Garlic is among the oldest of all cultivated plants.Garlic is believed to have originated in Central Asia (India, Afganistan, China, Russia) and spread to other parts of the world through trade and colonization. Production of garlic stood at about 10 million tones per annum which is only about 10% that of bulb onion. Garlic has been played an important dietary and medicinal role throughout the history of mankind. Garlic is a nature’s boon to the mankind. For over 5000 years garlic has been consumed both as food and used for medicine by ancient scholars. Garlic, Allium sativum is a member of the Alliance family, has been widely recognized as a valuable spice and a popular remedy for various ailments and physiological disorders. The name garlic may have originated from the Celtic word ‘all’ meaning pungent. As one of the earliest cultivated plants garlic is mentioned in the Bible and in the literature of ancient Israel (The Talmud), Egypt (Codex Ebers) and India (Vedas and Purans, Charak Sanghita). Chinese strongly believed that garlic prolongs longevity and is useful in treading most human diseases, including infections, cancer and heart diseases. In the historical writings of India and in literature like Vedas and Purans, garlic is repoted to have medicinal as well as nutritive value in food items. Clinical indications of garlic include hemorrhoids, rheumatism, dermatitis, abdominal pain, cough, loss of appetites and loss of weight.
It is remarkable plant, which has multiple beneficial effects such as antimicrobial, antithrombotic, hypolipidemic, antiarthritic, hypoglycemic and antitumor actively. Allicin has antibacterial and antioxidant actively.
So where do we stand today on the issue of garlic ? Is garlic always good for health ? How safe is it ? Is it necessary to isolate antioxidant compounds for its medicinal use in more effective way. We have compiled all the available informations and shape into a form of a book, which will be helpful to technical persons as well as non-technicals.
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