Garlic (and onions, members of the plant genus allium - all of which are rich in sulfur compounds) contains large amounts of organic sulfides --- extraordinary antibiotics and anti-carcinogens.
      One of the most powerful, diallyl sulfide, was also found to protect animals from the cancerous transformation of cells with doses just four hours before they were exposed to a potent carcinogen, dimethyl hydrazine.

      There are more than 30 compounds and elements in garlic (among roughly 400 constituent compounds) which influence body function: minerals such as selenium and germanium; amino acids such as glutathione, methionine and cysteine; amino alkyl sulfoxides, allin; disulfide oxides, allicin; deoxidized sulfide, disulfide and sulfhydryl-bearing compounds such as diallyldisulfide, S-allyl cysteine and the oxide of trithia-dodecatriene, ajoene.
[ George Barany, chemist at the U. of Minnesota, reports that ajoene is as potent as aspirin in preventing sticky red blood platelets from clumping together. Related factors lengthen clotting time, while others actually dissolve clots. All three effects can impact on heart attack and stroke prevention. ]

      National Cancer Institute nutritionist Elaine Lanza:
      "There is still a big interest in the area of fat and fiber, but right now, there is more emphasis on the idea of trace compounds, non-nutrients in vegetables and fruits that work against tumor formation."
      "Garlic tops the list as a source of these trace elements or micronutrients."

      Dr. Herbert Pierson, a toxicologist who (until recently) headed the National Cancer Institute's "designer foods" program:
      "Garlic is a veritable pharmacopeia. That's why garlic has been found in every medical book of every culture ever. For thousands of years, garlic has been used for the treatment and prevention of disease. So there has to be something there."
      "A huge data base exists documenting health benefits ranging from cardiovascular effects to cancer inhibition, from the slowing down of aging to the detoxification of heavy metals and other poisonous chemical susbstances."

      John Laszlo of the American Cancer Society:
      "This line of research is legitimate."

      Garlic's sulfur compounds structures contain S-S and S-H groups typical of major enzymes and hormones which regulate body function and body response to nutrients and drugs.
      [see: "The Chemistry of Garlic and Onions", Dr. Eric Block; Scientific American, vol. 252: pg 114-119, March, 1985 ]

      Propyline sulfide, a garlic and onion extract found to be mildly effective against tumors, acts on the enzyme liposaminase, thought to be related to cancer development if not properly controlled.

      Dr. Benjamin H.S. Lau of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, suggested in 1992 that garlic is a "biological response modifier", i.e., it increases the body's defenses against cancer.
      Lau's research found that garlic's sulfur compounds boost the activity of macrophages and T-lymphocytes, immune system components that are summoned to destroy tumors.

      Garlic contains a series of natural antioxidants that may help to explain its strong anticancer and antitumor activity. Antioxidants disarm reactive body chemicals that can trigger the onset of cancer. By inhibiting the harmful action of oxygen (impacting on free radical activity), garlic possibly limits cell membrane damage, which is one mechanism in the aging process.
      [The herbs thyme, sage and rosemary are also strong antioxidants.]

      Bioflavonoids, the same anticarcinogens found in cruciferae (cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, etc.) and citrus, are also present in garlic.

      Garlic lowers harmful triglycerides, cholesterol (LDL and VLDL) and blood pressure.
[ A study of three groups in the Jain religious sect of India found members who consumed more than a pound of onions and at least 17 garlic cloves weekly. They all showed low blood levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. The orthodox members that abstained from allium consumption all their lives showed the opposite effect: high triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Values for a group on a moderate diet fell somewhere in between. ]

[ In 1990, David Kritchevsky of the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology in Philedelphia found that garlic or garlic oil inhibits lab-induced arteriosclerosis in rabbits. ]

[ In 1993, Dr. Steven Warshafsky (New York Medical College), in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reported a nine percent (on average) decline in serum cholesterol in people who ate one-half to one clove of garlic daily. ]

[ In 1992, researchers at the University of Munich in Germany isolated six garlic compounds that lower blood cholesterol in animals by blocking liver production. (This is essentially the same way new drugs such as Mevacor reduce cholesterol in humans.)
    The garlic suppressed cholesterol formation by approx. 50% in test animals. ]

      Garlic also shifts the LDL-HDL lipoprotein ratio in a favorable direction, reduces dangerous blood clotting, aids in the treatment of diabetes, opens airways and alleviates asthma, and neutralizes many environmental toxins (mercury and lead among them - garlic's sulfur molecules are highly reactive and bind with heavy metals).

