For all of its purported benefits, there are some things garlic just can’t do. It can’t make our body odor appealing to others. It won’t increase our chances for a kiss at the end of the night. And despite all folklore and pop culture references to the contrary, it doesn’t ward off hungry vampires. But with the numerous ways it boosts our health—not to mention the tastiness of our meals—it’s hard to deny garlic its well-deserved gold star.
Most of us don’t eat nearly enough garlic to enjoy its restorative and preventative advantages, mostly because we don’t want to smell like stinking roses all day. Lucky for us, there are ways to get our garlic in without reeking of it at the same time.
The Smelliest Antioxidant Around
In a perfect world, we could eat garlic by the clove and obtain the benefits without the subsequent stink. In the real world, the component in garlic responsible for its status as a kitchen cabinet cure, allicin, is also what makes it so malodorous.
A 2009 study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie (an international chemistry publication) found that allicin is what gives garlic its antioxidant properties. Allicin is formed in raw garlic when a clove is diced, sliced, or chewed and it breaks down quickly once eaten.
In order for garlic to have a positive effect on health and strengthen our immune systems, allicin breakdown has to occur, which is why eating it chopped or minced raw is most recommended. In fact, for garlic to reach its maximum health-promoting potential, it should sit out for about fifteen minutes after cutting into the clove.
It Does a Body Good, Too
Garlic has been used medicinally for hundreds of years and is often touted as having positive effects on a variety of ailments such as cancer, the common cold, high blood pressure, digestive diseases, and various infections. Numerous studies have looked into its potential use in cardiovascular conditions like heart disease and atherosclerosis. In a 2007 study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, researchers discovered that when they injected juice from garlic—the equivalent of two garlic cloves—into human red blood cells, it increased the amount of hydrogen sulfide, an antioxidant that promotes blood flow and decreases blood vessel constriction. There was also a study conducted in 2004 and published in Ceska Slov Farm, a Czech medical journal that linked garlic with decreased amounts of plaque in aortas.
