3 ways to eat garlic that turn it from a miracle drug to a dangerous carcinogen

Garlic contains substances that help prevent cancer, but if we eat garlic the wrong way, instead of bringing health benefits, it can turn into a carcinogen.

Nutrition in garlic

Garlic is very rich in nutrients, 100 g of garlic contains 69.8 g of water, 4.4 g of protein, 0.2 g of fat, 23.6 g of carbohydrates, 5 mg of calcium, 44 mg of phosphorus, 0.4 mg of iron and 3 mg of vitamin C.

Additionally, it contains the compounds thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, allicin, citral and trace elements such as selenium and germanium.

100g of garlic also contains about 0.2% volatile oil. The main ingredient in the oil is allicin, which is produced by the hydrolysis of alliin, and has antibacterial properties. Allicin is many times more beneficial to the brain than vitamin B.

According to Nature News, garlic has at least 8 health benefits:

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University (USA) reported that garlic can reduce the risk of heart problems by 38%.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA, USA) conducted a study on 65 people and their risk of heart disease over 4 years and revealed that consuming garlic powder every day reduces the volume of atherosclerotic plaque by 18%.

Garlic is a familiar spice often used in cooking.

In a study published in the Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, daily garlic consumption in doses ranging from 300 to 1,500 mg significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure in people with hypertension compared with atenolol and placebo.

Research has shown that garlic can kill at least 13 types of bacterial and viral infections.

In a study published in the International Journal of Cardiology, aged garlic extract increased brown fat (good fat) around the heart muscle, while decreasing white fat.

Garlic also prevents common cold because it contains allicin, the compound that gives it its smell.

According to one study, garlic is better at removing lead from the body than the drug d-penicillamine.

In particular, garlic contains a large amount of selenium, which can promote the decomposition of peroxide in the body, reduce the oxygen supply needed by malignant tumors, thereby inhibiting cancer cells to a certain extent, which is beneficial to changing the cancer-producing environment.

Although garlic has many uses, especially good in preventing cancer, if used incorrectly it can turn from a "miracle drug" into a "poison".

1. Cook the garlic

When garlic is cooked, the active ingredient allicin is destroyed, leaving only the smell of garlic and no longer having any health benefits.

Allicin is one of the sulfur-containing compounds found in garlic that helps lower blood lipids, prevent blood clotting, fight hypertension, fight cancer, have antioxidant and antibacterial effects.

2. Eating too much raw garlic

The allicin content in raw garlic is quite high. The higher the allicin concentration, the stronger the anti-cancer effect, so many people think that the more raw garlic they eat, the better. In fact, it is the strong stimulation that makes many people unsuitable for eating raw garlic.

Elderly people with weak digestive systems, if consuming too much raw garlic will irritate the stomach, causing chronic gastritis, even developing into stomach cancer.

3. Eat roasted garlic

Garlic roasted at high temperatures produces acrylamide, which combined with other foods can create benzopyrene, a compound that doubles the risk of cancer.

Notes when using garlic

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center (USA), a healthy adult can consume about 4 cloves of garlic per day, each clove is equivalent to 1g.