Garlic Purchase & Information
Alternative Names
Aged Garlic Extract, Ail, Ajo, Allii Sativi Bulbus, Allium, Camphor of the Poor, Clove Garlic, Garlic Oil, Da Suan, Lasun, Lasuna, Nectar of the Gods, Poor Man's Treacle, Rason, Rust Treacle, Stinking Rose
Scientific Name
Allium Sativum
Why Do People Use Garlic?
Orally, garlic is used for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease, age-related vascular changes and atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, earaches, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and menstrual disorders. Garlic is also used orally for HIV-drug induced lipid disorders, and to treat Helicobacter pylori infection. Garlic is used to prevent colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, to treat and prevent prostate cancer, and to treat bladder cancer. Other uses include treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), diabetes, osteoarthritis, allergic rhinitis, traveler's diarrhea, pre-eclampsia, colds, swine flu, and flu. It is also used for immune system stimulation, prevention of tick bites, and prevention and treatment of bacterial and fungal infections. Garlic is also used for diarrhea, amoebic and bacterial dysentery, tuberculosis, bloody urine, diphtheria, whooping cough, scalp ringworm, hypersensitive teeth, and vaginal trichomoniasis. Other uses include treatment of fever, coughs, headache, stomachache, sinus congestion, athlete's foot, gout, rheumatism, hemorrhoids, asthma, bronchitis, shortness of breath, arteriosclerosis, low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and snakebites. It is also used as a diuretic, stimulant, cathartic, aphrodisiac, for enhancing circulation, fighting stress and fatigue, and maintaining healthy liver function.
Topically, garlic oil is used for tinea pedis, tinea corporis, tinea cruris, onychomycosis, warts, and corns.
Intravaginally, garlic is used alone or in combination with yogurt for vaginitis.
In foods and beverages, fresh garlic, garlic powder, and garlic oil are used as flavor components.
Is It Safe To Use?
Likely Safe- When used orally and appropriately. Garlic has been used safely in clinical studies lasting up to 7 years without reports of significant toxicity.
Possible Safe - When used topically. Garlic applied topically might cause severe skin irritation.
Possible Safe for Children - When used orally and appropriately, short-term. In one study, garlic extract 300 mg three times daily had side effects comparable to placebo when used in children ages 8-18 years for eight weeks.
How Effective Is Garlic?
Taking low doses of garlic powder orally, 300 mg per day, seems to lessen age-related decreases in aortic elasticity. Higher doses of 900 mg per day seem to slow development of atherosclerosis in both aortic and femoral arteries when used over a four-year period.
Several population studies suggest that increased dietary garlic consumption can decrease risk of developing colorectal cancer. However, garlic supplements do not seem to offer this benefit.
Some evidence from population studies suggests that increasing dietary garlic consumption is associated with a decreased risk of developing stomach cancer. However, taking a specific aged garlic extract (Kyolic, Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Co.) 400 mg/day plus garlic oil 2 mg/day for about 7 years does not seem to reduce the risk of developing precancerous gastric lesions.
Some clinical research shows that taking garlic orally can modestly reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension and in people with normal blood pressure. In one analysis, garlic reduced systolic blood pressure by about 8% and diastolic blood pressure by about 7%, compared to placebo in patients with hypertension. Most studies of garlic for hypertension have used a specific garlic powder formulation (Kwai, Lichtwer Pharma); however, an aged garlic extract has also been used.
How Garlic Works?
The applicable part of garlic is the bulb. Garlic is mostly used for its antihyperlipidemic, antihypertensive, and antifungal effects. However, it is also reported to have antibacterial, anthelmintic, antiviral, antispasmodic, diaphoretic, expectorant, immunostimulant, and antithrombotic effects. Many of the pharmacological effects of garlic are attributed to the allicin, ajoene, and other organosulfur constituents such as S-allyl-L-cysteine.
It's thought that the effectiveness of garlic products might to be determined by their ability to yield allicin, which in turn triggers production of other active constituents. Intact garlic cells in fresh garlic contain the odorless amino acid, alliin. When intact cells are broken, alliin comes into contact with the enzyme alliinase in garlic, producing allicin, an unstable, odiferous compound. Fresh garlic contains approximately 1% alliin. One milligram of alliin is converted to 0.458 mg allicin.Further conversion yields ajoene. The amount of allicin in garlic preparations is dependent upon the method of preparation. Processes that involve maceration of the garlic clove increase the activity of allicinase. Freeze-dried garlic may contain little or no allicin. To improve effectiveness, garlic preparations may be enteric coated to protect the active constituents from degeneration by stomach acid. Heat and steam distillation used to produce garlic oil from crushed garlic converts allicin to allyl sulfides which are also thought to have biological activity.
