Welcome to another issue of the “Home Made Medicine
Newsletter”
As I promised, our topic for this issue is Garlic
and its properties.
Are you worried about your health?
Are you anxious about your heart or about the possibility of contracting
cancer? If so, you are not alone and your concerns are quite valid. Cancer
and heart disease are today’s major killers, and as of now, we are yet
to find a safe and effective drug that can prevent these diseases. Some
will argue that taking one or two aspirins a day can reduce the risk of
heart disease, and it saddens me to see how many people are doing this,
because I know the problems brought on by aspirin over use. If these people
knew about the long term damage caused by this drug, they would think twice
before popping another one into their mouths. Maybe they would give up
that harmful habit if they learn that there is a better answer to preventing
these and other diseases. What is the answer? The herb called Garlic. But
don’t just take my word, even scientists are supporting its properties.
A lot of people use garlic in cooking without knowing
that this herb has quite a few medicinal uses. Although Garlic has been
around for several thousands of years, its origins are quite obscure. It
is thought to have come from Russia making its way to the Mediterranean
countries. Garlic was known to be used in the diets of ancient Egyptians,
Romans, and Greeks.
Garlic is known to aid digestion, ward off colds,
infection, expel worms, ease chest congestion, help alleviate rheumatism
and cleanse the intestines. In World War I, garlic juice was used on the
sterile bandages to prevent infection. Garlic has also been known to help
hardening of the arteries, sinus problems, skin complexion, and hay fever
if taken in capsule form on a regular basis.
This herb has been studied, and the results are
amazing. Garlic contains a large number of sulphur compounds. One of these
compounds is diallyl disulphide which has remarkable anti-cancer properties.
This compound prevents two early stages of carcinogenesis, initiation and
promotion, from developing. The anti-initiator activity is the result of
two complementary mechanisms:
- diallyl disulphide prevents certain carcinogenic
substances from being activated
- moreover, this molecule stimulates enzymes capable
of neutralising the activity of carcinogenic substances
These two mechanisms reduce the toxicity of carcinogens
to cell DNA. Diallyl disulphide is metabolised in the liver into an oxide
compound that may be behind the effects described.
In both cases, these studies have dealt with cancer
prevention in rat liver, but the mechanisms brought to light give reason
to believe that their scope is much wider: effects on other cancers, potential
extrapolation to humans.
As fruit and vegetables are rich in minor constituents,
nutritionists have increasingly shown an interest in their role in the
prevention of cancers, cardiovascular diseases and inflammatory diseases
over the last decade.
One the most interesting stories of the properties
of garlic, came to me from South Africa, Professor Sid Cywes, a former
paediatric surgeon at University of Cape Town was having trouble hybridizing
his orchids seeds. The trouble was a fungal infection in his culture medium.
Mr Peter De Wet, a chief research technologist and Prof Cywes hatched a
plan that entailed a dose of garlic. To their astonishment administering
garlic to their orchid culture medium killed the mould. They then went
on to test garlic's ability to combat the yeast Candida. At that time one
of Prof. Cywe's patients, a baby at the Red Cross Hospital had a serious
Candida infection down the entire length of its oesophagus and gastro-intestinal
tract. A garlic solution added to the baby's milk cured the child within
48 hours.
Since then about thirty very sick infants, where
broad spectrum antibiotics failed to bring improvement, have been given
fresh allicin enterally. The allicin treatment brought about a significant
success. However, this was not a controlled clinical study.
One of the active ingredients in garlic is a compound
called allicin. On crushing fresh garlic, an enzyme called alliinase is
released which rapidly converts the odorless compound alliin into allicin
bearing the typical odor of garlic. Allicin is highly unstable and rapidly
converts to other sulfur-compounds such as ajoene. It is, however, allicin
and ajoene which have been the main subject of research. These compounds
block the enzymes which are necessary for metabolism of the micro-organisms.
They have been shown to inhibit the growth of more than 23 organisms. A
very interesting point is that no resistance to allicin has been found
up to date.
Garlic supplements are one of the best ways to
get the daily intake of its properties and compounds, without the breath
issue. When combined with vitamin E, garlic becomes a powerful antioxidant
as well. The link below wil show you what I recommend as garlic and vitamin
E complex supplement.
Vitacost.com
Garlic and its compounds, have been tested against the bacteria Helicobacter
pylori and it had tremendous success. Allicin has also been shown to inhibit
Campylobacter- universally recognized as the most common cause of gastro-enteritis
in very young children of low-income families. These findings are of much
interest as bacteria including Helicobacter and Campylobacter are becoming
increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
I just hope that more people are exposed to this information so they
can make a wiser decision when it comes to preventing diseases like the
ones we discussed here. Please send this article to your friends and loved
ones, share with them the information you have, help them keep their health.
In two days I will contact you again with a special gift I'm preparing,
it is a surprise , I won't tell you...nope I won't..ok, ok, I'll give you
a hint, thrown away all those expensive department store moisturizing creams,
because I will show you how you can make your own. I love it, I love it.
Don’t miss it!!
PS: Make sure you take the right dose of garlic click below for a recommend
inexpensive dosage:
Garlic.com
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