidant activity of different preparations – good anti-oxidant activity no matter which preparation was used, however each type of preparation had it’s differing strengths and weaknesses. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2009 Dec;64(4):244-9.
Improved the body’s own anti-oxidant capability Phytother Res. 2010 Mar;24(3):374-8.

Anti-microbial, protazoal, & parasitic

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis – showed activity against this form of tuberculosis. Indian J Med Res. 2010 Jun;131:809-13.
Leishmaniases – may be useful in leishmaniases. J Vector Borne Dis. 2010 Sep;47(3):160-7.
Parasites – certain phytochemicals in garlic may be useful for parasites Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2010 Sep 15;20(18):183-9.
H. pylori – a proprietary garlic product showed anti-H. pylori activity FEMS Microbiol Lett 2010 Feb;303(2):13-9

Cancer

Melanoma – garlic may play a role in cancer therapy against melanoma, being toxic to melanoma tumour cells. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol 2010 Sep;32(3):37105.
Breast Cancer – caused breast cancer cell death Cancer Biol Ther 2009 Nov;8(22):2175-85.
Fresh or boiled? – a comparison between fresh or boiled garlic revealsed that only fresh garlic caused cancer cell death among intestinal cells. J Med Food. 2009 Aug;12(4):778081.
Prostate – a phytochemical from garlic demonstrated anti prostate cancer effects. Clin Cancer Res. 2009 Aug 1:15(15):4894-903.
Aged Garlic – increased drug resistance of cancer cells in the jejunum of rats. Biol Pharm Bull. 2009 Apr;32(4):694-9.
Use with Anti-cancer drugs – a phytochemical from garlic (thiacremonone) augmented the effectiveness of various anticancer drugs yet, when used alone it was ineffective. Mol Cancer Res. 2009 Jun;7(6):870-9.
Colon Cancer – this study showed that garlic caused apoptosis (cell death) of colon cancer cells. Nutr Cancer. 2010 Oct;62(7):947-57.
Oral Cancer – inhibited oral cancer. J Nutr Biochem 2009 Dec;20(12):1013-20.
A constituent of garlic (diallyl trisulfide) showed very strong ability to cause cancer cell death in different types of cancer cells. In this study osteosarcoma cells proved to be suceptable as well. Anticancer Drugs. 2009 Sep;20(8):702-12.
A study, using mice, demonstrated a protective activity of garlic against skin cancer. https://patient-research.elsevier.com/patientresearch/displayAbs?key=S0899900708004425&referrer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%252Fpubmed%252F19084378%253Fitool%253DEntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum%2526ordinalpos%253D47

Chelator

Arsenic – an animal study demonstrated that rats who consumed arsenic in their water (levels equivalent to that found in drinking water in certain areas of India) fed garlic extracts had a 40% reduced arsenic level in the blood and liver, and excreted 45% more arsenic through their urine. Food and Chemical toxicology, DOI: 10. 1016/j.fct.2007.09.108.

High Blood Pressure

A time released garlic powder supplement demonstrated the ability to lower blood pressure in men https://www.nature.com/hr/journal/v32/n6/abs/hr200936a.html
An interesting meta-analysis (an analysis of several studies together on a given subject) demonstrated that garlic reduced blood pressure in those patients who had high systolic blood pressure but not in those with normal systolic blood pressure. https://www.theannals.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/12/1766

Cholesterol

In a double blind, placebo controlled study, a time released garlic powder supplement demonstrated cholesterol lowering ability https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jat/15/6/15_334/_article

Other cardiovascular effects

Reduces platelet aggregation diminishing the risk of stroke, heart attack and other adverse health conditions that can be caused by blood clots. Effectiveness was dose dependent and comparable to the drug clopidogrel. It is also interesting to note that the active constituent, while unknown, was lipophilic rather that hydrophilic. https://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&ArtikelNr=000196811&Ausgabe=244846&ProduktNr=224274
A study on dietary intake of garlic showed a reduced risk of heart attack https://www.springerlink.com/content/x2nk0u7151835m31/
Significant reduction of cardiovascular risks Lipids Health Dis. 2010 Oct19;9-119.
Hepatopulmonary Syndrome (HPS) – demonstrated benefit to people with HPS Can J Gastroenterol 2010 Mar;24(3):183-8

Other

Increased bioavailablitity of zinc and iron from grain foods. J Agric Food Chem 2010 Jul 28;58(14):8426-9.
Anti-inflammatory – a constuent of garlic demonstrated anit-inflammatory action. Arthritis Res Ther 2009;11(5):R145.
A study done on a rural Chinese population showed that garlic supplementation increased serum folate https://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/139/1/106
Anti-obesity – a constituent of garlic showed an ability to lower fat (lipid) accumulation and reduce inflammation of white adipose tissue, thus making it a possible substance to use for preventing obesity. J Nutr. 2009 Nov;139(11):2055-60.