A BRIEF HISTORY
Garlic is a member of the lily family, which also includes onions, leeks, shallots and chives. Amongst all the members of this family, garlic happens to be by far the 'stinkiest' if there's a word like that. You think you're the black sheep of your family, try walking a mile in garlic's shoes.
Dating back 6000 years, garlic is a native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent seasoning in Asia, Africa and Europe. Here I was thinking my friend the onion was really old, little did I know it had a stinky older sibling. The irony is they both belong to the same family as the lily flower, so pretty delicate and smells nice. So imagine if this was a real human family, there'll be the super stinky older brother(garlic), the semi stinky sister (onion), the mildly stinky triplets (chives, leeks and shallots) and the beautiful sweet smelling last child (lily flower) who looks like Chrstiano Ronaldo and likes to stare at himself in the mirror a lot and likes combing his shiny hair. If you were a lady and you had let one of them take you out on a date who would it be? As for me, it'll be garlic the super stinky big brother and I'll tell you why in a bit. So back to our history lesson.
Egyptians worshipped garlic and placed clay models of garlic bulbs in the tomb of king Tutankhamen ( the boy king). What's with these egyptians and their need to worship stinky super foods? Oh well, I guess that was the only way they could express appreciation for the good things the super foods did in their bodies. At that time anybody who had the knowledge of what these foods do in the body, would probably have thought the foods were omnipotent. Garlic was so highly prized in Egypt, it was even used as currency. Imagine walking into a bank to ask for a loan and instead you get a year's supply of garlic. Folklore holds that garlic repelled vampires, protected against the Evil Eye, and warded off jealous nymphs said to terrorize pregnant women and engaged maidens. Okay I just have to pause for a bit cause I'm cracking up here. Let me break it down a little. Garlic a.k.a Stinking rose a.k.a stinky gally was believed to get rid of side chics. If you don't know what a side chic is I'll explain. A side chic is the girl or lady as the case maybe, that keeps stealing your man's attention, so since she sits on the side lines (outside your relationship), she's the side chic and you are the main chic. So the Egyptions, God bless their souls, believed that garlic warded off side chics. So if you're a side chic and you're reading this, firstly you gotta give the Egyptians some credit for the name 'Nymph', which just sounds like a more refined name for 'side chic'. Also you have to beware because all the main chics reading this just added a new weapon to their arsenal. If they find you any where near their man you are going to be stoned, sprayed, bath, incinerated, blown up and to top it off , buried in a garlic farm so your side chic ghost doesn't come after their man (ROTFL). I'm just kidding though, you know I love you all.
Garlic is also an alleged aphrodisiac. Ohhhhh I see I got your attention now. Its aphrodisiacal powers have been extolled through the ages. I know that now I've mentioned garlic as an aphrodisiac some guys are running to the market, shoes in one hand money in the other. Please do not eat garlic and attempt to kiss her because you might get slapped and don't hang garlic in hidden places in your house like a talisman, hoping she would smell it and swoon into your arms, dude that ain't happening. I don 't know how the egyptians managed it as an aphrodisiac but if I see one from 800BC, I'll be sure to ask.
Garlic was also known to give a lot of strength, so people that engaged in strenous activity ate a lot of it and it gave them super energy. Research proved that when the isrealites were in captivity in egypt, they ate a lot of garlic in order to have enough energy to build the pyramids. Of course the Greeks weren't left out of it. Greek athelets consumed large quantities of garlic for strength and energy. I guess garlic was the Red bull of the old days.
HEALTH BENEFITS
In the famous words of Hippocrates a.ka the father of modern medicine, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food". Garlic was first known for its medicinal purposes before it was discovered to be a rather wonderful ingredient in cooking. Just like onions, garlic adds a dept of flavour to any dish. It is a great flavour enhancer although I wouldn't advice you to use it as an ingredient when cooking our local Nigrian soups, it would alter the taste in a manner that is out of this world and I don't mean that in a good way. So here is a break down of a few of the health benefits of garlic.
Garlic contains a compound called Allicin. You remember how Quercetin a.k.a Super Q is a major compound in onions, that's how allicin is one of the major compounds in garlic and for the purpose of this post, Allicin will henceforth be known as 'Guy Al' and I'll refer to the other major compounds as his 'pals', kind of like Sylvester Stallone and his pals in the movie 'The Expendables'. If you thought Super Q was cool, wait till you get a load of what Guy Al can do, he makes Super Q look like a learner. Guy Al and pals are responsible for everything that makes garlic a super food. They are responsible for its distinct smell.
Guy Al and pals are activated when a clove of garlic is chopped or crushed. Guy Al and pals happen to be sulfur compounds and anybody with basic knowledge of chemistry know that sulfur doesn't smell nice at all. I remember back then in secondary school when we used to carry out some chemical experiments and someti es we combined some chemicals that ended up emitting Hydrogen Sulphide gas, the stench was terrible, it smelled like rotten egg, yuk!!! So now you understand why garlic is also known as the stinky rose. Just have it at the back of your minds that almost everything that contains sulfur or a sulfur compound would have a weird pungent smell that is less than pleasant in most cases.
