Garlic is a powerful home remedy that can be used to promote good health and prevent disease. But are you eating the wrong garlic supplements?
5 Best Garlic Supplements
Garlic is one of the most important culinary spices and medicines in almost every home’s arsenal. It is rich in flavor and rich in nutrition. Plus, along with a healthy diet and exercise, garlic is one of the easiest medicines you can take without a prescription to promote good health and prevent disease.
In fact, if you’re new to herbalism, there are some great reasons Garlic Should Be Your First Home Remedy。 Effectiveness, safety, ease of use and general availability make it the perfect choice for beginners and experienced herbal users alike. You can supplement with raw garlic, or use various other forms of garlic supplements to enjoy the health benefits of this powerful vegetable.
Raw Garlic and Allicin
image from Peggy Jokel from Pixar
Properly prepared raw garlic has incredible antibacterial properties. Allicin, one of the active compounds in garlic, basically destroys the ability of harmful bacteria to replicate. However, extracting allicin from garlic requires some knowledge of chemistry.
Interestingly, raw garlic does not contain allicin, but instead contains two components that produce allicin on contact: allicin (a sulfur-rich amino acid) and allicin (a protein-based enzyme). The two compounds are physically separated throughout the clove, but when garlic is crushed, chopped, or otherwise broken, the physical barrier is removed and alliinase begins converting alliin to allicin.
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In other words, to produce allicin from garlic, it needs to be chemically activated through crushing and exposure to air. Scientific studies have shown that in order to activate allicin more, you need to crush the garlic and wait 20 to 60 seconds for the allicin to be produced before eating.
If you’re trying to fight a particular infection or prevent disease when your body is under attack, harnessing the peak power of allicin in raw garlic is the way to go. However, if you want to reap the long-term health benefits of daily garlic use, there are other ways to get your daily dose.
4 Garlic Supplements to Use as Raw Garlic Substitutes
Contrary to popular belief, garlic doesn’t have to be eaten raw to be good for your health. Many of its anticancer, antioxidant, cardiovascular and other benefits can be derived from other agents.use one Key Tips Before Cookingtaken as an extract, or some powdered preparations made into pills, can preserve the medicinal properties of garlic and make it more palatable for daily use.
cooked garlic
Heat definitely affects the potency of garlic. The benefits of allicin are somewhat diminished by the heat. However, cooked garlic may actually boost antioxidant effects.
To preserve more allicin response while enjoying antioxidant benefits, use this simple trick: Crush or chop garlic to allow allicin to 10 full minutes before heating.
Studies have shown that simply waiting a short time before cooking minced garlic retains more of the active ingredient after cooking.
garlic extract
Using concentrated garlic extract is another way to increase your garlic intake. There are various methods of production of garlic extract.
In some cases, powder Blend into vegetable oil.In other cases raw garlic is crushed and put in Oil. Some extractions were performed using ether. Sometimes steam distillation is used. Aged Garlic Extractinvolving a 20-month process to alcoholize volatile compounds, is also available.
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Typically, these extracts are then placed in capsule make them easy to ingest. The capsules also protect the extracts from the acidic environment in the stomach, so they reach the small intestine intact.
Research suggests that all of these approaches may have good medicinal value. However, there is also debate as to whether they are the most effective way to unleash garlic’s full potential.
Several studies have shown that whole garlic has hundreds of health properties that may work synergistically with each other. Therefore, garlic extracts may lose some of the overall benefits of using whole garlic. However, they may also be useful for isolating and extracting specific compounds that target specific health concerns, such as improving cardiovascular health.
minced garlic balls
Garlic Powder Balls is one of the most common ways to take garlic supplements. This process uses whole garlic, which is dried and ground into a fine powder. The powder is then put into capsules. The capsule is made of a polymer designed to withstand the acidic environment of the stomach. Garlic is sometimes compressed into tablets and then enteric coated for the same purpose.
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As a dry product, garlic pills do not contain any allicin. The allicin reaction occurs only when the pill enters the small intestine and is rehydrated with water. For this reason, many garlic pill supplements include a measurement of “allicin potential” on their labels to help users determine the relative potency of their products. The measurement was obtained by dissolving the powdered product in room temperature water for 30 minutes and then measuring the allicin produced.
some researchers don’t believe Allicin potentiometric method The test represents how much allicin will be produced in the human digestive system. According to a review of garlic research from Oregon State University:
“It has been argued that it is more appropriate to measure ‘Allicin Release’ using the USP [United States Pharmacopeial] A method for evaluating drug release from enteric-coated tablets under simulated gastric and intestinal conditions. Allicin released through this method has been shown to parallel true bioavailability. Most tablet brands were found to produce little allicin under these conditions, mainly due to low allinase activity and prolonged disintegration times. “
Likewise, allicin isn’t the only beneficial ingredient in garlic supplements. There are hundreds of other compounds that may work in different ways to promote positive benefits. Therefore, there are other potential health benefits of taking any kind of garlic powder supplement.
However, if releasing allicin is your main goal in taking a garlic powder supplement, enteric-coated capsules may be more effective than tablets.What’s more, buy from a manufacturer who measures potency by Allicin release Rather than the potential of allicin allows you to more accurately gauge the potency of garlic supplements.
garlic juice
The final category of supplements is garlic juice. According to the World Health Organization, this form of supplement is the least stable and must be used promptly. For this one, make it at home and use fresh for best results.
daily dose
No matter which form of garlic supplement you choose, the World Health Organization provides these recommended safe daily doses:
- Fresh garlic: 2-5 grams (take with food to prevent stomach upset)
- Dry powder: 0.4–1.2 g
- Oil: 2–5 mg
- Extract: 300–1000 mg
- Other preparations should correspond to 4-12 mg allicin or about 2-5 mg allicin.
All of these garlic supplements are great choices to help support your long-term health. They’re also handy for taking advantage of the benefits of garlic when you don’t have time to cook or can’t stand fresh raw garlic. Some versions, such as aged garlic extract, also promise to leave you without bad breath and reduce potential stomach upset.
what do you think?
What are your favorite garlic supplements? Do you have any suggestions for optimizing its health benefits? Let us know in the comments below!
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This is an updated version of an article originally published on November 3, 2019.
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Tasha Greer is a regular contributor to The Grow Network and has co-authored several eBooks with Marjory Wildcraft.author “Grow Your Own Spice” (December 2020), and she also blogs for MorningChores.com and Mother Earth News. For more tips on homesteading and herb and spice gardening, follow Tasha Simplestead.com.
