Re: Dehydrated Garlic Question and now an answer that is rather long

[Guest guest]

SophiasDream@... wrote:

> Hi All,

> I dehydrated a few cloves of garlic in my dehydrator, as an

> experiment.

> They still have the sharpness to them, and I'm wondering, are

> the anti-coagulent properties still intact in the dehydrated garlic,

> which are present in the raw garlic?

>

> Peace,

> Cathie

---------------------------------

Hi Cathie,

You dehydrated them whole didn't you?! If so then I would think that yes

the anti-coagulent properties would still be intact. As these properties

are brought about through the interaction of alliin with allinase. Both

of these chemicals are two precursors for just about all the rest of

garlics beneficial and smelly properties. One chemical (allinase)

resides in the vascular bundle and the other (alliin) in the mesophyll

cells which make up the majority of the garlic bulb. It is when these

two chemicals come together that garlic gets its bite and odor along

with the rest of the beneficial properties. Here you will find a little

bit about garlics chemistry.

*Before we get into the chemistry of garlic, I would like to say that I

am not a chemist; neither am I a botanist, biologist nor medical doctor.

But I can read and I do love garlic enough to read everything about it I

can get my hands on. I am merely trying to pass on to you the results of

what I have read in order to help stimulate enough of an interest in you

to study further. If you find disagreement with the contents of this

section, please leave us your comments so that we can take them into

consideration, as we plan to continuously update this section with the

latest information as it becomes available to us. We would not knowingly

or intentionally misinform anyone. Where possible, we will cite the

specific source of our information and urge you to read the section on

the health benefits of garlic so you can see where we get the

information we pass on to you in this section. If you have copies of

scientific papers that we do not, please either forward them to us or

tell us where we may obtain copies so that we can update our data base.

