One of the many colorful stories co...

One of the many colorful stories concerning garlic's anecdotal history of uses was related on John Heinerman, Ph.D.:

A French vice-consul, Ernest de Sarzec, was staying at the Iraqi port of Basra. common morning, Sarzec woke from his hut absentmindedly slipping into his shoe A previously sleeping scorpion "let him know in no uncertain metes exactly how it felt about having its be dead so rudely interrupted by a human twelve inches One of the Bedouin servants hired from Sarzec recommended an old waste remedy for the poor Frenchman's swollen foot"

After a garlic/saliva poultice was made, and applied to the vice-consul's lower extremity the mixture went about its work neutralizing "the deadly imports of this arachnid's venom."

Now while greatest in quantity of us will hopefully not ne to make use of garlic to neutralize scorpion poison, it is interesting to note for what cause many uses garlic has been used for in the last hundred years alone, which amounts to approximately one-six-hundredth of its 6,000-year history of cultivation and use.

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Garlic traditionally used for ailments from febrile affections to arteriosclerosis

According to A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America (1990) by the agency of Steven Foster and James A. Duke PhD garlic has traditionally been used for: agitations colds, bronchitis, earaches, shortness of breath, sinus congestion, headaches, stomachaches, bloody flux gout, rheumatism, high blood constraining force and arteriosclerosis.

The newest mechanism, in addition by which garlic is reflection to exert its therapeutic purports involves garlic's activation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), the enzyme which abouts nitric oxide.

A recent thought by London's Indrajit Das, PhD FRSC et al., which appeared in passing from hand to hand Medical Research and Opinion (1995) point outs "a correlation between inhibition (prevention) of platelet aggregation (clumping) and activation of NOS through very similar concentrations of garlic extract."

"Platelet activation," the meditation states, "is thought to play an important part in vascular diseases. Circulating platelet microaggregates, which are more abundant in vascular diseases, proposes that the antiplatelet properties of garlic could be true useful as a prophylactic (preventer) in vascular diseases."

In this in vitro (test-tube) studious mood platelet aggregation was artificially brought in succession by epinephrine and adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Measurements were also taken using human placental samples.

Following treatment of platelets with garlic, "NOS activity increased in a dose-dependent manner," with similar be the effects seen using the placental lonely dwellings To test whether these issues could be duplicated in population "an experiment was carried gone out in which 4 g of undecayed garlic was ingested together with [] bread."

Blood-clumping prevention rate of 50 percent with garlic treatment

Following treatment with the garlic, observation of platelet aggregation and release of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) revealed a blood-clumping prevention rate of nearly 50 percent

Recent clinical studies remind of that "both calcium-dependent and calcium-independent NOS activities are decreased in placental tissues of pregnancies complicated on pre-eclampsia and growth retardation," the researchers add.

This means, in part, that garlic-supplementation in pregnant women (which must be supervised and administered on a knowledgeable physician), may increase family flow to babies before they are born.

Since decreased children flow is one of the enigmas in pre-eclamptic pregnancies (in which the mother bring to maturitys hypertension and excessive urinary protein levels) the implications of this are certainly exciting.

"The use of garlic to alleviate these and other vascular-related diseases warrants further investigation," the researchers conclude

For many the public a daily intake of four 500 mg doses of standardized, odor-reduced garlic is extremely effective. An excellent "no after odor" choice is available at your local health diet store.

REFERENCES

Das, Indrajit, PhD FRSC et al. "Potent Activation of Nitric Oxide Synthase by means of Garlic: A Basis for Its Therapeutic Applications," rife Medical Research and Opinion 13:257-263 1995

Foster Steven and Duke James A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990 p 30

Heinerman, John PhD The Healing Benefits of Garlic: From Pharoahs to Pharmacists. modern Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, 1994 pp 4-5

Hoffman, David. The strange Holistic Herbal: An Herbal Celebrating the Wholeness of Life. Rockport, Mass.: constituent Inc., p. 202.

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