Garlic and Cancer Prevention

[jakeXT]

* Preliminary studies suggest that garlic consumption may reduce the risk of developing several types of cancer, especially cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (see Questions 3 and 4). Most of the studies evaluated different types of garlic preparations and used them in varying amounts (see Question 5).
* If garlic consumption does reduce the risk of developing cancer, the amount needed to lower risk remains unknown (see Question 7).
* Although usual garlic consumption rarely causes problems, higher intakes can cause side effects, including gastrointestinal distress (see Question 8).
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# How might garlic act to prevent cancer?

Protective effects from garlic may arise from its antibacterial properties (17) or from its ability to block the formation of cancer-causing substances (18), halt the activation of cancer-causing substances (19), enhance DNA repair (20), reduce cell proliferation, or induce cell death (10).
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http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/garlic-and-cancer-prevention


Recently I stumbled upon this, and it reminded how little we pay attention to what we eat. Although I'm seeing more and more books by Medical Doctors on food and it's effects on cancer.

[dhill926]

1. thanks for this.......

and luckily.....I LOVE garlic!

[laundry_queen]

2. I've always wondered if garlic

was the reason my grandfather lived to be 97 years old, despite smoking since the age of 11, being an alcoholic and being obese for the middle 60 years of his life. He LOVED garlic. He ate garlic toast -with jam -for breakfast (and so did we, unexpectedly found out on the first bite). Onion and garlic sandwiches for lunch. His specialty was pork chops in foil, with butter and a BULB of garlic chopped up, cooked over a fire. He grew his own garlic and munched on it for snacks. Curiously, he never smelled bad but probably because the cigarette smoke and booze covered it up. In his last 20 years he had many health problems, but cancer was not one of them.