The hundreds of benefits of eating garlic

Garlic is an herb that is related to onions, chives, and leeks. In Western countries, garlic is commonly employed in the kitchen to enhance the taste of many dishes. Nevertheless, you should know that garlic is not only tasty but also offers hundreds of health benefits.

Let us begin with its impact on the cardiovascular system, starting with the body’s arteries. As people age, the walls of the arteries tend to harden, thereby losing their ability to stretch and dilate. Eating garlic every day—raw in the mornings, if possible—seems to counteract this effect. In other words, daily garlic consumption reduces arterial stiffness.

With respect to arterial blood pressure, it is well-known that high arterial pressure is deleterious, as it can provoke heart attacks, kidney stones, and strokes. Here’s where garlic steps in. Eating garlic has been proven to modestly reduce diastolic blood pressure by about 9mmHg and systolic blood pressure by about 6mmhg.

Moreover, garlic has been shown to discreetly decrease pre-meal blood sugar levels in both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects, with this effect more marked in diabetics. To achieve this result, garlic had to be consumed regularly over a 3-month period.