Posted on 05/02/2012 8:22:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Garlic may be the best weapon against a type of bacteria responsible for millions of cases of food poisoning in the United States every year, according to a new study. Researchers from Washington State University discovered that a compound found in garlic was 100 times more effective than antibiotics at killing Campylobacter, most common cause of food-borne bacterial illness in the United States.
The compound, diallyl sulphide, which is responsible for the garlic smell that sticks to your hands when you cook, worked better and faster than the common antibiotic treatments for Campylobacter, erythromycin and ciprofloxacin.
Eating massive quantities of garlic may not help if you are already sick, but diallyl sulphide "has the potential to reduce disease-causing bacteria in the environment and in our food supply," Xiaonan Lu, coauthor of the study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, and a postdoctoral researcher at Washington State University, said in a statement.
"Diallyl sulfide could make many foods safer to eat," Barbara Rasco, study co-author and professor of food science at Washington State University, said in a statement. "It can be used to clean food preparation surfaces and as a preservative in packaged foods like potato and pasta salads, coleslaw and deli meats. This would not only extend shelf life but it would also reduce the growth of potentially bad bacteria."
More than 2 million Americans are affected by Campylobacter ever year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of the infections come from eating raw or undercooked poultry or from eating foods that have been cross contaminated via a surface or utensil that was used to prepare poultry.
Symptoms of Campylobacter infection include diarrhea, cramping, fever and abdominal pain. The bacteria are also responsible for triggering almost a third of Guillain-Barré syndrome cases, a rare, paralyzing condition, researchers said.
The bacteria are surrounded by a biofilm -- a slimy protective surface that makes them 1000 times harder to kill than traditional bacteria, according to the study. The biofilm also sticks to food and other surfaces, which helps it spread.
In the research trials, Diallyl sulphide penetrated the biofilm and killed the bacteria in a fraction of the time it took the antibiotics and killed more of the bacteria than the antibiotics as well.
This latest study adds to the mounting evidence of garlic's benefits. Previous studies have shown that garlic can protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer.
"Studies suggest that garlic consumption may reduce the risk of developing several types of cancer, especially cancers of the gastrointestinal tract," the National Cancer Institute says on its website. "Evidence also suggests that increased garlic consumption may reduce pancreatic cancer risk. A study conducted in the San Francisco Bay area found that pancreatic cancer risk was 54 percent lower in people who ate larger amounts of garlic compared with those who ate lower amounts."
However, people should not rush out and buy mass quantities of garlic, the NCI warned. The amount needed to reduce disease risk is unknown and too much consumption cause excess bleeding, asthma and stomach and digestion problems.
"The National Cancer Institute does not recommend any dietary supplement for the prevention of cancer, but recognizes garlic as one of several vegetables with potential anticancer properties," the organization says on its website. "Because all garlic preparations are not the same, it is difficult to determine the exact amount of garlic that may be needed to reduce cancer risk. Furthermore, the active compounds present in garlic may lose their effectiveness with time, handling, and processing."
The history of using garlic to fight disease goes back several thousand years, Lu, who has published three studies on garlic's health benefits, said in a 2011 statement. Though our ancestors knew garlic helped keep people healthy, they were not aware of why, leading many to believe it had mystical properties, This probably explains why people though garlic could ward off vampires, Lu said.
"In ancient society people used garlic to cure diseases," he said. "However, they did not know why it worked. Now we are finding out."
bttt
Garlic, onions, shallots, scallions,etc. All good.
I add hot peppers.
And hot mustards, wasabe and so forth.
People think I’m nuts, but I don’t go to doctors unless I have a structural injury.
That was my suspicion, but I try not to veer too far into that territory, pharmaceutical medicine has been a tremendous benefit to mankind and is not bad. There is now such a thing as pharmaceutical grade garlic oil gelcaps with a consistent, predictable dosage. There wasn’t then. Perhaps that had something to do with it. It’s more expensive, of course.
You can’t patent garlic and then charge obscene prices for it.
It also cuts into their ‘repeat business” bottom line.
Chewing raw garlic stopped my gum disease completely...no bleeding gums for years...also prone to infected cuts in this tropical climate, and I’ve found a large dose of live garlic stops all sich issues in their tracks, immediately. I’m convinced it outdoes prescription antibiotics, if you can stand eating it live.
In the past I would crush a clove and throw it down the back of my throat, and chase with water...then I developed an abscessed tooth. I ate large amounts, chewing it up, every four hours, and it reversed the pain and infection immediately, in four hours the swelling was s.
To be honest, I never went to the dentist...I can’t afford to give a grandaway, and the garlic was working, so...
That was a few years ago...now every couple nights I chew a clove after brushing, and go to bed...brush my teeth twice in the AM ;^)
May sound crazy, but I swear it’s the cheapest/most effective health/dental insurance you can buy...
Clove oil has the same effect but gentler, if you can’t lay hands on fresh garlic. Garlic is quicker but it’s more than some can bear. Fresh raw crushed garlic is pungent and burns but it works.
I saw a documentary once on TV where garlic repels vampires.
sarc/off
Garlic and apple cider vinegar - food of the Gods.
You can charge a higher price for a closely monitored and controlled dosage of it. Garlic and EPO, Evening Primrose Oil, are the only ones for which this has been done, that I’m aware.
Bingo.
Or I can go to WalMart and buy my own.
:)
I wouldn’t eat garlic if they paid me, that’s not what God made it for, but it does keep out vampires, that has been proven, even the Mormons know it.
I got food poisoning in Ecuador in 1980. No joke - I thought I was dying. Sat in shower for 4 days.
bump GARLIC lovers
If it’s for a more general purpose such as preventive supplementation with hopeful medical benefit in a broader sense, that’s the best course to take. No need spending more than you have to spend, money has gotten so much more dear since 2008.
But, if you’re being treated for heart disease, there does need to be control over dosage or you’ll end up with swings in anticoagulent levels in the blood, leading to possible complications.
I see the value of both.
I found red wine to be a quick cure for food poisoning if you get enough in you after you feel the symptons coming on. No joke.
Nutmeg is good for sleeping.
apple cider vinegar safeguards against food poisoning as well. It purifies the liver and helps digestive health.
“Garlic and apple cider vinegar -food of the Gods.”
People don’t think of cold slaw whem they think of healgh food, buf fod hundreds lf years the remedy for parasites and gut illness/stomach flu was to eat raw cabbage...it also contains hogh levels of vitamin C...Captain Cook carried barrels of sauerkraut to the Douth Seas as an antiscorbutic.
If you put a drizzle of applecider vinegar into cabbage, mayo and black pepper, it goes from blah to delicious, and you get a double benefit.
Plus, it’s CHEAP FOOD...am easy way to get kids to eat a raw vegetable...and high fiber!
And since I live on s sailboat, the fact that s head of cabbage will keep a long time w/o refrigeration is a plus.
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