A typical dosage of garlic is 900 milligrams daily of a garlic powder extract standardized to contain 1.3 percent alliin, providing about 12,000 micrograms of alliin daily. However, a great deal of controversy exists over the proper dosage and form of garlic. Practically everyone agrees that one or two raw garlic cloves per day are adequate for most purposes, but virtual trade wars have taken place over the potency and effectiveness of various dried, aged or deodorized garlic preparations. The problem has to do with the way garlic is naturally constructed, described above.
When you powder garlic to put it in a capsule, it acts like cutting the bulb. The chain reaction starts: Alliin contacts allinase, yielding allicin, which then breaks down. Unless something is done to prevent this process, garlic powder won't have any alliin or allicin left by the time you buy it.
Some garlic producers declare that alliin and allicin have nothing to do with garlic's effectiveness and simply sell products without it. This is particularly true of aged powdered garlic and garlic oil. But others feel certain that allicin is absolutely essential. However, in order to make garlic relatively odorless, they must prevent the alliin from turning into allicin until the product is consumed. To accomplish this feat, they engage in marvelously complex manufacturing processes, each unique and proprietary. How well each of these methods work is a controversial subject.
The best that can be said at this point is that in most of the clinical studies of garlic, the daily dosage supplied at least 10 milligrams of alliin. This is sometimes stated in terms of how much allicin will be created from that alliin. The number you should look for is 4 to 5 milligrams of "allicin potential."
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MedicineNew research shows that taking garlic during pregnancy can cut the risk of pre-eclampsia (raised blood pressure and protein retained in the urine). Studies reveal that garlic may help to boost the birth weight of babies destined to be dangerously small. This research was carried out by Dr. D. Sooranna, Ms. J. Hirani and Dr. I. Das in the Academic Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London.
They concluded that although pre-eclampsia and growth retardation are complex multifactoral conditions, taking standardized garlic tablets throughout pregnancy may decrease the chances of these types of complications at birth. They focused on growth retarded babies and pre-eclampsia, a potentially dangerous condition for mother and baby which occurs in about one in 10 pregnancies. Experiments by the research team showed that adding extracts of garlic to cells from the placenta of women likely to suffer from these conditions stimulated growth quickly. Furthermore, the activity of key enzymes that are reduced in abnormal pregnancies were significantly increased when garlic was added.
Recently, the American Society for Microbiology's Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy has confirmed the chemotherapeutic effects of garlic. The researchers were able to study how garlic works at the molecular level using allicin. It explained how allicin fights infection, supporting the notion that garlic is an excellent, though smelly, natural antimicrobial drug that can disable an unusually wide variety of infectious organisms. It revealed that allicin disables dysentery-causing amoebas by blocking two groups of enzymes, cysteine proteinases and alcohol dehydrogenases.
Cysteine proteinase enzymes are among the main culprits in infection, providing infectious organisms with the means to damage and invade tissues. Alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes play a major role in these harmful organisms' metabolism and survival. Because these groups of enzymes are found in a wide variety of infectious organisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses, this research provides scientific evidence that allicin is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, capable of warding off different types of infections. "It has long been argued that garlic can fight a wide range of infections and now we have provided biochemical evidence for this claim," the report states.The second study, reported in Biochimica Biophysica Acta, helps to clarify the role allicin plays in preventing heart disease and other disorders. In the studies, scientists revealed and characterized a molecular mechanism by which allicin blocks certain groups of enzymes. Allicin, created when garlic cloves are crushed, protects the plant from soil parasites and fungi.
The role of allicin in warding off infection may be particularly valuable in light of the growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics. It's unlikely that bacteria would develop resistance to allicin because this would require modifying the very enzymes that make their activity possible.
Scientists found that allicin blocks the enzymes by reacting with one of their important components known as sulfhydryl (SH) groups, or thiols. This finding has important implications because sulfhydryl groups are also crucial components of some enzymes that participate in the synthesis of cholesterol. By reacting with and modifying the sulfhydryl groups in those enzymes, allicin may prevent the production of artery clogging cholesterol. "It has been suggested that garlic lowers the levels of harmful cholesterol, and our study provides a possible explanation for how this may occur," the authors write. "However, more research is necessary to establish what role allicin might play in preventing the clogging up of arteries."
Complicating the issue is the concern blocking sulfhydryl groups in proteins may sometimes be harmful because these groups are also present in enzymes involved in some of the body's vital processes. However, unlike most bacteria, human tissue cells contain detoxifying molecules of a substance called glutathione, which helps maintain appropriate sulfhydryl levels. These glutathione molecules can reverse the anti-sulfhydryl effects of small amounts of allicin.While reaction with sulfhydryl groups appears to explain most of allicin's activity, it has also been suggested allicin acts as an antioxidant. The study reported in Biochimica Biophysica Acta confirmed this antioxidant effect and for the first time provided its quantitative assessment. Antioxidants gobble up harmful free radicals believed to contribute to tumor growth, atherosclerosis, aging and other processes.
The antibiotic properties of garlic have earned it the popular name "nature's antibiotic." This amazing plant can provide a whole arsenal of activity against fungi, yeasts and viral infections. The antifungal properties of garlic have long been used in folk medicine for the treatment of Candida infections, especially those of the skin.
Further evidence that allicin is responsible for the anticandidal activity of garlic has been demonstrated in a study where pure allicin was found to be highly active – with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of only 7 µg/ml. The study also showed that several varieties of onion had much less anticandidal and antibacterial activity than garlic.
Growth and respiration are also inhibited by garlic juice in Candida albicans, Trichophyton cerebriforme, and T. granulosum. At a dilution of 1:1,000, garlic juice had no harmful effect on tissue cultures, such as chicken embryos or kidney cells; however, it completely inhibited the growth of yeast.
Scientists in Argentina, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and North America have all done studies confirming that one of garlic's constituents, diallyl suphide, inhibits the formation of cancer-causing cells. Unfortunately, garlic is not yet commonly accepted as an effective treatment for cancer, even though it's been proven to prevent the growth of many different cancers including those of the breast, colon, prostate, stomach and lungs.A recent study revealed that the risk of prostate cancer was 44 percent lower in those using garlic more than once per week. In China, persons with the highest intake of garlic had a risk of stomach cancer that was 40 percent lower than that of those with the lowest intake. In an Iowa Woman's Health Study the highest consumption of garlic was associated with a 32 percent reduced risk of colon cancer.
Garlic can stimulate the production of glutathione, an amino acid that is known to be a very potent antioxidant and detoxifier, and the smooth muscle relaxant adenosine, also found in garlic, will lower blood pressure.
Within garlic and its oils lies a multitude of nutrients. Garlic is rich in protein, as well as vitamins A, B1 and C. There are many essential minerals found in garlic, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, iron, copper, zinc, selenium, chloride, germanium and sulfur compounds. Within this beneficial herb there are 17 amino acids, including the eight manufactured by the human body. Eat some today!