Garlic has very obvious medical effects. It has been used as a medicinal vegetable more than 5,000 years ago. The ancient Romans discovered that garlic can treat 61 different diseases. Li Shizhen, a famous Chinese doctor, also concluded in "Compendium of Materia Medica" that garlic has many functions such as warming the spleen and strengthening the stomach, promoting appetite, helping digestion, eliminating cough and hemostasis, promoting qi and eliminating accumulation, detoxifying and killing insects. Modern scientific analysis shows that in addition to containing various nutrients such as protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, etc., garlic also contains volatile oil with a special smell. This oil contains allicin and a variety of allyl, propyl and methyl sulfides. Ether compounds. Due to the presence of these active ingredients, garlic has a variety of health care effects.
(1) Antibacterial effect Garlic has strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects, and can inhibit or kill a variety of cocci, bacilli, fungi, viruses, etc. Doctors call garlic a "natural broad-spectrum antibiotic" and an "antibiotic that grows in the ground." The antibacterial effect of garlic mainly comes from allicin (also called allicin), which is effective against a variety of pathogenic bacteria, such as staphylococcus, meningitis, pneumonia, streptococci, diphtheria, dysentery, Escherichia coli, typhoid fever, and parasitic worms. Typhoid fever, whooping cough, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae have obvious inhibitory or killing effects, and can treat acute bacillary dysentery, whooping cough, infant diarrhea, lobar pneumonia, tuberculosis, wound suppuration, trachoma, etc. Allicin has inhibitory or killing effects on a variety of pathogenic fungi, including Candida albicans. At low concentrations, it mainly inhibits the growth of fungi, and at high concentrations, it can completely kill the fungi. It has been clinically used to treat fungal infections of the lungs and digestive tract, Candida albicans toxemia, pediatric indigestion caused by Candida albicans, fungal keratitis, neonatal thrush, tinea capitis, etc. Allicin has obvious antibacterial and bactericidal effects on digestive tract bacteria. It can effectively treat Helicobacter pylori (HP)-related gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer. Allicin also has a good effect on treating diarrhea caused by chronic colitis. Experiments have shown that some bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, such as penicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol and chlortetracycline, are still sensitive to garlic. Purple-skinned garlic has a stronger antibacterial effect than white-skinned garlic.
The application of garlic in veterinary clinical and feed additives shows broad development prospects. It is reported that washing and peeling purple garlic, squeezing the juice, adding water to prepare 20% garlic juice, and taking it 2 to 3 times a day for 2 to 3 days can prevent and treat calf diarrhea. Take 10 grams of garlic, mash it, add 30 grams of starch, and give it to sick pigs with 500 ml of water, once a day, to treat pig gastroenteritis; take 20 grams of garlic, heat it over a slow fire, mash it, and add belladonna tincture 5 ml and 500 ml of water are given to sick pigs once a day to treat cold diarrhea in pigs. Garlic is made into an injection, which can be injected intravenously 1 to 2 times a day for 3 to 7 days to treat swine tetanus. Pounding garlic or squeezing out the juice and applying it to the wounds of livestock can significantly increase the number of white blood cells and promote wound healing. Garlic has also achieved satisfactory results as a feed additive, which is reflected in increased appetite, improved gastrointestinal function and feed conversion rate, accelerated growth and development, and prevention of gastrointestinal diseases in livestock and poultry. Adding 0.1% dry garlic powder to chicks' diet can increase appetite and prevent pullorum, coccidiosis and paratyphoid in chicks. Smashing garlic and feeding it to pigs can prevent pinworms, roundworms, hookworms, etc. Peel the garlic and add an equal amount of cold boiled water to grind it into a slurry. After filtering, add the garlic juice to the feed at a ratio of 3% and stir evenly to prevent the feed from becoming moldy and the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases in livestock and poultry. In recent years, modified allicin feed additives have also been developed, that is, the trace element iodine is added to the allicin feed additive, which has the functions of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, clearing away plague and detoxification, sterilizing and inhibiting bacteria, and promoting growth, etc., and the feeding effect is obvious.
Garlic is effective against fungal diseases that harm plants, such as melon powdery mildew and damping-off; fusarium wilt, tomato early blight, gray mold, celery leaf blight, cotton anthracnose, and damping off. Pathogens such as wheat rust can inhibit their spore germination and mycelial growth. Pesticide antibacterial agents 401 and 402 are fungicides made from garlic. In addition, garlic also has a suppressive effect on some plant pests, such as red spider mites, aphids, mites, and nematodes. (2) For antiprotozoal effects, 5% to 15% garlic aqueous suspension can directly kill amoeba, and purple-skinned garlic is more effective than white-skinned garlic. Trichomonas vaginalis can be inactivated by using 5% garlic filtrate for 5 minutes. Clinical experiments have also proven that garlic has a good therapeutic effect on amoebic dysentery and trichomonal vaginitis.
