garlic

[Guest guest]

Is anyone able to access the full text of the following paper?

I'm asking about this because I was prompted to search pubmed

for possible toxic affects of garlic on the brain following a

rather far-fetched sounding speech given by a Dr. C. Beck,

DSc at the Whole Life Expo in Seattle, WA in March 1996 (printed

in Nexus Magazine). The claim was garlic contains sulphone

hydroxyl ions capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier

and causing measurable declines in brainwave activity. This

review below was the only negative study I could find using

garlic and toxic as the search keywords.

Thanks,

-

Phytother Res. 2003 Feb;17(2):97-106. Related Articles, Links

Garlic as an antioxidant: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Banerjee SK, Mukherjee PK, Maulik SK.

Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

110029,

India.

Garlic has played an important dietary and medicinal role throughout the history

of

mankind. In some Western countries, the sale of garlic preparations ranks with

those of

leading prescription drugs. The therapeutic efficacy of garlic encompasses a

wide variety

of ailments, including cardiovascular, cancer, hepatic and microbial infections

to name but

a few. However, the elucidation of its mechanism for therapeutic action has

proved to be

more elusive and a unifying theory, which could account for its reported

multifarious

activities, is yet to emerge. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) seem to be at the

core of many

disease processes and it is an attractive and convenient hypothesis that garlic

might exert

its activities through modulatory effects on ROS. A literature search on garlic

and its

antioxidant potential churned up a surprisingly large amount of data, some of it

good,

some bad and some of its definitely ugly.Various preparations of garlic, mainly

aged garlic

extract (AGE), have been shown to have promising antioxidant potential. However,

the

presence of more than one compounds in garlic, with apparently opposite

biological

effects, has added to the complexity of the subject. Raw garlic homogenate has

been

reported to exert antioxidant potential but higher doses have been shown to be

toxic to

the heart, liver and kidney.So where do we stand today on this issue of garlic?

Is garlic

always good for health? How safe is it? Is it necessary to isolate the

antioxidant

compounds for its medicinal use in a more effective way? These issues are

addressed in

this review. Copyright 2003 Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Publication Types:

Review

Review, Tutorial

PMID: 12601669