Garlic not only serves as a food seasoning but also provides a number of health benefits, one of which is maintaining the body's immunity. However, keep in mind to consume garlic moderately, as overconsumption can cause side effects, such as indigestion.
This article will provide a complete guide to consuming garlic safely so that you can get the benefits optimally. Let's take a look!
How to Consume Garlic
There are various safe ways to consume garlic. Apart from the way to consume it, you also need to pay attention to the number of garlic cloves you eat. To put it shortly, consuming too much garlic can cause side effects, such as bad breath, indigestion, and a burning sensation in the chest.
Here are some recommended ways to consume garlic that you can try at home.
1. Chewing Raw Garlic Cloves
Compared to cooked garlic, the raw garlic cloves have more important nutrition that benefits your health. The recommended number to consume is 1-2 cloves or 3-6 grams per day. Avoid consuming more than what's recommended so as not to experience side effects.
2. Adding it to Everyday Cooking
Although cooking garlic can reduce its nutritional content, it can minimize the potential side effects of consuming raw garlic.
3. Fermenting Garlic or Adding Honey
These methods can optimize the antioxidant and antibacterial effects of garlic. Additionally, there are several health conditions to pay attention to before eating this garlic.
Those taking blood-thinning medication should avoid consuming garlic because its antithrombotic properties can cause bleeding. This also applies to those taking isoniazid, cyclosporine, birth control pills, NSAID painkillers, and drugs for HIV/AIDS.
If you want to consume garlic as a supplement or herbal concoction, you should first consult with a doctor to get recommendations that suit your health condition.
If you have bad breath after eating garlic, there are several ways to get rid of it, such as brushing your teeth, gargling with mouthwash, chewing mint leaves or chewing gum, using a tongue scraper, and eating vegetables and fruit.
Benefits of Garlic
After learning how to consume garlic safely, what benefits can you get from it? The following list contains benefits of garlic that you need to know:
1. Improve Immunity
One of the benefits of garlic for health is increased immunity. The allicin content in garlic can help fight various types of viral infections, such as colds, flu, coughs, and sore throats. Not only that, the allicin is also believed to be a natural asthma medicine.
2. Control Blood Pressure
Eating raw garlic can help control blood pressure. Thanks to the content of allicin and polysulfide, which help widen blood vessels and improve blood flow. The effects can reduce high blood pressure.
3. Lowers Cholesterol Levels
Consuming garlic can help reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. The allicin content can inhibit enzymes that produce bad cholesterol in the liver.
4. Prevents Heart Disease
As previously mentioned, consuming garlic can prevent high blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol levels. These two benefits can indirectly help you maintain heart health.
Reducing cholesterol levels can prevent fat buildup, which can clog arteries and veins. Blocked blood vessels can decrease blood flow and form blood clots, putting you at risk of heart disease.
On the other hand, normal blood pressure can ease the heart's effort in pumping blood throughout the body.
5. Inhibits the Cancer Cell Development
By consuming garlic as recommended, you can avoid the risk of cancer, such as stomach cancer, esophagus cancer, breast cancer, and others. Garlic is enriched with active sulfur and allicin compounds, which have antioxidant and anticancer properties. Consuming garlic helps prevent cancer cell formation and prevents them from spreading.
6. Maintains Brain Health
FruArg, the carbohydrate derivative in garlic, can protect brain cells from the effects of aging and disease. In addition, FruArg can increase the number of microglia cells, which play a role in increasing nitric oxide levels to fight inflammation and oxidative stress so that your brain stays healthy.
Apart from producing microglia cells, garlic can also prevent brain function disorders, such as stroke, Alzheimer's, and dementia. Garlic has the ability to inhibit the increasing cholesterol and damage to blood vessels, which can trigger brain disorders.
7. Caring for the Digestive System
Consuming garlic moderately can help you treat your digestive organs. The allicin compound in garlic has antibacterial properties and helps prevent Helicobacter pylori bacterial infections, thereby preventing digestive disorders such as chronic ulcers, stomach leaks, stomach bleeding, and stomach cancer.
Even so, remember not to consume too much garlic to avoid potential digestive disorders.
How to Store Garlic
Apart from incorporating garlic into your recipe and consuming it moderately, you should also learn how to store it properly.
To store garlic well, you have to wash the garlic thoroughly first. Then, place it in an airtight container and put it in the freezer. Alternatively, you can crush a few cloves of garlic or peel, wash, and mix them with olive oil before storing them in an airtight container in the freezer.
Well, that's a complete explanation about consuming garlic safely and how to achieve its optimal benefits. While routinely consuming garlic per recommendation, you also need to support your body's health regularly, such as fulfilling your daily fluid intake.
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