We realize we are in the middle of a controversial subject here and wish

to pass on as much information as possible so our readers can make

intelligent choices based on having the maximum amount of information.*

*/The Chemistry of garlic is an incomplete science. We are just

beginning to appreciate the complexity of chemical reactions that take

place inside the cloves themselves and what happens when it is crushed,

cooked or otherwise processed in some way. The more we discover about

it, the more we find that we don't yet understand and may not within our

lifetimes. Even the tiniest clove contains the potential for an almost

unlimited number of compounds that can be generated by interacting with

it in a number of ways. We will not be using chemical formulae and

graphic illustrations of chemical structures as most people don't

understand them anyway, but we try to keep our discussion at the lay

person's level so that understanding is maximized. It is not our purpose

to bedazzle anyone with complicated jargon in order to make ourselves

look smart, our goal is to help people better understand what is

happening in the simplest way possible. /*

* Garlic is deceptively simple at first glance, basically containing

only two compounds separated by cellular walls within the clove. But

when you add the fact that garlic is a living thing that complies with

its own rules for survival rather than just inert matter, things begin

to get complicated. Nothing in nature is truly inert, not even rocks. *

*If you look deep enough into rocks you will see that there is atomic

and molecular activity going on constantly. Atoms continuously lose and

gain electrons in their outer shells and when bombarded with heat, light

or other radiation, their matter gradually sort of evaporates into the

surrounding space or bonds with other materials. *

* *

*From the moment a garlic bulb matures and its leaves die down, chemical

changes are constant as each clove within the bulb begins the slow cycle

to become a multi-cloved bulb itself. In a few months or so, depending

on variety, each clove will send up its first little spike of a leaf in

search of sunlight and generate roots that reach out and down seeking

nutrient-laden water that it can osmose into itself and use the energy

within the clove or sunlight to convert into new life. That very action

itself would seem to imply some sort of intelligent plan, complete with

systematic alternatives, that it follows, apparently knowingly-but that

is an entirely different subject that we will not go into. We will

attempt to look only at the chemical changes without trying to examine

any subtle reasons why garlic does what it does. *

* *

*/If you slice open a clove of garlic, you will see that it is composed

of cells separated by cellulose walls. Thanks to research conducted in

1951 by two Swiss chemists, Dr. Arthur Stoll and Dr. Ewald Seebeck, we

know these cells contain either a cysteine-based sulfur rich amino acid,

called alliin, which is stored in the mesophyll cells that make up most

of the clove, or a protein-based enzyme called allinase, that is stored

only in the vascular bundle sheaths that run vertically up through the

cloves, which reacts spontaneously with Alliin on contact, hence the

need to be kept apart by the cellular walls. The clove had little or no

discernible smell until you sliced it allowing these two compounds to

mix and form a sulfenic acid which almost spontaneously condenses down

to form thiosulphinates, mostly allicin. Among researchers, there are

several other complicated chemical names for allicin. It is the allicin

that is thus formed by chemical action that has the familiar garlic

smell. /*

*/When garlic is first sliced, diced, cubed or crushed, the amount of

allicin increases with time as the alliin is converted into allicin,

releasing pyruvic acid (the stuff that gives onions their pungency) and

ammonmia, resulting in the typical garlic aroma. As allicin sets after

crushing, it reacts with itself and converts to diallyl disulfide,

mostly, with a few other compounds also being formed. The reaction of

allicin and itself, or other compounds, continues until there is no more

allicin as it will all have been converted into other things. /*

*/Allicin is a volatile and short-lived (hours or days) compound, which

if left alone, will break down into other compounds, such as diallyl

disulphide. In a matter of hours it will further degrade into an oily

witches brew of bisulphides, trisulphides such as allyl methyl

trisulphide and vinyldithiins and polysulphides and many others. Allicin

is a powerful natural antibiotic (about one-fiftieth as powerful as

penicilin and one-tenth as powerful as tetracycline) that will kill many

kinds of bacteria (including bacillus, escherischia (E. Coli),

mycobacterium, pseudomonas, staphylococcus and streptococcus) and other

microscopic life forms and will kill or repel small insects and

parasites. It also has anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. Allicin

exists only in raw garlic and cooking causes it to rapidly decay into

other compounds which are less antibiotic in nature, but which result in

many of garlics beneficial effects. Allicin itself breaks down very

rapidly in the body as saliva and stomach acids turn it into various

sulfides. /*

*Raw garlic contains a few lipids (one or two tenths of a percent). Oil

is not formed until garlic is crushed and steam distilled and then

degrades down into the oily mix of sulfurous compounds, described above.

The more time that elapses after crushing, the more complex the

compounds become and the less sulfurous they smell. The simpler sulfur

compounds have the most smell and the most anti-bacterial action. The

polysulphides which are among the last breakdown products of allicin

have the least taste and smell and the least immediate antibiotic

effects, but are responsible for many of garlics other physiological

effects. It is the allicin which is garlic's natural protection from

pests and diseases and when we eat the fresh garlic it protects us also.

Then it breaks down into other compounds which are helpful in different

ways. Garlic just keeps on going and going and going. *

*/ Cooked garlic and garlic oil capsules will have broken down almost

all the way and that makes a difference to us as they have different

effects on the human body and its ailments. As doctor Wargovich at

Houston's M.D. Hospital once put it, " If it doesn't stink, it

doesn't work " . There is no way to avoid the aroma of garlic about

oneself if one wants it to work. As we say around our place, Garlic

breath is better than no breath. Get used to it and educate your friends

who find the smell of garlic offensive. Bad (garlic) breath is better

than bad health. Even the so-called deodorized garlic pills or capsules,

if they are any good, will cause a garlic smell to exude from your pores

and breath as the garlic works its way through your circulatory system,

lymphatic system and lungs, even if there is no garlic residual in your

mouth and throat. You might as well develop a good sense of humor about

it and if you lose a superficial friend or two, consider it their loss,

not yours. If they are more concerned about your aroma than being alive

and healthy, are they really the kinds of friends you want anyway? /*

* In their wonderfully informative book, " Garlic " , Nature's Original

Remedy - published by Healing Arts Press of Rochester, Vermont,

Fulder and Blackwood point out that the Swiss researchers Stoll and

Seebeck found wide variation in the sulfur content of garlic bulbs they

obtained from 12 different parts of Europe. The samples varied from 500

mg/kg of sulfur to as much as 3720 mg/kg. It seems that the more sulfur

in a bulb, the greater is its potential to produce allicin. Monsignor

Greenstock , head of Biology at St. Albans College, Valladolid,

Spain found similar differences in bulbs grown in different parts of

Spain and noted that those grown organically had a higher level of

sulfur. However, the book doesn't say whether all test garlics were of

the same variety or anything about soil types and climate, so it would

be interesting to see some more work done in this area. Inquiring minds

want to know for sure. *

*Also in their book, Fulder and Blackwood say that an average clove of

garlic weighs between three and six grams and contains an average of 1

gram of carbohydrates (90% of which is in a starchy form called

sinistrin), 0.2 gram of protein, 0.05 gram of fiber, 0.01 gram of fat

and vitamins A, B1, B2, B3 and C. The Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is combined

with the allicin and called allithiamine and is easily absorbed into the

intestine. Garlic is said to contain about ten different kinds of

natural sugars which make up about a fourth of its substances; they

include fructose, glucose, inulin and arabinose - it makes one wonder

how garlic can reduce blood sugar as tests have shown that it does. They

further say that garlic is richer than any other food in adenosine, a

nucleic acid which is a building block of DNA and RNA. Garlic also

contains relatively low levels of the trace minerals copper, iron, zinc,

tin, calcium, manganese, aluminum, germanium and selenium, although they

may vary with soil conditions where the garlic was grown. *

*These trace minerals are an important part of garlic's health benefits

as research shows that deficiencies or imbalances of them can lead to or

contribute to hundreds of health problems. Mineral deficiencies are said

to cause or contribute to everything from age spots and osteoporosis to

arthritis and muscular dystrophy. How many trace minerals, and in what

amounts garlic contains them, is a direct function of their presence in

the soil in which garlic is grown. Organic and biodynamic growers

regularly test their soil for trace minerals and replenish those with

low values. Garlic grown with artificial fertilizers in depleted soils

will contain smaller amounts of them than garlic grown organically in

soils that have had trace minerals replenished by conscientious growers.

