Allicin, the active ingredient in garlic that gives the herb its distinctive odor, has a wide range of medicinal properties that put garlic and garlic-derived supplements high on the list of herbal remedies. Allicin shows promise in the treatment of hypertension, fungal and other microbial infections, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and even the common cold. Consult your doctor before beginning a regimen of self-treatment with allicin or any other herbal remedy.
Antioxidant Properties
Perhaps most significantly, allicin has shown powerful antioxidant properties, attacking the free radicals widely believed to be involved in the aging process and the development of a wide array of illnesses. A team of Israeli medical researchers found that allicin is not only a potent antioxidant but a fast-acting one. In an article in the February 1998 issue of "Biochimica et Biophysica Acta," the scientists reported that both allicin and its precursor alliin demonstrated "significant antioxidant activity" when tested in the Fenton oxygen-radical generating system.
Antifungal Properties
Intrigued by reports of Chinese intravenous use of allicin and other garlic derivatives to fight fungal infections, Stephen R. Davis decided to review Western research on the antifungal properties of allicin and its derivatives, including allitridium. Writing in the March 2005 issue of "Mycoses," Davis, a researcher in the mycology division of an Adelaide, Australia, hospital, reported that a key to the effectiveness of these allicin derivatives is their ability to readily cross cell membranes. This allows them to "combine with sulfur-containing molecular groups in amino acids and proteins, thus interfering with cell metabolism." He concluded that allicin and its derivatives are safe, inexpensive and immunostimulatory, making them ideal candidates for use in combination with conventional antifungal therapies.
Effectiveness as an Antimicrobial Agent
Long used by herbalists and folk medicine practitioners to fight a wide array of infections, garlic--or the allicin in crushed garlic--appears to successfully combat not only fungal infections but also those caused by bacterial, viral and parasitic agents. In a review of allicin's antimicrobial properties, Israeli researchers Serge Ankri and David Mirelman found that allicin in its pure form was effective in fighting a wide variety of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including strains of E. coli that have proven resistant to other antibacterial drugs. In the February 1999 issue of "Microbes and Infection," they report that allicin also combats human intestinal protozoan parasites such as Entamoeba histolytic and Giardia lamblia, as well as some viruses, including the rhinovirus responsible for the common cold.
Fights Hypertension
Cardiologist Stephen T. Sinatra, author of "Lower Your Blood Pressure in Eight Weeks," writes of his experience with a hypertensive patient who managed through diet and garlic supplements to stabilize his blood pressure to an acceptable level of 138/80. Believing that he had conquered his problem, the patient discontinued garlic supplementation, after which his blood pressure shot up to an average 170/95 within two months. He went back to garlic supplements, and his blood pressure once again went down sharply. Sinatra points out that allicin exhibits a mechanism similar to that of the ACE inhibitors often prescribed for hypertension. Additionally, allicin reduces the stickiness of blood, lowering the risk of clots.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Complementary Medicine: Garlic
- "Biochimica et Biophysica Acta"; The Mode of Action of Allicin: Trapping of Radicals and Interaction With Thiol Containing Proteins; Aharon Rabinkov et al.; February 1998
- "Mycoses"; An Overview of the Antifungal Properties of Allicin and Its Breakdown Products; Stephen R. Davis, March 2005
- "Microbes and Infection"; Antimicrobial Properties of Allicin from Garlic; Serge Ankri and David Mirelman; February 1999
- "Lower Your Blood Pressure in Eight Weeks"; Stephen T. Sinatra and Jan DeMarco Sinatra; 2003