Studies have shown that Garlic may cut the incidence of prostrate cancer risk in half, and other research links garlic to a lowered incidence of stomach, colon and possibly breast cancers.
John A. Milner Chief of Nutritional Cancer Institute says that the cancer preventing abilities of garlic is dependent on the preparation. Garlics active agents- allyl sulfide compounds ( Guy Al and pals) are produced when the clove is chopped or crushed. This breaks the cell walls (remember plant cells and their cell walls In biology class) and starts a cascade of chemical reactions leading to the desired sulfides. But Milner found that heating the garlic immediately after chopping inactivated a crucial enzyme in the chemical chain. Let me explain in simpler terms. When a clove of garlic is untouched Guy Al and his sulfide friends aren't formed yet. Now the chopping or crushing of the garlic clove causes various chemical reactions to occur and each of these chemical reactions occur subsequently, so reaction 'A ' happens and the end of of reaction 'A' forms the beginning of reaction 'B', and the end of reaction 'B' forms the beginning of reaction 'C' and it goes on and on hence the term "chain reaction". Now what Milner discovered is that when the garlic is chopped or crushed and immediately Introduced to heat, a very important enzyme that is needed In the chemical chain that produces Guy Al and pals, is inactivated and this leads to a break in the chain so Guy Al and pals can't be formed. Chopped garlic tossed directly into hot oil, or whole barlic cooked without crushing or at least chopping off the top, will still impart the desired taste but little or no cancer fighting benefits. However these compounds (Guy Al and pals) are quite stable and will withstand the heat of cooking if the garlic is left to sit for at least 10-15 minutes after chopping or crushing. As for me, if garlic is going to be one of the ingredients in my sauce or whatever it is I'm cooking, I chop the garlic before I start working on any other ingredients so my garlic has enough time to sit and Guy Al and pals can come out and play. Trust me, you want those cancer preventing dudes in your body. While our great scientists are still working on a cure for cancer, we'll be on our side of the field munching on some garlic, our breaths might stink but it'll keep the cancer away.
Garlic doesn't have so many calories but each of its very few calories are incredibly nutritious. A 28g serving of garlic contains manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C selenium, and fiber and trace amounts of calcium copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamin B1. Infact it contains a bit of everything we need.
- Antibacterial and Antiviral
Garlic is most well known for its antibacterial and antiviral properties. They help control bacterial, viral, fungal, yeast and worm infections. Fresh garlic is thought to play a role in preventing food poisoning by killing bacteria like E.Coli, Salmonella enteriditis. Salmonella is the bacteria that causes typhoid. I've had typhoid and it is not a plight I would wish on my worst enemy. It has actually led to a lot of deaths especially in Africa. If you eat a lot of street food especially my wonderful Nigerian people who like suya, I'm so guilty of this one, please sanitize your stomach and intestines with garlic as often as posssible, it will do you a world of good. I had a friend who studied microbiology and she was supposed to grow a bacteria in a petri dish for her project, I think it was E.coli I'm not sure but anyway she prepared her bactria infested petri dish and she was supposed to leave for a few days in the laboratory incubator and due to insufficient space, her petri dishes had to share the incubator with someone else's project work which happened to be garlic. After the required number of days, my dear friend whistled joyfully to the lab expecting to see her petri dishes covered in fully grown bacteria but to her amazement and disappointment her dishes were the same as she left them. She was confused and frustrated and I don't know how she did it but she found a way to get her desired result. Little did she know that the reason her bacteria didn't grow was because it was kept very close to her classmate's garlic project work. Wow!! You see how amazing garlic is? The garlic probably rose up at night and went on a bacteria killing spree.
- To treat skin infection
This part is not about Gug Al, it's about one of hks pals called Ajoene. Research shows that Ajoene may help treat fungal skin infections like ring worm and athlete's foot.
- Blood thinning
Ajoene also has anti-clotting properties which means it prevents the formation of blood clots in the body. Hence, it may also increase the risk of bleeding after surgery. So if you are planning on undergoing any kind of surgery, please lay off the garlic.
- Reduce blood pressure
We were all thought in biology class that blood vessels contract and relax depending on various factors. There is a protein responsible for the contraction of blood vessels and this protein is called Angiotensin II and when blood veseels contract, blood pressure increases. Guy Al blocks the activity of angiotensin II and helps in reducing blood pressure. Like I mentioned earlier, Guy Al and pals are all sulfides present in garlic , in the body and these sulfides are converted into a gas called Hydrogen sulfide gas (remember that stinky gas I told you about earlier)by red blood cells. Hydrogen sulfide dilates our blood vessels and helps control blood pressure.
-Protect Heart
Garlic protects our hearts against cardiovascular problems like heart attacks and arthersclerosis (hardening of the arteries). First onion now garlic, hmmm! These bulbs sure love the human heart. This heart protective properties can be attributed to various factors. With age the arteries tend to lose their ability to stretch. Garlic may reduce this and may also protect the heart from damaging effects of free radicals ( remember those mean cancer causing agents from our last post). Guy Al and pals also prevent our blood vessels from becoming blocked and slow the development of arthersclerosis. The anti-clotting properties of ajoene help prevent clots from forming inside the blood vessels.
