When it comes to garlic, who doesn't know it's a powerhouse for killing bacteria and preventing cancer? While it has many benefits, consuming too much can also cause significant harm to the body! Long-term, large consumption can cause obvious damage to the eyes, and memory may also decline! Also, who should avoid eating garlic the most? Come and find out!
“Two small, two small, with grass growing on its head”—the answer to this riddle is the garlic we're talking about. In Germany, annual garlic sales reach as much as 8,000 tons, earning it the title of “natural antibiotic,” and there's even an annual “Garlic Festival.” Garlic culture in Japan is also quite distinctive; in the famous garlic-producing prefecture of Aomori, the air is filled with the aroma of garlic everywhere. Now, let's see what the benefits of this little “garlic” are.
Three Great Charms of Garlic
A professor once said, “If you want to live to be 90, garlic should be a basic component of your diet.”
Charm One: Anti-inflammatory and Bactericidal
The allicin in garlic has a broad-spectrum antibacterial effect; garlic juice can kill bacteria in a culture medium within 3 minutes. Allicin is also lethal to many pathogenic microorganisms, including the influenza virus and the epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis virus.
Charm Two: Brain-Boosting and Intellect-Enhancing
Components in garlic combine with vitamin B1 in the human body to produce “allithiamine.” This allithiamine can promote and enhance the effects of vitamin B1, boost the energy supply from carbohydrate oxidation, provide sufficient energy for brain cells, and keep the mind sharp.
Charm Three: Preventing Cancer and Cardiovascular-Cerebrovascular Diseases
Garlic can block the synthesis of carcinogens—nitrosamines, inhibit the growth of cancer cells, and has a powerful killing effect on them. Its other nickname, “blood vessel scavenger,” indicates that it can lower blood lipids and blood viscosity, reducing the risk of diseases like heart attacks and cerebral thrombosis. Additionally, garlic can also fight aging and promote hair growth.
Garlic is small, but eating too much is not beneficial
There's a saying: Garlic has a hundred benefits, but one harm: it damages the eyes. Long-term, excessive consumption of garlic can lead to blurred vision, a significant decline in eyesight, tinnitus, a dry mouth and throat, a feeling of heaviness in the head and lightness in the feet, and a marked decline in memory. Therefore, everything should be done in moderation. Scientists believe that eating one raw clove of garlic a day is relatively appropriate; for cooked garlic, two or three cloves should be enough. Garlic is small, but eating too much is not beneficial. Since the allicin, which provides the bactericidal effect, quickly loses its power when exposed to heat or salt, it's best to eat it raw without salt. Therefore, to achieve the best health benefits, it's best to crush garlic into a paste and let it sit in the air for 10-15 minutes before consuming.
Who Should Not Eat Garlic
Patients with liver disease should not eat it: Certain components of garlic can irritate the stomach and intestines, inhibit the secretion of intestinal digestive juices, and affect food digestion, thereby worsening symptoms like nausea in hepatitis patients. Furthermore, the volatile components in garlic can reduce red blood cells and hemoglobin in the blood and may cause anemia, which is not conducive to the treatment of hepatitis.
Those with non-bacterial diarrhea should not eat it: When suffering from non-bacterial enteritis or diarrhea, it is not advisable to eat raw garlic. Because the local intestinal mucosa is inflamed, the spicy allicin will irritate the intestines, causing congestion and edema of the intestinal mucosa to worsen, promote exudation, and aggravate the condition.
Patients with eye diseases should not eat it: Traditional Chinese medicine holds that long-term, large consumption of garlic can “damage the liver and harm the eyes.” In addition, eating a large amount of garlic in the summer and autumn has the greatest impact on the eyes.