Posted on 08/16/2005 6:14:54 AM PDT by Rebelbase
WASHINGTON -- People tend to love it or hate it, but few probably associate garlic with pain. Nonetheless, it turns out that pain-sensing nerves respond to the sulfur-based chemicals in garlic.
The same mechanism the body uses to react to chili peppers and wasabi is the one that detects garlic, according to a study in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
David Julius of the department of cellular and molecular pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, said the finding was made during research on the mechanisms of pain sensation.
Julius discovered that when a subset of pain neurons in rats activates a cell membrane channel, the result is a release of brain chemicals that stimulate blood vessel dilation and inflammation.
Understanding how such nerves work, he said, can help researchers learn more about how arthritis and some muscular problems develop.
"You can use these natural products as very interesting pharmacological probes of the pain pathways," Julius explained.
Susan Travers of Ohio State University said the most interesting finding is that the neurons that respond to garlic compounds are a subset of those that respond to the capsaicin in hot peppers.
This specificity would give some basis for why people can tell the compounds apart, said Travers, who was not part of Julius' research team.
Garlic, also known as "the stinking rose," belongs to the group of plants called allium, which includes onions, leeks, chives and shallots. All produce sulfur-based compounds that make them pungent. One, called allicin, actives the pain sensors and is especially prominent in garlic.
In addition to its culinary properties, garlic has a long history of use in folk medicine, having been used to treat ailments such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Capsaicin, the chemical that gives hot peppers their heat, is currently a major ingredient in a cream used by arthritis sufferers.
Many cooks know that roasted garlic produces a much milder taste than the raw bulbs, and Travers noted that a separate study had found that baking garlic eliminated its ability to stimulate the TRPA1 channels.
The one in my body as been very abused.
Wasabi will clean out your sinuses in one quick hurry.
I'm very content to eat garlic and onions with just about everything.
And I like the smokey flavor of chipotles too.
You don't get very many dates do ya?
It generally doesn't cure the cold completely, but it certainly reduces the intensity.
I'm not completely sure why it works, but it does. Most likely there are some sort of antibiotic properties within the chemical makeup of the garlic.
I don't argue though. As long as it keeps working. My wife swears by it.
I got about 10 pounds of garlic and 70 pounds of onions from my garden this year. Just started picking the tomatoes and the chili peppers should be ready in another month. Time to get cookin.
I'm sure that Italian and Cajun gals just love him. (and they're some of the hottest females around).
Were you talking about birth control or cold control?
An easier way to take it is to put the crushed clove on a piece of toast. I always doubted the power of garlic until I came down with a cold I couldn't kick. It was amazing how fast I recovered. Just make sure that glass of water is ready.
Garlic?
Great stuff. Check out www.cubanewyork.us/garlicfestival.hmtl
Speaking of birth control Men could put a pebble in thier show Makes you limp
We use it chopped and swallowed as a mosquito/bug repellent, and put it in our dogs food for the same reason. It really works. It does smell up your sweat a tad though.
Many years ago there were reports that the compound known as allicin in garlic was effective against both bacteria and viruses.
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