Modern research has finally confirmed what alternative medicine has been propounding for ages. The health benefits of garlic - from its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, to its positive effects on the cardiovascular system - are indeed for real.
US researchers confirm that the pungent clove boosts the body's own production of a compound that relaxes blood vessels, increases blood flow, and prevents blood clots and oxidative damage. "This will help us standardise over the counter garlic supplements, and ensure they have the ingredients that produce the key compound," said David Kraus, a physiologist in the department of environmental health sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Prior research into the pharmacological benefits of garlic has focused on the organic polysulphides such as Alilicin that the clove is rich in. But, the new research suggests that the chemical messenger - hydrogen sulphide (H2S) - produced when Allicin and similar biologically active compounds are metabolised that is vital.
In laboratory tests, the researchers at the University of Alabama found that hydrogen sulphide (H2S) appears to relax blood vessels, enhancing blood flow.