Garlic is aged to reduce the content of other sulfur compounds and the odor commonly associated with garlic. The process to produce odorless aged garlic extract reduces the alliin content to only 3% of what is typically contained in fresh garlic. Aged garlic extract is usually standardized to S-allyl-L-cysteine, another major organosulfur constituent in garlic.
In patients with hyperlipidemia, garlic might lower cholesterol levels by acting as a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin). There is some evidence the constituent S-allyl-L-cysteine may be a potent inhibitor of hepatic cholesterol synthesis.
For age-related vascular changes and atherosclerosis, garlic is thought to be beneficial and protect vascular endothelial cells from injury by reducing oxidative stress, inhibiting low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation, and through antithrombotic effects. There is evidence that LDL oxidation may be inhibited by the constituents S-allyl cysteine, S-allyl mercaptocysteine, alliin, allixin, and by N-acetyl-S-allyl cysteine, a metabolite of S-allyl cysteine. Garlic appears to prevent endothelial cell depletion of glutathione, which may be responsible for its antioxidant effects.
Garlic powder and aged garlic preparations have been shown to have antiplatelet properties in both patients with cardiovascular disease and in healthy volunteers. Garlic has been found to have antithrombotic properties and can increase fibrinolytic activity, decrease platelet aggregation and adhesion, increase the prothrombin time (PT), and inhibit metabolic enzymes in platelets responsible for the conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandins and other products. Raw garlic seems to have more potent antiplatelet properties than cooked garlic. Crushing garlic before cooking might prevent some of the loss of antiplatelet activity. Garlic oil does not appear to affect platelet aggregation.
For hypertension, garlic is thought to reduce blood pressure by causing smooth muscle relaxation and vasodilation by activating production of endothelium-derived relaxation factor (EDRF, nitric oxide).
There is preliminary evidence that suggests garlic and aged garlic extract may have pharmacological effects that are similar to Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in the treatment of bladder cancer. Garlic also seems to have humoral and cellular immunostimulant activity. There is evidence garlic and aged garlic extract might stimulate T-cell proliferation; restore suppressed antibody responses; stimulate macrophage cytotoxicity and phagocytosis of tumor cells; and induce the release of interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and gamma interferon. The constituents in garlic S-allyl cysteine and S-allyl mercaptocysteine have been shown to have radical scavenging activity. S-allyl mercaptocysteine has also been shown to have activity against erythroleukemic cancer cells, breast cancer cells, and prostate cancer cells. The constituent ajoene has been observed to induce apoptosis in human leukemia cells. Laboratory evidence suggests garlic may induce detoxifying enzymes such as glutathione-S-transferase to remove harmful electrophiles from carcinogens. Additionally, garlic might enhance selenium absorption and protect against tumorigenesis.
The constituents allicin and ajoene are thought to be responsible for garlic's antifungal activity against tinea infections. Fresh garlic, but not aged garlic, has shown activity against Escherichia coli, methicillin-resistant Staph aureus, salmonella enteritidis, and Candida albicans in the laboratory; it has been suggested as a food additive to prevent food poisoning. Preliminary evidence suggests that garlic compounds might have activity against viruses such as herpes simplex virus type 1, herpes simplex virus type 2, parainfluenza virus type 3, vaccinia virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, and human rhinovirus type 2.
What Are The Side Effects /Adverse Reactions of Garlic?
Orally, garlic has dose-related adverse effects, which most commonly include breath and body odor, mouth and gastrointestinal burning or irritation, heartburn, flatulence, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. These effects can be more pronounced with consumption of raw garlic or in patients unaccustomed to eating garlic. Oral use of garlic can also cause changes to the intestinal flora, which might result in gastrointestinal upset. Garlic's effect on platelet function is well known, and can possibly increase the risk of bleeding. Consumption of dietary garlic has caused platelet dysfunction, prolonged bleeding time, retrobulbar hemorrhage (bleeding behind the eye) postoperative bleeding, and spinal epidural hematoma. Asthma has been reported in people working with garlic. Other allergic reactions associated with garlic include rhinitis, conjunctivitis, urticaria, anaphylaxis, and angioedema. True IgE-mediated garlic allergy seems to be relatively rare, but can occur more often in young people with pollen allergy.
