Every day
we read or hear about some biological threat, whether it be from a potentially
deadly strain of the flu virus, a prevalent pathogenic bacterium in foods like
Campylobacter in uncooked chicken meat; or a seemingly safe FDA-approved drug
that has been found to be unsafe like aspirin that induces bleeding gastric
ulcers and brain hemorrhages; or pollutants in the air or water like the
endemic fungus that causes Valley Fever or chlorine that decontaminates our tap
water but increases risk for colon cancer; or toxic heavy metals like mercury
or lead in our dental fillings and roadways; or parasitic germs like H. pylori,
Candida albicans or Streptococcus that are commonly harbored in our own
digestive tract.
Then
there is aging itself with all of the chronic diseases it brings with it –
circulatory problems, insidious decline in vision from cataracts, glaucoma and
macular degeneration, as well as fatty liver, excessive sugar levels and
numerous malignancies.
Not to
mention excitotoxins like MSG, toxic sugars like fructose, hydrogenated (trans)
fats in baked goods, carcinogens like nitrosamines, acrylamide or dioxin, or a
newly described threat - advanced glycation end products produced from
heat-processed sugary foods we eat.
There are
endless studies of each and every one of these and many other health threats,
but no study that assesses these risks as a whole. Modern medicine addresses
each and every one of these health threats individually and capitalizes on all
of them by developing costly medicines and narrowly designed treatments that
can be found in the voluminous International Classification of Diseases
(ICD-volume 9) published by the World Health Organization and in the Merck
Manual.
Waiting
for each and every one of these threats to occur and then attempting to treat
them as they are detected appears to be folly. But that is precisely how modern
medicine addresses prevalent health threats and runs up the bill.
Mounting a defense
against all biological threats
Mounting
a defense against all of them would pose a considerable challenge as well. How
many medicines would one have to take to fend off all of them? And in this era
of germ resistance, we can't habitually take antibiotics to ward off infectious
diseases before they occur without inducing treatment-resistant forms of these
germs over time.
Is there
anything available that counters all these threats?
If an
antidote DOES exist for all these health threats, it must be safe, widely
available, not require a doctor's prescription, economical and user friendly.
It has to be something that people don't have revulsion over, like the
after-taste of cod liver oil.
Vitamins
and minerals are essential for health maintenance but there is no single
nutrient that addresses all of these health threats.
One antidote: an old
remedy
Upon
careful examination, nature does provide one antidote for what ails modern
society – garlic.
Garlic,
in particular its primary active principle – allicin:
- Allicin is described as an ideal antioxidant
particularly because of its broad application for
prevention, therapy and aging.
- Garlic controls heavy metals
such as lead, copper, cadmium and iron. Garlic
is a remedy for
fatty liver by virtue of its ability to remove iron. Garlic removes
some heavy metals better
than mineral-chelating drugs. While some herbal dietary supplements
may increase circulating lead levels, garlic does not.
- Byproducts of oxygen, nitrogen
and metals induce oxidation and damage to DNA and tissues. Garlic
neutralizes all oxidants – oxygen free radicals,
nitrogen free
radicals, singlet
oxygen and the dreaded hydroxyl radical.
- Garlic does not eradicate
beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract.
- Garlic counters the effects of
environmental chemicals and carcinogens such as dioxin, acrylamide and asbestos.
- Garlic counters the effects of
poor health habits such as over-consumption of
alcohol, tobacco
use, and over-consumption
of food.
- Garlic works synergistically or
protectively with many medications, such as statin drugs,
antibacterial
and antifungal drugs,
etc.
- Garlic counters the effects of
aging on the pancreas,
liver, brain, heart, arteries, kidneys and other
organs.
- Garlic inhibited tumor
necrosis factor (TNF) about 47% in one human study. TNF is a master
marker of inflammation.
- Sulfur compounds in
garlic calm and normalize the immune response so that the first
arriving white blood cells (neutrophils) do not over-induce inflammation.
- Garlic counters the adverse
effects of fructose,
considered to be a toxic form of sugar.
GARLIC AND INFECTIOUS
DISEASE
GARLIC AND CANCER
GARLIC AND THE
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
GARLIC AND AGING
GARLIC SAFETY
THE REACH AND IMPACT OF
GARLIC
In 1988 a
report
published in the Journal of the National Medical Association stated that
garlic has "played in the therapy of many diseases since time immemorial….
Garlic has been a mainstay in the medicinal arsenal of many past civilizations,
including the Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Japanese, and Roman….
No other substance, either natural or synthetic, can match garlic's proven
therapeutic versatility and effectiveness …. Allicin and other sulfur compounds
are thought to be the major antimicrobial factors in garlic… Profound
therapeutic and economic implications will evolve as data from studies continue
to confirm the medicinal spectra of garlic."
It is
agonizing to recognize how long garlic and its primary active molecule allicin
have been disregarded in preference for synthetic drugs that have boxed mankind
into a corner. The plagues of the Dark Ages may return due to germ resistance
emanating from overuse of antibiotics.
Aged
garlic extract offers many proven health benefits, but lacks the pungent
allicin molecule which is garlic's best studied molecule. In one key study, raw crushed garlic providing
allicin, but not boiled or aged garlic, prevented adverse effects upon
coronary arteries.
A 2007 trial published in the
Archives of Internal Medicine conducted by investigators at Stanford
Medical School using raw garlic, garlic powder, aged garlic extract failed to
demonstrate a statistical or clinically significant effect upon cholesterol.
This report generated negative news reports and a decline in the public's
interest in garlic at that time.
(Since
that time cholesterol has been authoritatively dismissed as a predictor of
impending heart attacks and arterial calcifications have been identified as the
primary cause of mortal heart attacks. A large human trial published in the European
Heart Journal recently reveals high blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes
have no bearing on whether a person will experience a future heart attack while
a calcium arterial score of zero indicates an individual has a one-half-of-one
percent risk of experiencing a mortal heart attack over a 5-year period. This
is another giant misdirection by modern medicine. Garlic therapy has been shown
to reduce calcification
of coronary arteries.)
Meanwhile,
the challenge of overcoming garlic's pungency and odor while delivering
allicin, its key molecule, has finally been overcome. The availability of an alkaline buffered garlic capsule that
assuredly delivers about 2500-2800 micrograms (2-3 milligrams) of allicin,
about the same amount as a fresh-crushed clove of garlic, and that also
eliminates garlic breath and odor, is a welcome development.
Will
adoption of this garlic pill into people's daily health regimens occur? If so,
a favorable change in health status and longevity in the population at large
may be forthcoming.
Given the
many published reports
extolling garlic, its lack of adoption by modern medicine is a major oversight.
Predictably, there will be no doctor-led garlic revolution. Despite the
overwhelming evidence and historical use of garlic, cholesterol-lowering statin
drugs have been the central focus of the practice of medicine for the past 30
years.
An
assessment of aggregate health threats provides a more comprehensive view of
health threats that humans face on a daily basis. The practice of addressing
each and every biological threat as they occur has led to point where the cost
of medical care is beyond affordability.
While the
broad biological action of vitamin D and polyphenols such as resveratrol,
curcumin, quercetin and catechin are just now being realized, garlic-derived
allicin is posed as the most comprehensive, economical agent that could usher
in an era of truly preventive medicine. ©2014 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health,
Inc. Disclosure: Bill Sardi has a financial interest in dietary supplements.