There are mundane things right under our noses that when used intelligently, can be remedies and preventions for many a woe.

Here’s Why Garlic Should be Consumed on a Regular Basis:

1. Natural Antibiotic

Garlic has broad-spectrum antibiotic activity against bacteria and fungi thanks to allicin, its active component.

As problems with antibiotic resistance and fear of superbugs increase, interest in the use of natural antibiotics for routine infections is skyrocketing.

Of all the natural antibiotics, raw garlic tends to be the most popular for a few reasons:

Easy to find

Inexpensive

You can grow it yourself

Pre-WWII, garlic was regularly used to treat infections and wounds and is recorded as being used as a remedy by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Hebrews, Romans, and Greeks.

Not only does garlic kill bacteria, fungi, and viruses, but it also doesn’t come along with the nasty side effects of pharmaceutical antibiotics, such as gut dysbiosis.

2. Prevents Cancer

Several population studies show an association between increased intake of garlic and reduced risk of certain cancers, including:

Stomach cancer

Colon cancer

Esophageal cancer

Pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer

Breast cancer

3. Improves Intestinal Health

Considering the fact that garlic kills off a wide variety of gut pathogens (including candida) while serving as a prebiotic to encourage the growth and survival of beneficial microbes, consuming it regularly is a great way to improve the health of your gut.

Garlic is also anti-parasitic thorough its ability to improve the body’s defense mechanism against parasitic infections by stimulating white blood cells.

On top of that, the allicin in garlic disrupts the parasites’ ability to go about their lives by blocking their fat synthesis.

4. Anti-aging

My girlfriend’s uncle, who looks like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas, smokes rolled cigarettes like a chimney (yet still looks younger than his age), works like a mule at 60 and did three years in jail for trafficking for the Corsican mafia in his 20’s, swears by raw garlic and eats it everyday.

He was telling me how his uncle would have a hearty breakfast of cold cuts of meat, red wine, and a full clove of raw garlic and lived until the age of 96.

The antioxidants in garlic prevent damage caused by free radicals. Garlic also contains cytokinin, a hormone that promotes cell growth and delays aging through its antioxidant effects.

5. Protects the Heart

Garlic has been shown to lower cholesterol, reduce blood pressure, treat hardened blood vessels, and prevent platelet aggregation in patients with heart disease. (study)

Garlic also relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure by increasing nitric oxide. (study)

6. Improves Skin Health

Before I naturally treated my skin issues, I spent thousands of hours scouring the internet for cures and came across a few reviews of people claiming to have treated their psoriasis by consuming both fresh raw garlic and/or black garlic, which is aged garlic.

Black Garlic is a natural blood purifier and has been used to bring about improvements in a number of skin conditions, including psoriasis. Consuming two to three black garlic cloves every morning, preferably on an empty stomach, is highly effective in removing toxins from blood and providing instant relief from the itchy red skin patches seen in psoriasis. People suffering from inflammatory psoriasis have been reported to have high levels of arachidonic acid in their adipose tissues and skin. Black Garlic is known for its ability to inhibit the activity of lipoxygenase, an enzyme that is involved in an inflammatory cascade triggered by the presence of arachidonic acid. No wonder 81 year old, Choo Keng Kwang, a Mandarin oil painter, is said to have been completely cured of his psoriasis by eating half a bulb of black garlic everyday for a few months. Being rich in antioxidants, Black Garlic did the trick that innumerable skin creams, prescribed to Mr. Kwang, had failed to achieve. source

Garlic also protects the skin from UV radiation. (source)

7. Helps Treat Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes is entirely caused by a lifestyle and diet that promotes obesity, high cholesterol, blood pressure, and high blood glucose.

Garlic has been shown to reduce insulin resistance, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels in patients with diabetes. (source)

8. Helps Detoxify the Liver

The sulfur-containing compounds in garlic decrease oxidative stress and reduce inflammation (source) that is caused by a variety of environmental toxins, such as pesticides, environmental pollutants, and chemicals.

Garlic detoxifies the liver by increasing the activity of detoxifying enzymes glutathione S-transferase (GST) and CYP2B. Garlic also inhibits CYP2E1 enzymes, which produce free radicals and cause oxidative stress-induced damage and inflammation. (source)

9. Improves Brain Health and Acts as an Anti-Depressant

Garlic increases brain serotonin, a neurotransmitter that enhances cognitive performance. (source)

In another (study), garlic acted as an antidepressant.

The mice fed with oral garlic extract displayed improvement in depression-like activity as evidenced by a significant decrease in immobility time in a dose-dependent manner in both tail suspension test (TST) and forced swim test (FST). In addition to the above findings, the researchers also observed that the efficacy of the garlic extract was comparable to antidepressant medications such as fluoxetine and imipramine.

Dosage and How to Use

For adults, the recommended amount is 4 grams (1 to 2 cloves) of raw garlic, 300 mg dried garlic powder tablet 2 to 3 times or 7.2 grams of garlic extract per day (source).

Using a clove of garlic per day starting a few days before overseas travel and continuing until you return is a helpful tip for the prevention of food poisoning.

When used therapeutically to heal a bacterial infection or viral illness, Dr. Campbell-McBride recommends consuming an entire head of garlic every day until healing has occurred (over the course of the entire day), not all at once.

If you don’t like the taste of garlic, do as Dr. Budweiser.