Topically, exposure and application of fresh garlic has caused dermatitis, eczema, blisters, and scarring. Application of a garlic poultice has caused ulcernecrotic lesions and burns that are similar in appearance to a second or third degree burn. Lesions usually heal without scarring within 3 weeks after discontinuation of the poultice.
How Garlic Interacts With Other Herbs and Supplements?
Concomitant use of herbs that have constituents that might affect platelet aggregation could theoretically increase the risk of bleeding in some people. These herbs include angelica, clove, danshen, ginger, ginkgo, red clover, turmeric, vitamin E, willow, and others.
Concomitant use of garlic can theoretically enhance antithrombotic effects.
How Garlic Interacts With Drugs?
Garlic might enhance the effects of warfarin (Coumadin) as measured by the International Normalized Ratio (INR). Theoretically, garlic might also enhance the effects and adverse effects of other anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs, including aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix), enoxaparin (Lovenox), and others.
The effect of garlic preparations on the metabolism of contraceptive drugs may vary. Some garlic preparations containing allicin might decrease the effectiveness contraceptive drugs by increasing the activity of the cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) isoenzyme. However, other extracts, containing alliin and alliinase may not affect the activity of CYP3A4. Until more is known about this potential interaction, advise women taking garlic supplements and contraceptive drugs concurrently to use an additional or alternative form of birth control.
The affect of garlic preparations on the metabolism of cyclosporine may vary. Some garlic preparations containing allicin might decrease the effectiveness of cyclosporine by increasing the activity of the cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) isoenzyme. However, other extracts, containing alliin and alliinase may not affect the activity of CYP3A4. Until more is known about this potential interaction, patients that are taking cyclosporine should avoid using garlic preparations.
How Garlic Interacts With Foods?
None known.
How Garlic Interacts With Lab Tests?
Garlic can lower blood pressure and blood pressure readings.
Garlic can lower serum cholesterol concentrations and test results.
Garlic can increase INR in patients anticoagulated with warfarin (Coumadin). There are two case reports of increased INR associated with concomitant use of garlic products and warfarin.
How Garlic Interacts With Diseases and Conditions?
Theoretically, garlic might increase the risk of bleeding; contraindicated.
Garlic can irritate the GI tract; use with caution in individuals with infectious or inflammatory GI conditions.
Garlic can prolong bleeding time and should be discontinued one to two weeks prior to scheduled surgery.
What Should Be the Dose/Administration of Garlic?
ORAL - For hyperlipidemia, garlic extract 600-1200 mg divided and given three times daily has been used in clinical trials. Most clinical studies have used a standardized garlic powder extract containing 1.3% alliin (Kwai, Lichtwer Pharma) 300 mg three times daily. A specific aged-garlic extract (Kyolic, Wakanuga) 7.2 grams per day has also been used. Aged garlic typically contains only 0.03% alliin. A specific garlic powder product (Garlicin, Nature's Way), an aged garlic extract product (Kyolic-100, Wakanuga), and a garlic oil product (Tegra, Hermes) (732) have also been used. Fresh garlic 4 grams (approximately one clove) once daily has also been used. Fresh garlic typically contains 1% alliin.
For hypertension, garlic powder 600-900 mg daily has been used. Most studies have used a specific garlic powder formulation (Kwai, Lichtwer Pharma). An aged garlic extract 2400 mg daily has also been used.
For prevention of colorectal and stomach cancer, fresh or cooked garlic 3.5-29 grams weekly has been used.
Comments
There is some concern than marketed garlic preparations may not generate an adequate amount of the active ingredient allicin to be effective. There is a lot of variation among garlic products. Some odorless garlic preparations may not contain active compounds at all.
General Certificate of Analysis (COA)
Specification sheet links below are a standard copy of the COA less the batch or lot number and manufactures dates. Specification sheet can be dated and should only be considered as a general information. Please contact and request an up to date COA if needed for specific updated information before placing order by filling out the contact form with product name and SKU number. If ordering quantities of twenty five kilos or more contact for availability.
