Health Benefits of Garlic and Its Nutrition

Garlic comes as a highly tasteful and easy to be included in the diet you take. It easily complements most of the dishes, which include sauces and soups. Garlic, with its strong taste, adds an overall punch to otherwise foods that are bland in taste. Garlic has different forms to be consumed, such as pastes, powders, whole cloves, garlic oil, garlic extract, and even supplements.

However, there are some negative effects of garlic that include bad breath. Some people are also allergic to the use of garlic. If you are diagnosed with a bleeding disorder or are on medications that thin the blood, you need to consult your doctor prior to elevating your intake of garlic. A highly common use of garlic is to add some fresh garlic into a garlic press and then use some salt as well as olive oil in it to taste.

Garlic comes as a food low in calories, and it is not specifically high in the nutrients you require on a daily basis. However, it comes among the healthy ingredients to be included in your diet by the USDA MyPlate Guidelines.

Nutritional Composition of Garlic

In terms of nutrition, garlic is considered as a condiment or a spice to enhance the flavor of otherwise bland ingredients such as vegetables. A medium-sized clove of raw garlic will have 4.5 calories only, 0.2 grams of protein, and 1 gram of carbs. It has no fat present in it. What’s more, garlic is rich in nutrients such as zinc, calcium, and vitamin C. It contains only half mg of sodium, 0.1 grams of fiber, 0.9 mg of vitamin C, and 0.04 micrograms of zinc. Almost all calories of garlic come from carbohydrates, and as the calories and serving size is low, the total carb content present in the garlic is low.

Minerals and Vitamins

On the whole, there are many minerals and vitamins present in garlic, although a clove in a single proportion doesn’t contain a lot because of the small size of the serving. What’s more, every clove of garlic comes with a trace amount of vitamin C, calcium, zinc, potassium, iron, vitamin E, magnesium, manganese, vitamin K, according to scientific analysis from the USDA.

Calories

A clove of garlic weighing 3 grams comes with minimal calories. You will only need to add around four calories to your regular diet if you are to eat a whole clove. So, eating garlic will not add to your total calorie consumption to a significant extent. That is why it is safe to consume among people who are obese.

Health Benefits of Garlic

In today’s world, there is the support that garlic comes with a number of benefits for health. Research mainly suggests that garlic has a lot of antimicrobial properties. Also, it has the potential to control a lot of lipids that elevate cholesterol levels in the blood. Garlic comes with a lot of antioxidants in the body that might help to prevent the free radicals which lead to different chronic conditions, including cancer and heart disease.

Some of the promising studies on the benefits of garlic are relevant to blood pressure and cholesterol regulation. However, there is a need for more intensive research on the subject. The scientific bodies suggest that there are some undefined conclusions regarding the benefits of garlic on health. There are some studies suggesting that garlic supplements may help in lowering the overall blood cholesterol in a span of three months. Some studies suggest that garlic doesn’t come with any major benefits for cholesterol on the whole.

Although garlic may help you get different antioxidants which are basically described to help in preventing certain types of cancer with time, these advantages are limited to consuming whole garlic cloves. On the contrary, garlic supplements don’t come with the same effects on the body. Some other scientific studies regarding the effect of garlic on the prevention of certain cancers include breast cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, and pancreatic cancer.

Some other benefits of garlic on the health include the following:

1) Garlic Might Regulate Blood Pressure

Some garlic cloves in a day might help in improving blood pressure levels among patients with hypertension. It is because this spice helps in stimulating the overall synthesis of nitric oxide that helps in dilating the blood vessels as well as inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme general activity, according to science. What’s more, the latter term, also indicated as ACE inhibitors, helps to relax the blood vessels in the body. It might help in supporting the overall blood pressure and blood circulation in the body.

There were 12 trials studies in a meta-analysis and review published in 2020 with 550 individuals having hypertension. It stated that garlic supplementation for a period of ninety days helped in lowering the overall systolic blood pressure up to 8 points as well as diastolic blood pressure up to 5.5 points. It leads to the effectiveness of the natural supplement against the use of the pharmaceutical drug.

2) Garlic May Aid in Decreasing Inflammatory Response

In science, it is believed that most chronic illnesses have chronic inflammation as an aggravating factor for the disease, including arthritis, cancer, heart disease, and endocrinology diseases such as diabetes. Garlic tends to inhibit the overall activity of the inflammatory proteins. A randomized and controlled study of 70 subjects having an inflammatory autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis stated that results. The subject group taking 1000 mg of garlic supplementations for a day for two months had considerably decreased inflammatory markers in their body with lessened fatigue and pain and lower tender joints in comparison to the control group.

3) Garlic Might Help in Improving Cholesterol Levels

Garlic is also famously known for decreasing cholesterol levels in the body. It does so by decreasing the overall production of cholesterol in the liver. Although there is more research required to find the relation between the intake of garlic and cholesterol levels in the body, a review of studies as well as meta-analysis showed in 2018 concluded that the intake of garlic supplements was tended to be efficient in decreasing high LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol. These two cholesterols are the major risk factors in cholesterol behind heart disease.

4) Garlic Might Improve Immunity

There is a very good reason to add garlic to our daily diet. Although there is a lack of evidence there to back the effectiveness of garlic used against cold and fever, it might play a helpful role in improving our defense mechanisms of the body in a myriad of ways.

For example, allicin, or the phytochemicals in garlic, is a good antimicrobial agent according to science. Scientists are also of the belief that garlic comes with antiviral properties, which might work in two different manners. These include the inhibition of viral entry into the human cells and improving the immune response so that the garlic can easily fight off any potential attackers.

5) Garlic Might Prevent Blood Coagulation

Another benefit of utilizing garlic in your food is that the compounds present in garlic are proven to alleviate the sticking capacity of the platelets. In that term, garlic is helpful in having anti-clotting capabilities. Such things might be helpful against guarding atherosclerosis, which is a helpful process in which the plaque building up may lead to the overall narrowing and hardening of the vessels. According to research, atherosclerosis comes with the potential to elevate the overall risk of blood coagulation which may result in stroke as well as heart attacks. However, it is to note that mere the consumption of garlic cloves wouldn’t save you from blood clotting. You will need to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet, improve exercise, overall manage your body weight, and quit smoking at all.

6) Garlic Comes with Different Antioxidants

The plant compounds and the nutrients give this spice a lot of antioxidant properties, according to a review in 2020. Not only do these antioxidants help in the prevention of inflammation and benefit blood vessels, but they also help in scavenging the free radicals leading to certain diseases such as cancer.

The Takeaway

Garlic comes under the flavor-adding foods such as spices, herbs, and onions, giving the foods a generally fit taste. It aids in improving the overall nutrition of foods and helps us to consume healthier foods without worrying about their taste after adding some garlic to them. Adding some flavor with the help of garlic may help you in reducing the overall requirement of excessive salt in your foods for taste.

What’s more, garlic comes with a multitude of health benefits, as discussed above. However, among its most prominent benefits include improvement in blood cholesterol levels, blood pressure values, and anti-coagulating and anti-cancer properties. With fewer calories and a flavorful taste, it can be added to a number of dishes to increase the overall nutrition as well as taste in the food. That leads to a food that is healthier and much tastier to consume.