      A common thread among the garlic compounds is that they act upon prostaglandins, fatty acids in the body that regulate blood pressure, metabolism, temperature, fertility and cell division.
      In conditions such as cancer, asthma and excessive clot formation, prostaglandin activity becomes rampant. Garlic and onion compounds interfere with this process.
      Dr. Pierson: "It appears from biopsies that the prostaglandins that stimulate cell division are the bad guys in our bodies. What garlic and onions do is alter the way that prostaglandins are made so they don't get out of control, causing runaway cell division."

Allicin

      One component of garlic, allicin (less potent than penicillin in its natural form), attacks (moderate doses hinder; larger doses kill) more than 23 kinds of bacteria, including staph and salmonella, as well as 60 types of fungi and yeasts, is effective against all of the 17 most dangerous fungi (Candida albicans included - a frequent cause of vaginitis), expels tapeworms, and restores sensation in areas affected by leprosy.

      Dr. Byron Murray, prof. of microbiology at Brigham Young University has seen allicin immobilize 90 percent of a virus in a laboratory dish within 30 minutes. Allicin is known to destroy viruses that cause herpes and upper respiratory infection.

      Allicin, the main active principle in garlic (and the first compound formed after a clove is crushed), is produced through the combination of the amino acid alliin and the enzyme allinase. Thus, garlic cloves that have been chopped, squeezed or mashed have demonstrably greater health benefits than extracts from whole, unprocessed cloves.
[ The green sprout in many cloves of garlic is a prime source of allicin, although it may add a "harsh" flavor to foods. ]

      Most odorless, and other preparations of capsuled garlic, retain digestive and blood health properties, but do not retain antibacterial and antifungal components.


Research

      Studies performed at Anderson Hospital in Houston by biologist Michael Wargovich disclosed that mice developed 75% fewer tumors when given diallyl sulfide prior to exposure to a colon-specific carcinogen. When the study was repeated using a carcinogen that affects the esophagus, the results were even more dramatic. Dr. Wargovich:
      "We were shocked at the end of that experiment. Even though the garlic- treated animals were exposed to one of the most potent carcinogens around, NOT ONE GOT CANCER (emphasis mine). We believe diallyl sulfide triggers the liver to detoxify carcinogens."
      "This is no longer nutritional-food-store stuff. At our hospital, two cancer research sections, gastrointestinal and head and neck, have committed themselves to garlic chemopreventive studies. We realize that this presents a roadblock to a lot of tumors, and a lot of specialists in early cancers now consider this the way to go. It's really exciting."

      Similar studies by Penn State University, American Health Foundation in Valhalla, NY, Lee Wattenberg and George Barany at the U. of Minnesota, and Sidney Belman at the New York University Medical Center, which found that garlic-derived sulfur compounds inhibited tumors of the stomach and skin, are supportive of Dr. Wargovich's findings.

      C.S. Yang, at the Laboratory for Cancer Research at Rutgers University's College of Pharmacy (Piscataway, NJ), injected rats with NNK, a substance found in cigarette smoke. Those animals pretreated with an oral dose of diallyl sulfide had a greatly reduced incidence of lung cancer.

      The American Chemical Society, at an August, 1992 meeting in Washington, concluded that, although the anti-cancer potential of garlic (as well as soy sauce and cruciferae) compounds in humans was not known, consumption probably had a beneficial effect.

      A National Cancer Institute study published in the 01/15/89 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that allium vegetables can significantly reduce the incidence of stomach cancer.
      Questionaires handed out in Linqu, China, compared the dietary habits of 685 patients with stomach cancer and 1,131 other people matched by age, sex, occupation and education who had no diagnosed cancer. People in the control, or cancer-free, group consumed from 25 to more than 50 pounds of allium vegetables a year. The cancer patients ate less than 25 lbs of the vegetable.
      Conclusion?
      "Persons in Linqu tended to be exposed to mild doses of allium vegetables over long periods, likely beginning in childhood. Our study suggests that all or part of such exposure has resulted in a reduction in stomach cancer risk starting at an early age...and continuing throughtout life."

      The community of Gangshan, China carried a stomach cancer rate of 3.5 per 100,000. In nearby Quixia, the cancer rate was 10x greater. A typical Gangshan resident eats about seven cloves of garlic/day; Quixians rarely consume garlic. By yet-to-be elucidated mechanisms, garlic reduced the nitrites in the Gangshan residents' stomach acid, thus impacting on the formation of nitrosamines, known carcinogens.