Cryptosporidium is a newly discovered pathogen that can cause diarrhea in infants and young children. There is currently no specific drug for diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium. Domestic trials of allicin treatment have achieved good results. Allicin can also effectively kill Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites, and has an obvious effect on resisting Toxoplasma gondii infection, especially the recurrence of toxoplasmosis. (3) Antiviral effects Clinical studies have found that allicin has a significant preventive and therapeutic effect on bone marrow transplant recipients complicated by cytomegalovirus infection. The destruction rate of allicin's dipropenyldithiol solution on hepatitis B virus surface antigen reached 43.5%, proving that allicin has a certain destructive effect on hepatitis B virus surface antigen. Garlic has a good inhibitory effect on influenza and herpes zoster viruses. (4) Lipid-lowering effect Allicin can effectively reduce plasma total cholesterol, lower blood pressure, inhibit platelet activity, reduce hematocrit, reduce blood viscosity, etc. Studies have shown that allicin has the effects of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, dispersing cold and dredging collaterals. Allicin has achieved good results in the treatment of coronary heart disease, angina pectoris and peripheral vascular disease. The use of allicin tablets can also reduce the body's plasma endothelin (ET) levels, which is of great significance for preventing and alleviating coronary spasm and reducing peripheral vascular tension. Allicin tablets can also help prevent coronary artery spasm, keep the body in a state of coronary artery relaxation, and effectively reduce or eliminate the occurrence of atherosclerosis and thrombosis in patients with coronary heart disease and angina pectoris. (5) Hypoglycemic effect Allicin at different doses can lower blood sugar levels, and its hypoglycemic effect is mainly achieved by increasing serum insulin levels. Moreover, allicin combines with fat, sugar, and protein in the body to form lipid allicin, carbohydrate allicin, and complex proteins. These combinations exert the same effect as vitamin E. In addition to its antioxidant effect, vitamin E also has the effect of improving insulin. The key is to maintain the integrity of the endoplasmic reticulum structure of pancreatic islet endocrine cells and ensure the synthesis and secretion of insulin. (6) Effects on the cardiovascular system: Allicin has the effects of slowing down sinus heart rate, inhibiting myocardial contraction, and anti-arrhythmic effects. Relevant domestic experts pointed out that allicin plays an anti-arrhythmic effect by prolonging the effective refractory period of myocardial cells and reducing automaticity. Therefore, it can be used for arrhythmias based on rapid heart rate, such as premature beats, tachycardia, etc. As complementary therapy. (7) The effect on tumor cells has been experimentally confirmed. Allicin has the effect of preventing gastric cancer. It has a significant inhibitory effect on the growth of nitrate-reducing bacteria isolated from gastric juice and its ability to produce nitrite. It can reduce the nitrite content in human gastric juice, thereby reducing the risk of gastric cancer. Allicin has a direct killing effect on tumor cells. Allicin can also inhibit the growth of skin cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, and liver cancer cells. One reason is because garlic prevents the formation of free radicals, which reduces the chance of damaging DNA, cell membranes, and cellular proteins. (8) Effect on the immune system. Allicin is a good immune-stimulating Chinese herbal medicine. It can activate macrophages in the body, enhance their ability to phagocytose foreign bodies, and improve cellular immunity, humoral immunity and non-specific immune functions. The lead-removing effect of allicin is continuous and can effectively remove the lead accumulated in the body. In addition, allicin also has medical and health care functions such as removing dandruff, anti-itching, preventing neuralgia, treating mercury poisoning, anti-radiation, antioxidant, protecting biofilm, anti-aging, preventing and treating mosquito bites, and anti-cold. (9) Other effects: Garlic can also treat atrophic gastritis and a variety of chronic gastric diseases. It can significantly improve symptoms such as gastric discomfort, fullness, dull pain, acid reflux, belching, burning and loss of appetite. Garlic has a very good protective effect on chemical liver damage. It can inhibit the damage of lipid peroxides to the membrane structure, increase enzyme activity, and increase the detoxification function of the liver, thereby protecting the liver and even the entire body. Garlic can increase the level of cyclic AMP in the liver, regulate lipid metabolism membrane transport and cell proliferation, and increase enzyme activity, increase blood lipid hydrolysis, reduce biosynthesis, increase the excretion of blood lipid components, and maintain the balance of serum, liver, and kidneys. Lipoproteins and triglycerides are within the normal range, thereby preventing and treating fatty liver.