Garlic has been considered one of the most beneficial vegetables for many centuries. It's always been thought to have many great medicinal properties that boost the immune system, improve intestinal and heart health and even help lower blood pressure. As most people can't walk around eating garlic cloves all day, there is a wide variety of garlic supplements available, even some that are specially formulated to help control blood pressure.
Supplements Containing Allicin
Allicin is the most potent–and most beneficial–compound derived from garlic. It’s not actually present in garlic, however, but it’s produced through a chemical reaction when garlic is crushed. Most garlic supplements don’t actually even contain allicin, so when you’re searching for a garlic supplement, check the label to see how much allicin, if any, the supplement contains. Popular brands of garlic supplements that contain allicin include Vitamin Shoppe Alllicin 6000, Allimax, Nature’s Way Kwai, Natrol GarliPure, Natural Factors Garlic Factors, Olympian Labs Garlic-Gold, Mother Nature High Allicin Garlic and Now Pure Garlic.
Supplements Not Containing Allicin
Many of the garlic supplements on the market actually don’t contain allicin. They do, however, contain sulfides, which carry health benefits of their own. Some of the more popular brands of garlic supplements not containing allicin extract are Garlique, Nature’s Bounty, Nature’s Sunshine, Schiff and Meijer Naturals.
Aged Garlic Extract
According to garlic-central.com, there is a debate over whether aged garlic extract is actually better than allicin. WiseGeek.com also cites clinical studies that claim aged garlic extract to be the best choice. Aged garlic A few aged garlic supplement brands include Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract Blood Pressure Formula, Kyolic Aged Garlic with Fish Oil and Wakunaga Organic. Kyolic actually has a very wide selection of aged garlic supplement types.
Garlic Oil
WiseGeek.com cites garlic oil as the least effective of the garlic supplements. The reason given is that during the distilling process, the allicin, which becomes active when the garlic is crushed, deteriorates, making the oil less potent. Garlicsupplement.com, however, notes that if the garlic oil has been cold pressed, most of the ingredients you want in the oil will be retained. Popular garlic oil supplements include Nature’s Bounty, Source Naturals, Mason and Nature’s Sunshine.
Garlic Powder Extract
According to allicinfacts.com, garlic powder extracts also do not contain allicin. Popular brands that use garlic powder extract include Kwai, Puregar, Garlicin and Allirich.