-Reduce Cholesterol
Garlic has the ability to moderately lower our total cholesterol and reduce arterial plaque formation. So if your doctor informed you that your cholestrol level is climbing up that dangerous ladder and you're looking for a way to lower it without popping pills because you hate taking pills like I do, garlic is your best bet.
-Combat Allergies
Garlic is known to have anti-inflammatory properties. It can help the body fight against allergies. It also has anti-arthritic properties. My mum used to have serious issues with arthritis and some pills were prescribed for her by her doctor but the problem was although the pills relieved the pain, they had serious side effects and dehydration happened to be one of them, I'm talking major dehydration. So she had to discontinue the pills and bare the excruciating pain. Until one day she was adviced by a friend who used to suffer the same ailment, to take healthy dose of fresh garlic everyday. It wasn't fun at all because she had to eat raw garlic, add it to her tea, drinking water and food but it worked like magic. This was two years and she hasn't complained about it ever since. She doesn't take the garlic as much as she used to but the effects haven't changed.
Garlic has been shown to improve allergic airway inflammation (allergic rhinitis). Raw garlic may be used to immediately stop the itching due to to rashes and bug bites.
-Remedy for respiratory problems
Daily use of garlic might reduce frequency and number of colds. Its antibacterial properties help in treating throat irritation. Garlic may also reduce the severity of upper respiratory tract infections. Its benefits in disorders of the lungs like asthma, difficulty of breathing etc make it a priceless medicine. Its ability to promote expectoration makes it irreplaceable in chronic bronchitis. Wow! It stinks but it can help you breath better. The irony of life.
-Diabetes
Garlic increases insulin release and regulates blood sugar levels in diabetes.
-Effective against warts and corns
Applying fat dissolving garlic extracts to corns on the feet and warts on the hands is thought to improve these conditions.
-Cancer Prevention
Like I mentioned earlier, daily intake of garlic has been found to lower the risk of most types of cancers and what team is responsible for this Guy Al and pals a.k.a The Expendables. I love these guys, they've got swag for days. PhlP a type pf heterocyclic amine, has been associated with increased incidence of breast cancer among women. This dude is so mean, its full name isn't even mentioned, it's like voldermot in harry potter movies but Guy Al and pals inhibit the transformation of "the one who's name cannot be mentioned" (PhlP) into carcinogens or cancer cells.
-Improve iron metabolism
As women we need a lot of iron in our bodies because we lose some of it during "that time of the month". So Ferroportin is a protein which helps in iron absorption and release. Guy Al and pals increase production of ferroportin and help improve iron metabolism.
-Stir up Passions (Stinky aphrodisiac)
Garlic's aphrodisiac property is due to its ability to improve circulation. Remeber I told you earlier that garlic has blood thinning properties and when blood is thin it means free and easy flow through the vessels. So this free and easy flow of blood runs through the body and you know what happens when warm blood rushes through the brain, the genitals and all over through the body ( don't worry, I'll keep it 'PG 18'), so when warm blood rushes through, passions get heightened and then you start hearing Barry White's baritone voice singing in your head and you start getting ideas . So that's basically what happens.
-Toothaches
Due to garlic's antibacterial and analgesic (pain killer) properties, it has become a good remedy for toothaches but beware that it can be irritating to the gum. Simply put some crushed garlic clove on the affected tooth. Well I guess the smell of garlic beats the smell of a bad tooth.
-Reduce Weight
According to recent research, garlic may help to regulate the formation of fat cells in our body. Fat cells are also known as adipocytes but before they are convreted to adipocytes, they are first Pre-adipocyte. Pre-adipocytes are converted to adipocytes or fat cells through inflammatory system activity. Remember I told you garlic has anti-inflammatory properties, well this is one of its functions. The anti-inflammatory property of garlic is called 1, 2- vinyldithiin, I know it's a mouth full so we'll just call it 1,2-DT. 1, 2-DT helps inhibit or prevent the conversion of pre-adipocytes to adipocytes and this may help prevent weight gain. I had this classmate in university who wanted to shed some weight so bad, so she heard about garlic and its wonders and she gave it a try. Every night she steeped some garlic in a glass of warm water and she drank it and in about a month, she was down to a size 12. I forgot to mention she was a size 14 bordering on size 16. I was so impressed but not enough to drink it like a cool glass of wine like she did. So I started adding lots of garlic to my sauces, marinades, salads, stews etc and I could see changes. That's not to say you should eat ten cloves of garlic and then chow down on a double cheese burger or starchy food like fufu, if you do that, then just know that your weight will become the rock that cannot be moved.
In conclusion, you see why garlic would have been the brother than I allowed to take me out on a date. He stinks but he's got swagger and he knows how to treat a lady right and keep her healthy. Like my guy Hippocrates said "Let food be thy medicine.....blah blah blah". Good, clean, healthy food will always be your safest bet f forkr healthy living. Eat well, live well and you'll stay out of the hospital. Till next week, have a blessed weekend people.
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