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The term wonder drug was coined for aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, for decades – be-cause of its benefits in alleviating many health problems, conditions and symptoms. Aspirin is easily synthesized and its price is very affordable worldwide. Ancient cultures relied on the use of traditional medicines for alleviating and treatment of many human ailments.
NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES ISSN 2377-8350 http://dx.doi.org/10.17140/AFTNSOJ-1-e002 Open Journal Editorial Is Garlic a Wonder Plant?
* *Corresponding author Farouk El-Sabban, PhD * Farouk El-Sabban Professor of Nutrition and Physiology Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Life Sciences Kuwait University Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, P.O. P.O. Box 5969 – Safat 13060 Box 5969 – Safat 13060, Kuwait City, State of Kuwait Kuwait City, State of Kuwait Tel. +965-2463-3081 Fax: +965-2251-3929 E-mail: farouk.elsabban@ku.edu.kw The term wonder drug was coined for aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid, for decades – be- cause of its benefits in alleviating many health problems, conditions and symptoms. Aspirin is easily synthesized and its price is very affordable worldwide. Ancient cultures relied on the use Volume 1 : Issue 3 of traditional medicines for alleviating and treatment of many human ailments. Most of these Article Ref. #: 1000AFTNSOJ1e002 folkloric remedies utilized different types of plants as a whole or some of their parts. With advancements in analytical techniques, many compounds that are of bioactive properties; such Article History as those containing sulfur, flavonoids, and other phenolic compounds, have been discovered th Received: April 30th, 2015 in plants. Some of food items of a plant origin contain such compounds, thus became known th Accepted: May 7th, 2015 as functional foods. Functional foods are described as: natural or processed foods that con- th Published: June 9th, 2015 tain known or unknown biologically-active compounds – which, in defined amounts, provide clinically-proven and documented health benefits for the prevention, management, or treatment Citation of chronic diseases. The pharmaceutical industry develops and manufactures drugs on which El-Sabban F. Is garlic a won- modern medicine relies for treating different ailments and diseases. The association between der plant? Adv Food Technol Nutr sound nutrition and general health has been established long ago; thus, dietary aspects can be Sci Open J. 2015; 1(3): e7-e8.
doi: 10.17140/AFTNSOJ-1-e002 viewed as the modifiable factor for healthy human existence. Recent trend indicates that func- tional foods of health-protective and medicinal value have caught the attention of nutritionists, physicians and many health care professionals. One of the most recognized functional food items is garlic.
Garlic (Allium sativum) is a perennial herb that belongs to the Liliaceae family, which shares relationship with onion (Allium cepa).1 The fully-grown garlic plant reaches a height of 50-60 cm and bears underground bulbous root containing about 8-20 segments that are known as cloves, which constitute the edible part. Garlic is abundantly available and is considered to be a common ingredient in the human diet all over the world. It is can be eaten fresh, in salads and in the preparation of meals for its pungency and flavoring value. Garlic has always been mentioned in the literature of all ancient world cultures and kingdoms as having beneficial ef- fects on health and was included in their medicinal remedies. Nowadays, for health-protective effects or for relief of some conditions and symptoms, several preparations of garlic are avail- able in the market for the public, particularly in health food stores. From a nutritional standpoint, garlic contains some amounts of the 3 energy generat- ing nutrients and significant amounts of others - such as: manganese, calcium, phosphorus, copper, sodium, selenium, the amino acid tryptophan, and vitamins B1, B6 and vitamin C. It also possesses a number of compounds that are not classified as nutrients, but known as phy- tochemicals, for which reported health benefits are also attributed. The main phytochemicals in garlic are alliin, methiin and S-allylcysteine. When garlic is damaged or crushed, different or- ganosulfur compounds result. For example, enzymes in fresh garlic convert alliin into another compound known as allicin, which is potent for a very short time when exposed to air - thus, it Copyright will lose its biological effectiveness.
©2015 El-Sabban F. This is an open access article distributed un- der the Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the origi- nal work is properly cited.
NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES ISSN 2377-8350 http://dx.doi.org/10.17140/AFTNSOJ-1-e002 Open Journal In contrast, the compound known as S-allylcysteine is more sta- property involves protection of neural cells, thus can be of ben- ble and can be bioavailable when properly preserved.
efit to those who may be susceptible to degenerative neuronal diseases such as: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.
Garlic has been studied extensively; thus, the literature Some studies indicated that garlic has a beneficial effect in the on many aspects of its composition, benefits and possible ad- protection against cancer and protects the liver from toxins. Ad- verse effects is very vast.2 Experimental studies either used com- ditionally, among many of the reported health benefits of garlic mercially-available preparations or prepared their own for their are: being a natural antibiotic agent and a remedy for the treat- purpose. In addition to aqueous garlic homogenates and aque- ments of colds, coughs, congestion, ear ache, tooth ache, and ous extracts used in several studies, there are four main known skin infections. Historically, it was recorded that garlic was used preparations of garlic, with the following brief descriptions: to overcome ring worms in infected individuals.
• Garlic oil: prepared by steam distillation processing, where While many benefits of garlic are now known, it should water-soluble compounds are eliminated – including alli- be noted that those who are allergic to it and those with low cin.
blood pressure must refrain from consuming it. For all others, the question of what is the best way to derive the benefit(s) of • Garlic oil macerate: are made of encapsulated mixtures of garlic is posed? While it is now known that different prepara- whole cloves that are ground into vegetable oil. This prep- tions of garlic, as well as the common uses of it in cooking and aration contains allicin and all other constituents of garlic.
preparation of meals, can provide benefits at varying degrees – • Garlic powder: where garlic cloves are sliced or crushed, the best is to consume it fresh. The World Health Organization dried and then pulverized into powder. The main sulfur (WHO-UN) and the European Scientific Cooperation on Phyto- compound in this preparation is allicin.
3 therapy recommend crushing and ingesting a fresh garlic clove • Aged Garlic Extract (AGE) : where sliced raw garlic is daily, which contains 3-5 mg of allicin. Meanwhile, the National stored in 15-20% ethanol for 20 months. This process re- Cancer Institute (USA) does not recommend such - however, it duces the content of allicin, but preserves other effective recognizes that garlic as one of the vegetables that have poten- sulfur-containing compounds.
tial anticancer properties. With such reported health benefits of garlic illustrated here in, is it not worthy of being referred to as: Because of some discrepancy among research data, the wonder plant?
mainly attributed to the garlic preparation type used, there is a need to standardize such preparations for better-controlled