If trace minerals are not present in the soil, garlic cannot contain

them. The content of every plant on this planet is a direct function of

what is in the soil in which it is grown and the water and air it is

supplied. *

* The level of selenium in garlic is at least 9 parts per million and is

said to be higher than in almost any other plant. Selenium is also found

in seafood and liver. A December 1996 issue of the Journal of the

American Medical Association reports that researchers at the University

of Arizona found that patients who received a daily dose of selenium had

63% fewer cases of prostate cancer, 58% fewer cases of rectal cancer and

45% fewer cases of lung cancer compared to a group that received

placebos. There were also 50% fewer cancer deaths than in the placebo

group. But the researchers cautioned that the study needs to be

replicated as the initial intent of the study was to measure whether

selenium would help prevent skin cancer - and it did not. *

* Among the transient compounds formed when allicin breaks down into oil

are dimethyl disulfide - which gives cabbage its taste, propenyl

disulfide - which gives onions their smell, and propenyl sulphenic acid

- which is the substance in onions that causes tears to flow when you

slice or peel them. These compounds occur in much smaller quantities in

the breakdown of allicin than they do in the other vegetables mentioned

but they give you some idea of the kinds of compounds that can form just

from crushing a clove of garlic. Please bear in mind that these

compounds, too, are temporary and through chemical reactions with food

substances, saliva and digestive juices, rapidly turn into other

compounds. *

*/ Just which compounds are formed, and under what circumstances, is

difficult to say with certainty due to the volatility of allicin and the

variability of the compounds it is mixed with to cause the chemical

reactions that result in new substances being formed. For example if you

combine freshly crushed garlic with pure distilled water, the allicin

reacts with the h2o in water to produce new things. However; tap water

is not just h2o, it also contains chlorine, fluoride, and traces of

runoff agricultural chemicals that flowed into the lake or river from

which the water was drawn before these chemicals were added as well as

the waste products from the aquatic life forms that lived in the source

water. When allicin combines with this soup, you can see the potential

for a whole host of additional new compounds to form. Likewise, when

allicin combines with butter it forms different compounds than when it

combines with olive oil or milk or pasta or potatoes or whatever foods

it is used with. Applying heat sufficient to convert the allicin into

its breakdown compounds opens up a whole new set of possibilities. /*

*A Few Special Garlic Compounds *

* *

*There are a few compounds of special interest, mostly Diallyl disulfide

(DADS) and Diallyl trisulfide (DATS), both fat-soluble, which have been

shown to have anti-cancer activity. There are many studies showing these

compounds are involved in most of garlics' benefits. *

*There's also some interest in S-allyl cysteine and

S-allylmercaptocysteine, both water-soluble compounds that are contained

in Kyolic brand aged garlic extract that also have shown some antitumor

activity as well. Numerous studies sponsored by Kyolic in hospitals have

shown beneficial effects in other areas as well, such as lower

cholesterol and blood pressure, etc. Other researchers point out that in

order to demonstrate even minimal results, very large amounts (way above

normal daily usage amounts,) must be used and that the sulfides (DADS

and DATS) produce results at normal consumption levels. *

*There are some practical ways you can increase the amounts of these

chemicals in the garlic you use. Pickling garlic (whole, sliced, cubed

or crushed) in vinegar causes S-allyl cysteine to form and the longer

you store it, the more is formed up until about 5 years. By then, it's

pretty potent and so's the vinegar it's in as they both show the same

level of S-allyl cysteine (SAC) after about 60 days. I'm not sure

whether it has to be refrigerated or not, but I refrigerate mine, just

to be safe. You might want to make a big batch, because pickled garlic

is so good it is hard to keep it very long and it just gets better and

increases its SAC with age. What a great way to take medicine - pickled

garlic. *

*It's a good idea to let the sliced, cubed or crushed garlic set and

self-marinate for about 10 minutes in order to ripen before putting it

into the vinegar so that the allicin has a chance to maximize and

enhance the flavor and potency of the garlic, whether you pickle it or

roast it or whatever processing you do. Like Chinese mustard, it takes

the allicin a few minutes to build character before using. *

*A good way to maximize the amounts of Diallyl Disulfide (DADS) and

Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) is to roast the chopped garlic in an oven or

microwave it as the heat converts the allicin mostly into DATS and DADS

as well as a few other things. Boiling them in water in a covered dish

for 20 minutes does the same thing, but you lose a little through steam

- you lose a lot if the pan is uncovered. Surprisingly, much of the DADS

and DATS are retained by boiling the chopped, ripened garlic in milk.

The boiled milk also retains some DADS and DATS in the milk solids,

presumedly they would go into the lymphatic system since they are

fat-soluble. *

*Complicating the picture are the conflicting findings of research teams

funded by different organizations and not surprisingly, their findings

always seem to favor their company's products. Still, we try to sift

through things and present as balanced a report as we can. We try to

find ways the average person can maximize the benefits of garlic.*

--

Peace, love and light,

Don Quai

" Spirit sleeps in the mineral, breathes in the vegetable, dreams in the animal

and wakes in man. "