6 Health Benefits of Garlic
Garlic is a bit like marmite. Some people love it, and others hate it.
This potent vegetable has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine because of its extensive range of health benefits. In the modern day, garlic is consumed across the whole world, in both fresh and dried forms.
What Are the Health Benefits of Garlic?
You won’t need to search for long before you find a recipe that contains garlic. It adds a bunch of flavor, texture, and aroma to any dish whether you’re cooking garlic steak bites, garlic confit, or a garlic pasta dish.
But it’s not just the delicious flavor of garlic that makes it so great. Garlic provides a number of amazing health benefits and we’re going to discuss these below.
1. It can reduce bloating
Garlic is one of the most effective natural bloating remedies, thanks to its sulfur content. It can help to boost your digestive processes and support your beneficial gut bugs.
2. It’s an anti-inflammatory
The sulfur content of garlic gives it anti-inflammatory and antibiotic properties. It lowers the levels of inflammatory proteins in your body, particularly in your digestive tract. This can reduce pain, bloating, and other negative symptoms.
3. It aids your body’s natural detoxification processes
Detoxification is an essential process to help you stay healthy. It involves the elimination of unwanted toxic waste products from the body and it’s performed by the liver. Consuming garlic regularly can improve your waste elimination processes and support your liver to detoxify your body.
Garlic has detoxifying effects because it supports the production of glutathione in the liver, which is essential for the detoxification of a number of compounds.
4. It can boost your immunity
Garlic can boost your immune system by supporting your white blood cells in their pathogen-killing processes. It can lower your risk of getting viral and bacterial infections all year round, even during ‘flu season’.
5. It helps to lower high blood pressure
If you have hypertension (high blood pressure), consuming garlic can help to lower it to a healthy level. High blood pressure is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and it’s thought to be responsible for around 70% of all heart attacks and strokes.
Instead of relying solely on man-made medications, you can support your cardiovascular system by adding more garlic to your diet, whether it’s the dried or the whole form of the vegetable. It has the magical ability to reduce high blood pressure thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties.
6. It can help to lower your blood cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fatty substance that is found in cell membranes and the bloodstream. There are two kinds of cholesterol - low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), the latter of which is the good kind.
Garlic can help to lower your LDLs by up to 15% without negatively impacting your HDLs. It’s particularly effective for those of you with a family history of high blood pressure and heart disease.
