Garlic – Worlds Healthiest Food

13 May Garlic – Worlds Healthiest Food

Why is garlic considered as one of the healthiest foods in the world? Well, there are a variety of reasons for this, mainly because of the health benefits this ingredient promises. Garlic is one such ingredient that is still finding out in which category it falls into.  Is it a spice, root or stem, a vegetable, or is it something else?

What is garlic classified as?

Now, this is a question of debate. Garlic comes under the Allium group, something similar to onions, shallots, leeks, chives, etc. It owns a lot of allium properties and has the strongest flavor among all alliums. Some say that since it has leaves it is considered as a vegetable. It looks like a bulb with strong flavors and as it looks like leeks and as it is the cousin of onions, it belongs to the lily family. It is neither a spice or a herb. To summarise, it is preferred to say that it falls in the Allium family of vegetables. It has a lot of medicinal properties and is loaded with antibacterial and antiparasitic properties.

Nutritional Facts

Talking about the nutritional facts of this bulb – it is filled with antioxidants and a lot of other vitamin and minerals.

A clove of raw garlic contains about:

• 4 calories
• 0.2 gram protein
• 1 gram carbohydrates
• 0.1 gram fiber
• 0.9 milligram vitamin C (2 percent DV)
• 5.4 milligrams calcium (1 percent DV)
• 0.1 milligram manganese (3 percent DV)
• 0.4 micrograms selenium (1 percent DV)

Garlic has a high amount of Thiosulfinates along with saponins, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, and zinc. In addition to the above mentioned, it also has vitamins like selenium and vitamins A and C and minor quantities of calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, manganese, and B-complex vitamins.

Health Benefits of Garlic

It is an interesting fact that throughout ancient history, garlic has been used and its medicinal values and properties were documented. It is found that Romans, Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians, and Babylonians used garlic as a medicine.

• Garlic is a good remedy for the common cold.
• It helps in reducing blood pressure and controlling cholesterol levels.
• Loaded with antioxidants, it helps in preventing Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.
• It can help improve bone health.
• That apart, it helps to treat wounds and helps in improving your immunity.
• It boosts your digestion process.
• Here is good news for diabetic patients because blood sugar levels can be cut down significantly with the help of garlic.
• Now some beauty tips – It helps in preventing acne and also in ear pain.
• It aids in quick weight loss and to reduce obesity.
• Helps prevent hair loss.
• Helps fight and prevent cancer.
• It is a blood purifier.

Eat Raw Garlic

Eating raw garlic has a lot of health benefits. You can eat one or two flakes of raw garlic every day. Some may not like the strong taste of it and this ingredient may even cause some burning sensation when chewed raw. Therefore, all you need to do is to simply mix it with any of your food like rice (take this as a tip – you can chop it and mix it with your rice or meal).

Eating them raw help is improving your heart health. Whatsoever, you have to make sure that you do not overeat them because excess use of garlic has its ill effects.