Garlic is known for its healing properties for ages. It has been used as a wonderful seasoning to add taste, aroma and even nutrition to your food. Recent research reveals the compound that helps in retaining the antioxidant properties in garlic.
Garlic is thought to be one of the super foods having several health benefits and antioxidant properties. It is found that if garlic is peeled and chopped and allowed to rest for a while, without cooking or adding anything to it, its medicinal properties can be retained.
According to the WH Foods recommendations, it is ideal to use raw garlic in the chopped or pressed form to enjoy its health benefits. Additionally, while adding garlic to cooked food, it is better to add it at the end to retain the nutrition and flavor.
Recent Studies
For quite some time researchers were aware that allicin, which gives garlic its aroma and flavor, is supposed to be the most powerful antioxidant compound. However, it was not clear about the way in which the allicin compound works. As garlic lacked substantial amounts of certain compounds required to maintain high antioxidant properties, researchers were interested in knowing the secret behind antioxidant benefits of garlic. On conducting further studies they found that allicin compound decomposes to produce an acid, called sulfenic acid, which is a potent antioxidant. This is possibly the first step towards a major breakthrough to be seen in the following years.
Health benefits
Some of the major health benefits of eating garlic are:
· Anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects thereby aiding in chronic degenerative cardiovascular conditions;
· Lowering total blood cholesterol and triglycerides;
· Lowering blood pressure;
· Preventing blockages of blood vessels by preventing certain blood cells from becoming sticky and clumpy;
· A great source of vitamin C, vitamin B6 , selenium and other trace elements;
· Anti-infective, anti bacterial and anti viral benefits;
· Specific sulfides present in garlic are possibly effective in playing a vital role in prevention of cancer.