Garlic, the Defender of Vampires, the Champion of Herbs

Those of you that are Italian I’m sure your mother or grandmother has
already thoroughly ingrained in you the mythical powers of garlic.
You may have previously cast-off these fanciful stories of healing,
cleaning, pregnancy-inducing, age preventing, etc, etc powers as just
that, stories of fancy.  However, your grandmother may not have been
as far off as you thought.  Now, I’m not saying that garlic is some
kind of “magic” herb, but research supports that garlic does indeed
have some pretty phenomenal powers.

So what are some of these amazing powers you might wonder?  Well,we
can always start with the well-known fact (even if it’s completely
undocumented) that it is an excellent vampire repellent.  Further, as
it turns out, vampires aren’t the only thing repulsed by garlic.
Studies have shown that the daily consumption of refined doses of garlic can
reduce the number of colds per year by 63%.  Garlic is also a great
antiseptic. It turns out bacteria, like vampires and viruses,
notttttttt a huge fan of garlic.  It’s so effective at cleaning it can
actually be used to treat acne! So go on and ask your esthetician for a
garlic scrub today! You may just want to avoid friends and family for
a couple hours until the smell subsides.

But where’s the love!? I know, you’re starting to feel like the world
just hates garlic and will do anything to avoid its potent aroma.
Fear not, because there are garlic lovers out there.  For example, you
know who lovessss garlic?  Your heart, that’s who! One study found
that garlic has the ability to lower cholesterol levels by
diminishing the activity of main cholesterol-producing enzymes in the
liver. Further, garlic supplements can enhance the body’s ability to
dissolve blood clots that would otherwise increase the risk of heart
attacks by closing the arteries. So go on and pop a nice roasted
garlic clove in your mouth, your heart will thank you for it.

Oh but wait, there’s more! Turns out your bones are also huge garlic
fans as well. Garlic happens to be filled with nutrients such as zinc,
manganese, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. All these essentials are key
nutrients in maintaining bone and ligament health.  Additional studies
have also found that garlic’s ability to increase the production of
estrogen in women is helpful in supporting increased bone density
later in life. That’s right, all these years your mom told you to
drink your milk to grow healthy and strong turns out you should have
just eaten some garlic pizza.

Feeling fatigued?  Muscles aching the day after a workout?  Try
garlic! Historically garlic has been used for centuries to minimize
fatigue in labors.  More recently, actual scientific evidence has
supported garlic’s ability to increase performance and decrease the
severity of post-workout fatigue. So put down the fancy body-builder
powders and exchange them for some garlic powder instead.

So, what have we learned about garlic?  Well, despite grandma’s
insistence of “magical” properties, garlic is far from magic.
Grandma, however, was right in her overall love for this little herb.
Although it’s not magic the science supporting the numerous benefits
of garlic are pretty outstanding.  So stop avoiding it because you’re
scared of bad breath and embrace garlic, the defender of vampires, the champion of herbs!