Garlic Fights Cancer, Heart Disease, and Drug-Resistant Bacteria

Garlic is rich in manganese, calcium, phosphorus, selenium, and vitamins B6 and C, so it’s beneficial for your bones as well as your thyroid. It’s thought that much of garlic’s therapeutic effect comes from its sulfur-containing compounds, such as allicin, which are also what give it its characteristic smell.

Other health-promoting compounds include oligosaccharides, arginine-rich proteins, selenium, and flavonoids.3 GreenMedInfo has assembled a list of studies demonstrating garlic's effects for more than 160 different diseases.4 In general, its benefits fall into four main categories:

1. Reducing inflammation (reduces the risk of osteoarthritis and other disease associated with inflammation
2. Boosting immune function (antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic properties)
3. Improving cardiovascular health and circulation (protects against clotting, retards plaque, improves lipids, and reduces blood pressure)
4. Toxic to 14 kinds of cancer cells (including brain, lung, breast, gastric, and pancreatic)

In addition, garlic may be effective against drug-resistant bacteria, and research has revealed that as allicin digests in your body, it produces sulfenic acid, a compound that reacts with dangerous free radicals faster than any other known compound.5 This is one of the reasons why I named garlic as one of the top seven anti-aging foods you can consume.

Like many natural foods, it’s difficult to confine garlic to just one or two benefits, as it appears to offer benefits throughout your body. The University of Maryland Medical Center summed up some of its most promising uses:6

“…garlic is used to help prevent heart disease, including atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries (plaque buildup in the arteries that can block the flow of blood and may lead to heart attack or stroke), high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and to boost the immune system. Eating garlic regularly may also help protect against cancer.

Garlic is rich in antioxidants. In your body, harmful particles called free radicals build up as you age, and may contribute to heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Antioxidants like those found in garlic fight off free radicals, and may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage caused over time.”

Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/07/05/garlic-benefits.aspx?