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Food as Medicine: The Power of Garlic to Support your Immune System

by | Sep 3, 2024 | Autoimmune Disease, Functional Medicine, Gut Health, Home/Blog, Infections

Garlic, a superfood for the immune system

Garlic, an ancient medicine.

Garlic has been valued for its medicinal properties for centuries, dating back to ancient civilizations, where it played a key role in both medicine and cooking. Across different cultures and time periods, garlic was not just a flavorful food ingredient but also a powerful remedy for many health issues.

Modern science is now beginning to understand how garlic works, confirming that many of its traditional uses were effective. Garlic’s ability to fight infections, improve heart health, and boost the immune system is due to its rich content of bioactive compounds, including allicin, sulfur-containing compounds, and antioxidants. These components work together to make garlic a powerful natural remedy with multiple health benefits.

What are Some Key Active Compounds in Garlic?

  • Allicin: This is the most famous compound in garlic, created when garlic is crushed or chopped. Allicin is responsible for many of garlic’s health benefits, including its ability to fight infections and support the immune system.
  • Ajoene: A sulfur-containing compound in garlic that also helps fight infections and can influence how the immune system responds.
  • S-allylcysteine (SAC) and S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC): These stable compounds are found in aged garlic extract. They have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, helping to protect the body from damage and reduce inflammation.
  • Diallyl Disulfide (DADS) and Diallyl Trisulfide (DATS): These compounds help boost the immune system by influencing the signals that control immune responses.

How Garlic Supports and Modulates the Immune System

Garlic helps the immune system in several important ways. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

Antioxidant Effects

Garlic is packed with antioxidants that help protect your cells from damage. These antioxidants work by neutralizing harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can damage cells and lead to more inflammation in the body. By reducing these harmful molecules, garlic helps keep your immune system balanced and prevents long-term inflammation. Additionally, garlic boosts the activity of important enzymes in your body, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, which provide extra protection to your immune cells.

Reducing Inflammation

Garlic is great at reducing inflammation in the body. It works by lowering the production of certain proteins, like TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β, which are known to cause inflammation. By cutting down on these proteins, garlic helps keep inflammation under control, which is important for managing autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions. Garlic also blocks a key pathway in the body called the NF-kB pathway, which is responsible for regulating inflammation. By blocking this pathway, garlic reduces the activity of genes that cause inflammation, helping to keep it in check.

Boosting Immune Cells

Garlic helps your immune system work better by boosting the function of different immune cells. It increases the activity of macrophages, which are cells that clean up and remove harmful germs and dead cells from your body. Garlic also strengthens the action of natural killer (NK) cells, which are important for fighting off viruses and cancer cells. Additionally, garlic helps control the activity of T and B lymphocytes, which are cells responsible for the body’s targeted immune response, making sure that your immune system stays balanced and effective.

Specific Benefits of Garlic for Health

So, now you know what garlic can do in the body, let’s look at how that works in practice. What conditions can garlic help? Here’s a few you may not know about yet.

Cancer Prevention

Garlic may help prevent cancer by causing cancer cells to die in a controlled way, a process called apoptosis. This is important because it stops the cells from growing and spreading uncontrollably. Garlic also blocks the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow and get nutrients, which starves the tumor and slows or even stops its growth. The sulfur-containing compounds in garlic, like allicin and Diallyl disulfide (DADS), are especially good at these tasks, making garlic a powerful natural tool in fighting cancer.

Managing Autoimmune Diseases

In autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, causing long-term inflammation and damage. Garlic helps manage these conditions by balancing the immune system, making sure it doesn’t become too active. This helps reduce the chances of flare-ups, which are times when the symptoms get worse. Garlic’s anti-inflammatory effects also help lower the inflammation that comes with these diseases, easing symptoms and improving the quality of life for people affected. For example, in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, garlic can be especially helpful by reducing the production of proteins that cause inflammation.

Fighting Infections

Garlic is well-known for its powerful ability to fight off infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. When garlic is crushed or chopped, it produces a compound called allicin, which is especially effective at this. Because of these antimicrobial properties, garlic can help prevent and treat various infections. It also boosts the immune system, making it stronger and more capable of fighting off illnesses. This means that garlic not only helps reduce how severe an illness is but can also shorten how long it lasts. For example, eating garlic regularly can help lower the chances of getting colds and other respiratory infections, and make them go away faster if you do get sick.

Supporting Heart Health

Garlic is great for heart health because it helps reduce inflammation in the cardiovascular system. Inflammation is a major cause of heart diseases like atherosclerosis, where arteries become narrow and hard due to plaque buildup. Garlic helps prevent this by lowering inflammation, which reduces the risk of plaque forming. It also helps lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels, which are both important for keeping your heart healthy. By preventing conditions like atherosclerosis, garlic can help protect against heart attacks, strokes, and other serious heart problems, making it a valuable part of a heart-healthy diet.

Female Reproductive Health

Garlic can also be good for women’s reproductive health. It may help balance hormones, reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and even support fertility. Compounds in garlic, like allicin and ajoene, help regulatethe menstrual cycle, maintain hormonal balance, and address issues related to fertility and other reproductive health concerns.

Garlic as a Superfood

Garlic is a powerful and versatile food with numerous health benefits. It’s rich in antioxidants and sulfur-containing compounds like allicin, which help protect cells, reduce inflammation, and boost the immune system. Garlic is known for its ability to fight infections, support heart health by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, and may even help prevent cancer by causing cancer cells to die and stopping tumor growth. Regular consumption of garlic can contribute to overall wellness and help protect against a variety of health issues.

If you want to learn how to incorporate garlic into your health routine for its immunomodulatory benefits, I’m here to help! Let’s work together to unlock garlic’s full potential and elevate your health. Reach out today to get started! 

Robyn Puglia
FdSc DipION IFMCP
mIFM mBANT

My mission in life is to share my knowledge in order to help people heal. I love to unravel the health stories and the biochemistry to get to the heart of the problem, and to help support nutritional and lifestyle changes that have the ability to transform people’s health. I have seen incredible changes in the health of my clients, and I hope to do the same for you.

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