A study on the effects of eating garlic has found that it can help reduce the risk of developing certain kinds of cancers as well as other health problems such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Researchers at Nottingham University have concluded that eating garlic has many health benefits due to the variety of compounds contained in the plant. The compounds, which are mainly sulphuric, can affect "gaseous signalling molecules" that are found in the human body, the scientists said, according to The Independent.
Experts are now trying to find out which method of preparation of garlic would produce the most health benefits. Different preparation methods - such as chopping, pressing the garlic for oil or fermenting it in alcohol - would produce different levels of the sulphuric compounds.
"Each of these preparative forms could have a different effect within mammalian systems," said lead researcher Dr. Peter Rose, according to the Daily Mail. "And that's what makes this research so complex, because we don't really understand how these compounds are metabolised in humans".
Although scientists still cannot determine which preparation method has the most health benefits, they have agreed that garlic does contain strong restorative abilities.
Altered levels of gas signalling molecules, which are found in people with various diseases, affect the ability of the body to maintain its balance as well as the ability of cells to communicate with each other. Recent studies in laboratories have suggested that the sulfur compounds in garlic can help protect against such molecules.
In previous studies, scientists have found that it can help lower blood pressure. It was also found that it contains compounds that have anti-cancer properties - such as allysulfide derivatives.
Researchers also discovered that it can reduce blood sugar levels in diabetic animals, but it is still unclear whether it has the same effect on humans.
"When it comes to human intervention studies, there's been quite a lot of disparity," said Rose, a biochemist at the University of Nottingham.
"I think it needs re-investigating, just because of the sheer complexity of the diversity of these sorts of compounds and the different distribution of them between different garlic products," he added.
Despite the various health benefits of garlic, Rose cautioned that the plant is still not a "magic bullet."
"I don't think there is one individual plant species that is a cure-all. But there are certainly plant species that are strongly associated with reducing disease risk within humans," he stated in the study published in the journal Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.
