Garlic is an annual or biennial herb with a pungent taste. It was anciently called "hu" and is also known as "hu suan." It is consumed for its bulbs, scapes, and young plants. Garlic is divided into two types: garlic and wild garlic. However, there are four categories of people who should not consume garlic in their food, which are introduced below.
1. Patients with eye diseases
People suffering from eye diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts, conjunctivitis, styes, and dry eye syndrome should consume it sparingly. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that long-term, excessive consumption of garlic can damage the liver and eyes. Therefore, patients with eye diseases should try to avoid garlic, especially those who are in poor health or have weak qi and blood. Otherwise, over time, symptoms such as vision loss, tinnitus, a heavy head and light feet, and memory decline may occur.
2. Patients with liver diseases
Many people eat garlic to prevent hepatitis, and some even continue to eat it daily after being diagnosed. This practice is extremely unfavorable for hepatitis patients because garlic has no effect on the hepatitis virus. On the contrary, certain components of garlic can irritate the stomach and intestines, inhibit the secretion of intestinal digestive juices, and thus worsen symptoms such as 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 detrimental to the treatment of hepatitis.
3. Some patients with diarrhea
When suffering from non-bacterial enteritis or diarrhea, it is not advisable to eat raw garlic. Eating raw garlic will further stimulate the intestines with its pungent allicin, causing congestion and edema of the intestinal mucosa to worsen, promoting exudation, and aggravating the condition. Caution should be taken when consuming garlic if diarrhea has already occurred.
4. Severe patients with other diseases
While consuming spicy foods like garlic and chili can help healthy people maintain long-term health, they have significant side effects for seriously ill patients who are on medication. Not only can they render the medication ineffective, but they may also have chain reactions with the drugs, putting the patient in danger. Other spicy foods that may have chain reactions with medications include ginger and fennel.