Garlic: Health benefits and actions
Journal
BioMedicine
Journal Volume
2
Journal Issue
1
Pages
17-29
Date Issued
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
Recent years have seen an increasing emphasis on foods and food components in disease prevention. Garlic (Allium sativum L.), one of the best-researched herbal remedies, holds a unique position in history, traditionally employed to treat infection, colds, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other disorders. Clinically, it has been evaluated for lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose concentration, as well as for the prevention of arteriosclerosis and cancer. Epidemiologically, garlic consumption inversely correlates with the risk of oral, stomach, esophageal, colon, and prostate cancers. In addition, the biological activities of garlic, including antibacterial, antithrombotic, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and antidiabetic actions and modulation of drug metabolism, have been extensively investigated. Here, we briefly summarize the recent findings on garlic and its sulfur-containing compounds in preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer, along with its modulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes and membrane transporter activities. Finally, garlic safety and drug interaction are discussed. ? 2012.
Subjects
Cancer
Cardiovascular disease
Drug metabolism
Food-drug interaction
Garlic
SDGs
Other Subjects
acetylcysteine; ajoene; allicin; allyl methyl disulfide; allyl methyl trisulfide; allyl sulfide; atorvastatin; cytochrome P450 2E1; diallyl disulfide; diallyl trisulfide; drug metabolizing enzyme; garlic extract; garlic oil; glutathione transferase; herbaceous agent; high density lipoprotein cholesterol; hydrochlorothiazide; low density lipoprotein cholesterol; organosulfur derivative; placebo; pravastatin; s allylcysteine; saquinavir; selenium; simvastatin; thiacremonon; triacylglycerol; unclassified drug; unindexed drug; warfarin; allergic asthma; allergic urticaria; Alzheimer disease; anaphylaxis; antiinflammatory activity; antineoplastic activity; antioxidant activity; apoptosis; area under the curve; biochemical composition; breast tumor; cancer prevention; cardiovascular disease; chemoprophylaxis; cholesterol blood level; colon adenoma; colorectal adenoma; dermatitis; diabetes mellitus; diet supplementation; down regulation; drug bioavailability; drug blood level; drug detoxification; drug efficacy; drug half life; drug mechanism; drug megadose; drug potency; drug safety; duodenum bleeding; duodenum injury; duodenum ulcer; ear edema; enzyme mechanism; evidence based medicine; garlic; heart protection; herbal medicine; human; hypercholesterolemia; hyperkeratosis; hyperlipidemia; hypertension; intestine injury; ischemic heart disease; kidney cancer; liver cancer; liver injury; liver toxicity; liver tumor; low drug dose; lung metastasis; lung non small cell cancer; melanoma B16; membrane transport; metabolic syndrome X; molecular model; neurotoxicity; non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus; nonhuman; oxidative stress; paw edema; pemphigus; phytochemistry; precancer; prostate cancer; pulmonary hypertension; review; single drug dose; skin allergy; skin tumor; stomach cancer; stomach injury; stomach tumor; transcription regulation; upregulation; Allium sativum
Type
journal article