      A 1979 study also found a reduced amount of stomach cancer among residents of a Georgia county famous for growing vidalia onions.
      There are planned human trials, among them an experiment headed by Sidney Belman in Japan (where the stomach cancer rate is among the highest in the world - thought to be due to high salt and nitrate content of typical Japanese diet). Dr. Belman believes garlic may halt the conversion of nitrites into nitrosamines, which are powerful carcinogens.
      Garlic-consuming Japanese will be tested for short-range biological markers to see if their stomach cells are in a precancerous state.

      Dr. Jinzhou Liu, a Chinese scientist now at Pennsylvania State University, reported that garlic extracts were "much more effective than vitamin C" in blocking nitrosamine formation both in the lab and people.

      The "First World Congress on the Health Significance of Garlic and Garlic Constituents", held in August, 1990 in Washington, and co-sponsored by Pennsylvania State and the Federal Department of Agriculture, produced reports on garlic from 45 scientists from 15 countries.
      One paper, the results of a three-year study in India among 432 coronary patients who had already suffered one heart attack, drew particular interest.
      Patients were randomly divided into two groups, with one group receiving daily supplements of garlic juice in milk.
      Those who took the garlic supplement had fewer additional heart attacks, lower blood pressure and serum cholesterol levels and were less likely to die during the study.
      After three years, nearly twice as many patients had died in the group not taking garlic.
      The benefits of garlic became increasingly apparent with time, suggesting that garlic worked by dissolving the atherosclerotic blockages in coronary arteries.
[ There were also subjective benefits such as increase in vigor, energy and sexual desire, improvements in exercise tolerance, and a decrease in joint pains and asthmatic tendencies. ]


Effective Doses

      An amount as small as 1.8 grams of garlic results in an increase in natural killer lymphocyte activity---a general immune system enhancer.

      A lot of garlic researchers are themselves consuming garlic on a regular basis, Drs. Belman, Wargowich and Pierson among them.
      Dr. Belman says his cholesterol level dropped from a disturbing 296 to 236 after he started watching his fat intake and taking three garlic pills/day.

      In some parts of China, an average of five cooked cloves/day are consumed as part of the regular diet.
      A recent issue of Eating Well magazine quoted a British endocrinologist who estimated that 7 to 28 cloves/day (or the equivalent) would be necessary to trigger significant drops in cholesterol and blood pressure.

      Dr. Pierson believes the proper daily intake will be found to be eight cloves or its equivalent in capsule form.
      Researcher Dr. Robert Lin (Nutrition International/Irvine, CA), expects that eating three fresh cloves of garlic/day will lower cholesterol an average of 10%, and up to 15% IN SOME PEOPLE.
      Dr. Lin believes that as little as one clove/day covers myriad health benefits, including chemical detoxification.


Raw vs Cooked Garlic

      Garlic's antibacterial and anti-carcinogenic properties are most prevalent in its raw state.
      Ajoene, one of the most powerful anti-cholesterol compounds, is not damaged by heat. So cooked as well as raw garlic can lower cholesterol and act as a blood-thinner.
      Ajoene's anticarcinogenic properties may also be retained [in a study of human cells, ajoene was found to be 3x as toxic to malignant cells as to normal cells].

      Heating garlic in a frying pan of (for example) olive oil releases potent painkilling compounds.
  [Thought by many researchers to be the next wave of analgesics - "the ibuprofins of the '90s".]

      Boiling garlic creates the set of sulfur compounds that can dilate the brochials in asthmatic individuals, and act as a decongestant, cough medicine and mucus regulator.


Supplemental Formulations

      The odor-free supplements KYOLIC (marketed by the pharmeceutical firm Wakunaga of America) and Nature's Way GARLICIN, among others, appear to retain antibacterial and antifungal components, although NYU Medical Center researcher Sidney Belman feels that "the drying and deodorizing processes damage active oils".

      Microbiologist Benjamin Lau (Loma Linda University/California) has found Kyolic can prevent tumors in animals and reduce blood cholesterol in human volunteers.

      A Florida physician, Dr. Tariq Abdullah, in an unpublished study gave three healthy volunteers six Kyolic capsules/day, three others large amounts of raw garlic, and three others no garlic at all.
      Immune system killer cell activity was measured, and after three weeks, Abdullah reported that "the natural killer cells of those taking either type of garlic were more 'vicious', killing more than twice the number of cancer cells in vitro than did the killer cells from the control group."

      Professor John Milner and Dr. J.Z. Liu of Penn State U. reported in a Jan. 93 issue of Carcinogenesis, that aged garlic extract significantly inhibited the development of breast cancer induced by chemical carcinogens.

      Studies headed by Dr. John Pinto of Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY, disclosed that Kyolic inhibited the growth of human breast cancer cells in vitro.
      Dr. Pinto: "S-Allyl cysteine and S-allyl mercaptocysteine in garlic are chiefly responsible for inhibiting the growth of cancer cells."

