
Garlic is a flavorful bulb from the Allium sativum plant, renowned for its culinary and medicinal uses. There are several varieties of garlic, including softneck and hardneck types, each with distinct flavors and characteristics. Garlic is incredibly versatile; it can be used in sauces, dressings, marinades, and various dishes to enhance flavor. Garlic is celebrated for its health benefits, including antimicrobial properties, anti-inflammatory effects, and potential cardiovascular benefits.
Here’s the compelling science-backed health data that I’ve found so far. If I’ve made any mistakes please let me know.
Table of Contents
✨Kitchen Tips & Hacks
Mince Garlic With Granulated Garlic
To get a finer mince sprinkle granulated or powdered garlic on your raw garlic to add some abrasiveness and chop and smear to get a fine mince. Here Gordon Ramsay uses the same technique, but with salt.
Mincing Garlic With a Knife Without Any Chopping
In this hack Jacques places the flat side of his knife on top of the garlic clove, with the blade flat against the table, and then quickly brings his palm down on the other side in a smearing motion: you should end up with a garlic puree in about 5 seconds without any chopping. Jacques Pepin is a genius.
Getting Garlic Smell off Your Hands
Use the back of a spoon in the sink, or even the sink! Wet you hands and then rub on or with something stain, to rub on your hands with some water. Now wash with regular soap and you’ll notice all of the smell is gone, if they still smell just repeat the process repeat.
📚NCDs
Alzheimer’s & Dementia
- “Based on the literature review we have done, garlic has revealed beneficiary effects on Alzheimer’s disease, especially in animal studies; however, more studies should be done on human populations to find the exact mechanism of garlic effects on AD patients.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36809972/
Cancer
Garlic & Onions
- a large cohort study in Europe showed that people who ate more garlic and onion got less: oral cavity and pharynx cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, laryngeal cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and renal cell cancer
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523291479 - A second study showed that eating onions and garlic makes your blood more effective at killing only cancer cells (not healthy cells) vs a control, although this was all done in a petri dish, it was using their own blood (when not eating, or eating, onions & garlic) as a control; pretty neat actually!
https://www.richardbeliveau.org/wp-content/uploads/233.Boivin.pdf
Diabetes
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7919894/
Heart Disease
Garlic with and without Cardamom
- “Among the supplements, [garlic powder] had the highest influence on BMI, TC, LDL and HDL whereas the impact of [garlic powder & cardamom] and [cardamom] was more pronounced on TGL and blood pressure of the patients, respectively.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30150192/
Liver Diseases
- This study states “Garlic supplementation is effective to treat chronic liver disease.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38223588/
Lung Diseases
- Garlic can even help smokers! “Dietary supplementation of garlic, which might be by increasing [nitris oxide] activity, has significantly improved pulmonary functions in smokers.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5535343/
Obesity
- “The current meta-analysis results suggest that garlic supplementation seems to reduce waist circumference unlike body weight and BMI”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31357923/