When my grandmother was still alive, I used to see her eat raw garlic. Eating raw garlic she said, was good to lower her blood pressure level. Also, aged garlic extracts was found out to lower high blood pressure.
Garlic is known for its potential role in heart disease and cancer. Many studies showed that the organic ingredient of garlic, allyl sulfur, is effective in inhibiting or preventing cancer development. In the 37 studies conducted, 28 studies showed evidence that garlic can prevent cancer. In a study conducted in China, the results showed that smokers with high garlic intake have a relatively lower stomach cancer risk than smokers with low garlic intake. Most experiment results showed evidence in garlic's strong prevention of prostate and stomach cancers. The allyl sulfur compounds in garlic prevents cancer by slowing or preventing the growth of the cancer tumor cells.
Many of the randomized studies also showed positive benefits of garlic in heart disease. Garlic lowers total bad cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood. They are the most common type of fat in the body and our major source of energy. The body uses calories it needs for quick energy. The extra calories are turned into triglycerides and stored in fat cells to be used later.
The excess calories are stored as fat regardless of what kind of food we eat - be it fat, carbohydrates, or protein. If you regularly eat more calories than you burn, you may have high triglycerides. Triglycerides are important to health but when its levels are high, it may increase your risk for heart disease. Normal triglyceride levels are below 150. High levels are 200 or above. High triglycerides are often part of a group of conditions called metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is the combination of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, too much fat around the waist, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, and high triglycerides. This syndrome increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
