Garlic

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<<Do you know if odorless garlic( in capsule form) is just as effective?

Adrienne>>

I have two books on garlic that were written in the mid-1990s. Each of them

talks about research done in Japan with cold processed garlic tablets, and

that research sometimes indicates that those supplements are equivalent to

raw garlic. I have seen other information that indicates that most of the

time, raw garlic comes out better than the cold processed. From what I can

find, Japan has done the most research with garlic for medicinal purposes.

They have done extensive university level studies, and they promote their own

brands of cold processed garlic. With that in mind, I will mention the brand

name " Kyolic " which is heavily promoted as better than raw. I simply don't

believe that. Kyolic is very expensive and t is my personal opinion that any

cold-processed garlic tablet is similar to Kyolic, and better than those that

do not display the cold process on their label. I live near Costco and

sometimes I think I live in Costco, but they carry at least two brands of

cold processed garlic, including Nature Made. I always check Costco first

before I go to a health food store. But if you want a little hype with some

good research behind it, you can go to the Kyolic web site at:

http://www.kyolic.com/Wakunaga/KMain.nsf/996F73004FA510918825690B005B332C/6E89

9725E545155F88256A9400002CB6?Editdocument

Some people think that allicin is the primary ingredient in garlic that

provides benefits, while other research has indicated a variety of sulphur

compounds account for its benefits. Regarding allicin, I have included a

portion of one of my garlic books below (Healing Benefits of Garlic,

Heinerman, Ph.D.) that gives an excellent view of this ingredient. Allicin

isn't created until the garlic clove is peeled or cut. Studies at the

University of North Carolina indicate that it takes 10 minutes for the

process of allicin to be created, and if cooked before that length of time

after opening it is not beneficial when cooked. As the article below

indicates, allicin also has a very short half-life of 3 hours. Which means

if you let it sit for 3 hours at room temperature after peeling, half of the

allicin has disappeared. And it is completely gone in 24 hours. Some people

chop up garlic and store it in oil in the refrigerator. There are two

problems with this, first the allicin is completely gone within 2 days when

refrigerated, and second, there is a mold that has been associated with

garlic in olive oil storage that has killed people.

One last thing about garlic is that it contains germanium. Look for that on

your health food store shelf in supplement form and be prepared to check your

bank balance before writing a check - it's expensive, if you can find it.

Germanium has been found to be very beneficial in cancer prevention, and

cancer treatment. Foods and herbs with germanium in them (in parts per

billion - ppb) are: garlic 1 ppb; ginseng root 5-6 ppb; comfrey root 1 ppb;

comfrey leaf 2 ppb; green tea leaf 9 ppb.

Hope this helps.

Jay

From the book that I cited earlier:

ALLICIN WONDERLAND

When I think of all the marketing hype some garlic companies have given this

ephemeral sulphur compound, I'm reminded of Alice in Wonderland, a world in

which " nothing is as it seems and yet everything is as it seems. "

This sums up the arguments put forth about allicin. -Some manufacturers

contend that allicin is an effective anti- biotic substance, which makes

their particular brands superior. But in the highly competitive health food

industry, where fact and fiction often get mixed together, consumers need to

heed the Latin maxim Caveat emptor ( " Let the buyer beware " ). (My emphasis

added to this very true statement.)

Here is the low-down on allicin, plain and simple. When garlic is crushed or

sliced, an odorless and flavorless compound known as alliin makes contact

with an enzyme called allinase, and together they create allicin, a compound

first isolated in garlic in 1944. But, as Drs. Block and Yoichi Itakura

reiterated at the First World Congress on Garlic, " allicin is very, very

unstable, " to say the least. Studies show that, in pure form, its half-life

is less than three hours. Dr. Itakura observed that " in organic solvents,

allicin disappears in a day at room temperature. " Dr. Block informed me in

private conversation that " allicin may last for a couple of days if you

refrigerate it at a sufficiently cold temperature, " but after that it's

history, chemically speaking.

Even when vegetable or citrus oils are added as stabilizers to garlic

products that brag about their purported allicin contents, the effect only

lasts a week or so, noted Dr. Willis R. Brewer, a pharmacognosist and Dean

and Professor Emeritus in the College of Pharmacy at the University of

Arizona. " Many of the claims based on allicin are out of date, misleading,

and in some cases untrue, " he wrote. " Allicin is a mispromoted substance.

Allicin, " he concluded, " is not a suitable substance for the standardization

of garlic products. "