Proven Immune Benefits of Garlic

August 13, 2024 Dr Livingood

There are some solid reasons why you should add garlic into your diet, especially when it comes to the immune system and your heart.

Garlic may be a big help, and it’s so easy to get in. I’m going to go over how it helps, and the dos and don’ts of preparing it.

Where Garlic’s Benefits Come From

Garlic’s immune-system benefits, including a radical reduction in colds and sickness, are all because of a little chemical inside of garlic called allicin.

Allicin is released when you start to chew garlic or crush it up, and it has many medicinal benefits for your body, especially for the immune system.

It’s a high-sulfur-containing compound, which is why garlic has such a pungent taste and smell.

That is also what activates so many different enzymes and processes in the body, including activating the immune system.

A study was done that took 146 people and split them into 2 groups, one that was given a placebo, and another that was given garlic.

They found a 63% reduction in sickness instances, just from some garlic!

You’re exchanging good breath for a massive impact on your immune health.

Another study found that when you do get sick, taking aged garlic can decrease the longevity.

If you are going to add garlic into your diet, you have to know what to take, and how to prepare it, because you can mess up all the benefits.

Preparation

If you heat garlic too much, you denature the enzyme that activates the allicin.

That enzyme is called alliinase, and it gets deactivated within 60 seconds when you microwave garlic, or any other food with alliinase in it.

In an oven, it’s typically denatured within 45 minutes, so you have to be careful with how you cook with garlic.

One way to avoid this is to use a lot of garlic in whatever you’re cooking.

Another way to protect the medicinal benefits of the garlic is to let it sit for about 10 minutes once you start to crush it.

Local, fermented, aged garlic is a very good choice to get the most medicinal benefits out of it.

You can also try supplementing with garlic through garlic oil, garlic powder, or aged garlic extract.

If you’re using garlic powder, you may get the flavor and some of the benefits, but you’re not getting allinase from it.

Garlic oil is good, especially for ear or mouth issues, and can also be used for cooking as well.

If you want to get the maximum benefit from garlic, I recommend 3-4 cloves or 100 milligrams of crushed raw garlic per kilogram of body weight.

You can also get the benefits by chopping or crushing up a clove and putting it into a tea or a meal, which would be very beneficial.

Summary

Garlic also benefits healthy blood pressure, and is very heart-healthy overall.

With a potential 63% reduction in the risk of illness, garlic can be something to get you through the winter season and mix with other immune-healthy foods.

If you need more of the benefits of garlic for your heart and cholesterol levels, you can also check out my cholesterol support supplement here.