      Dr. Robert Lin: "Combining all the evidence, it is beyond any doubt that adequate garlic consumption can help fight against cancers, including breast cancer. Aged garlic extracts contain more stable compounds TO WORK WITH than raw garlic."

      A Los Alamos National Laboratory polymer scientist, Robert Hermes, by attaching a plastic molecule to garlic sulfides, has developed a synthetic garlic supplement free of odor, but retaining antibacterial, anticarcinogenic and cholesterol-lowering properties.


Historical Notes

      An Egyptian medical papyrus from the 16th Century B.C. lists 22 remedies employing garlic for everything from heart disease and worms, to tumors, headaches and bites. Cloves of preserved garlic were found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen.
      Ancient Olympic athletes chewed it to heighten stamina. Aristotle, Hippocrates and Pliny touted garlic for its healing value. East Indians use garlic for skin ulcers and cleaning wounds.
        For centuries, the Chinese have drunk onion tea to relieve fevers, cholera and dysentery.
      Louis Pasteur described the antibacterial properties of garlic. Albert Schweitzer, deep in the jungle, mainstream pharmeceuticals depleted, gave his patients garlic for amoebic dysentery.

      There are more than 300 types of garlic.
              Individual cloves are planted and push up branchless spears ("garlic" is from Middle English: gar = spear; leac = leek). The spears are kept moist until mature, then allowed to yellow and dry out. Plants are under-cut, pulled and "cured" in the field for three weeks.
  [ California produces 90% of the US crop ( >250 million pounds); some of the best is reported to be cultivated around Gilroy, CA. ]

      In years when frost strikes garlic crops, the cloves turn out firmer and smoother.


Caveats

      In lab animals, large amounts of garlic can make red blood cells fragile, raising the risk of anemia.
      More than 20 grams of garlic/day (approx. one bulb) can damage red blood cells.

      Because garlic contains irritants, people with hernias and stomach disorders should avoid consuming large amounts of raw garlic.
      There are reported cases of allergic reactions or upset stomachs, and some volunteers on high doses have experienced vomiting and diarrhea.
      Other reported reactions from raw garlic consumption: a burning sensation when urinating, heartburn, flatulence and belching.

      Biochemist Sidney Belman (NY Med. Center): "In people, I haven't heard of any serious illness---certainly no fatalities."
      Chemist Eric Block (State U. of NY/Albany): "There isn't much evidence that normal amounts of garlic are bad for you."
      The side effects of garlic on humans appear to be minimal.

      Garlic-and-oil seasoning mixes can pose a risk of botulism if not refrigerated. Mixes without an acidifying agent, such as citric acid, should be kept in the refrigerator. Avoid commercial mixes of this type.

Purchase / Storage

      Avoid buying heads or bulbs that are soft, spongy or shriveled; garlic bulbs should have plump, firm cloves still covered with papery skin.

      Keep garlic dry, cool and exposed to the air. Do not refrigerate heads of garlic or store them in tightly wrapped plastic bags.
[ Outsized heads called "elephant" garlic are not true garlic, and their chief selling point is their mildness. ]

      In a proper environment, garlic heads can last six months.   


Onions

      Onions are first cousins to lillies, and are edible from root to flower petals. They can be harvested at any point in their growing cycle.
      One med. onion contains as much vitamin C as two apples, one banana, one tomato or one orange.
      [The irritating compound released upon slicing is pyruvic acid. The vapor hits the eyes and nasal passages, mixes with saline and produces a mild form of sulfuric acid. The older the onion, the higher the sulphur content.]

      The reduced rates of cancers of the skin, stomach, liver, colon, lungs and cervix seen in garlic consumers have counterparts in onion consumers, probably due to the flavonoid, quercetin.
      Quercetin is anti-cancer, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-bacterial in action.
      Red and yellow varieties of onion contain abundant levels of quercetin.

      A 1997 Dutch study found that those who ate half an onion a day cut their risk of stomach cancer in half
      Another Dutch study found that high bioflavonoid ingesters (mainly quertin) were least likely to suffer fatal heart attacks.

      Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra, author of "Optimum Health" (Bantam Books):
  "Quercetin helps prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which can lead to hardening of the arteries and stroke."

      In a study of 4 men at the Institute for Male Urology in Los Angeles, 500 miilgrams of quercetin reduced prostate pain in 67% of pateients suffering from prostatitis.
      Dr. Daniel A. Shoskes believes quercetin increases endorphins in the prostate fluid.
      [The antioxidants bromelain and papain (components of pineapple) are believed to increase the absorption of quercetin.]