Allicin (from garlic) and the possible benefits for your heart.

[Ansel]

I was a member of a farming group locally who hosted a talk on garlic and its allicin. I missed the talk but looked a little online about it. Eventually i got some in a 3 for 2 deal in B@@ts the Chemist... you know what i think this stuff is really good. I take two capsules a day and i find it works very well on my heart. It is said to have other uses too. Have a look on youtube at the scientist Peter Josling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allicin

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIcQUjaYMi4

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv3m9Zg9ihc

[Ansel]

So the active part of garlic is allicin... that's the bit you want... but it's only around when garlic is crushed or chewed and won't stay around long. So i gather. So you can get these capsules of stabilised allicin to reap the full benefits. Peter Josling is the scientist in the video who worked out how to stabilise allicin.

[ABW]

Yeah.. I hear good things about it.. I am considering putting new chapters version in my line up.. You can check it out here...

http://www.newchapter.com/targeted-h...as/garlicforce

[internope]

I take two capsules a day and i find it works very well on my heart.

How do you know it is working? Does your heart feel different when you take garlic?

[ABW]

Well no.. But you can measure your circulation..

[sgreger1]

Wait, can someone elaborate on exactly what effects it has on your circulation? Do you feel that these actually work?

From what I gather, Allicin is the natural prsticide garlic synthesizes to stop bugs from eating it, and is both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal in nature. But there seems to be little evidence that is works:

Several animal studies published between 1995 and 2005 indicate that allicin may: reduce atherosclerosis and fat deposition,[9][10] normalize the lipoprotein balance, decrease blood pressure,[11][12] have anti-thrombotic[13] and anti-inflammatory activities, and function as an antioxidant to some extent.[14][15][16] Other studies have shown a strong oxidative effect in the gut that can damage intestinal cells.[17] A randomized clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2007 found that the consumption of garlic in any form did not reduce blood cholesterol levels in patients with moderately high baseline cholesterol levels.[18] The fresh garlic used in this study contained substantial levels of allicin so this study casts doubt on the ability of allicin when taken orally to reduce blood cholesterol levels in human subjects.

A 2009 study then showed that the active ingredient has a lifetime of only 1 second:

The 2-propenesulfenic formed when garlic is cut or crushed has a lifetime of less than one second

I'd love to take this if it works but there seems to be little evidence in it's favor and at least one study showing that it oxidizes/destroys your intestines. Can someone rebuttal this as I only had time to look at the wikipedia page.

[ABW]

Here is the link I would trust... It is from the Beth Israel Medical Center(Harvard) and they are top notch... The jury is out but it clearly has some benefits.. Some of the studies were completed in a less then perfect fashion and some were ok so check it out...

http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/Cond...?ChunkID=21729

[Ansel]

I'd love to take this if it works but there seems to be little evidence in it's favor and at least one study showing that it oxidizes/destroys your intestines. Can someone rebuttal this as I only had time to look at the wikipedia page.

well i was asking Peter Josling about this and this is what he replied:

The website www.allicin.com is owned by a Japanese Company called Wakunaga who manufacture the well know retail brand garlic Kyolic – this product cannot produce any allicin at all because they process it all away from the garlic they use during manufacture. The website data relates to pure unstabilised allicin at a concentration approaching 97% pure and this is aggressive to the gut – the website does support us in several ways though as we also agree that all other garlic products get inactivated in the stomach by your own acid! Our stabilised allicin cannot be deactivated as it does not contain alliin or allinase as the allicin is pre-converted and stabilised. It actually likes the acid environment of your stomach and gets absorbed quickly and transported to the circulatory system.



This is a question we get asked very frequently!

Aged garlic (all Kyolic brands) are produced in a manner that completely removes allicin from the starting garlic and therefore the manufacturer is obviously keen to suggest that allicin is unstable. Their extraction process is now over 40 years old and so far they have not published any significant papers on any biological activity against bacteria, virus, fungal species or intestinal parasites. Unfortunately the Japanese manufacturer is still not willing to admit or recognize that a small British company has finally managed to stabilise allicin in a way that means it can be produced on a commercial scale and formulated into products that you can purchase and test for biological activity. This is what you buy in the product called AllicinMAX in the UK (known as Allimax in the USA and Canada and a number of other brands including Alligin, Alli-C, Allicin C,) and this material has very significant biological activity, the results of which have been announced in the Medical and Consumer Press over the last 8 years! Allicin can also be radio labeled and traced in the blood and this was proven in a paper published by the Battel Institute in Switzerland some years ago – again conveniently not recognized by Kyolic!



Stabilised allicin extracts have produced a substantial amount of evidence to confirm significant antimicrobial and anti-parasitic activity as well as cardiovascular benefit and latterly some very exciting anti-cancer work – although of course no claims can be made in this respect for any type of garlic extract. Our invention is the first truly stabilised allicin extract, made in Britain. This patented process uses only temperature, pressure and water to extract allicin for capture as a stable extract. The material has been subject to a lot of testing and we have produced a substantial amount of evidence to confirm the antimicrobial and anti-parasitic activity – so much so that we guarantee that every batch that we manufacture is tested against an MRSA bacteria and proven to kill it before released for sale. This is what you buy with our allicin product . The results of all this work have been published in peer reviewed medical journals, and we have shown that our material can kill a wide range of infectious organisms including MRSA, streptococcus species, cold virus, fungal species and E. Coli. Much of this data is included in the excellent book Allicin – The Heart of Garlic which is available from our web site at www.allicin.co.uk



As allicin is universally recognized as the first breakdown component from fresh garlic we are also confident that as it begins to break down in your body all the beneficial components are produced and so you can get many different benefits from taking stabilized allicin on a regular basis and this is confirmed by some excellent testimonial data indicating not only an ability to kill infection but also to protect patients from a repeat infection.



I hope that this goes someway to answering your question but should you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact me – some extra answers in the body of this email

[lxskllr]

I just glanced over this, as I'm not a fan of supplements, and don't believe in them, but wouldn't antimicrobial properties be detrimental to a food product? You need bacteria in your system for proper digestion, and it seems you'd be working against yourself by taking "antibiotics" on a regular basis.

[Ansel]

I just glanced over this, as I'm not a fan of supplements, and don't believe in them, but wouldn't antimicrobial properties be detrimental to a food product? You need bacteria in your system for proper digestion, and it seems you'd be working against yourself by taking "antibiotics" on a regular basis.

I asked Peter, he said: "Ahh but Allicinmax kills the bad boys if they overpopulate but leaves the good boys alone – its very clever for a garlic extract!"

[lxskllr]

Hmm... Sentient chemicals. I find that a little scary :^D

[Ansel]

Hmm... Sentient chemicals. I find that a little scary :^D

That's the power of garlic ;-)

[Ansel]

I can only comment on what it's done to my blood pressure. Whether it will rot me from the inside out remains to be seen...

[lxskllr]

A lot was made years ago about the Mediterranean diet. That worked really well until the Greeks and Italians got more wealth, and stopped eating the traditional peasant food. Now they eat more meat like Americans, and they have the same problems we do. The same thing has happened to all the third world cultures. Their food was good for them until they started eating like Americans.

Lesson? Eat more natural, minimally processed food, more fish, less land meat, and more vegetables. Eating like a peasant is good for you, cheaper, and better for the planet. It's also damned tasty, but requires a bit more work. Any retard can make meat taste good, but it takes more skill to do it with veggies.

[Ansel]

You're right i agree with you.