Is Garlic bad?

J

j.

Guest
I have never heard Ray Peat mention garlic, but from the studies he chose to cite in his article "vegetables, etc.", it looks like he is not a fan.

Nutr Cancer 1988;11(4):251-7. Cytotoxicity of extracts of spices to cultured cells. Unnikrishnan MC, Kuttan R Amala Cancer Research Centre, Kerala, India. The cytotoxicity of the extracts from eight different spices used in the Indian diet was determined using Dalton's lymphoma ascites tumor cells and human lymphocytes in vitro and Chinese Hamster Ovary cells and Vero cells in tissue culture. Alcoholic extracts of the spices were found to be more cytotoxic to these cells than their aqueous extracts. Alcoholic extracts of several spices inhibited cell growth at concentrations of 0.2-1 mg/ml in vitro and 0.12-0.3 mg/ml in tissue culture. Ginger, pippali (native to India; also called dried catkins), pepper, and garlic showed the highest activity followed by asafetida, mustard, and horse-gram (native to India). These extracts also inhibited the thymidine uptake into DNA.
 

jyb

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
2,783
Location
UK
It's a spice and I wonder what's the effect of spices on the GI tract and serotonin - we're often told that the GI tract "feels" the spices too.
 

Dutchie

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
1,413
Apart from Peat's work....I think in general every food(group) has it's beneficial and detrimental effect. I'm starting to think more&more that we're meant to consume a wide array of foods all in balance.

That said,Peat's not the only one concerned about garlic as you can see (warning!...this guy is very boring to listen to imho bc of his monotone voice): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGMbAQNXlCY
 

Austin

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Messages
29
Try this: cut a slice off of a bulb of garlic, then tape it to your skin with a bandaid or tape. It will start to burn it after a few minutes. You can actually severely burn your skin that way, so don't keep it on for long obviously. Some people use this method to burn off moles. After trying this myself, I stopped cooking with it for obvious reasons, ha.
 

charlie

Admin
The Law & Order Admin
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
14,364
Location
USA
Bye bye garlic. Oh how I will miss thee. :(
 
OP
J

j.

Guest
Charlie said:
Bye bye garlic. Oh how I will miss thee. :(

I won't use it as an antibiotic like some people do, but I had no problems adding it to beef. It changes the flavor a bit, then I remove the garlic and eat the meat.
 

charlie

Admin
The Law & Order Admin
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
14,364
Location
USA
Every time I eat garlic I am burping it up for hours. Great tasting burps, but dang. It's just not worth it. :cry:
 
OP
J

j.

Guest
Charlie said:
Every time I eat garlic I am burping it up for hours. Great tasting burps, but dang. It's just not worth it. :cry:

Do you literally eat the garlic, or just the food flavored by garlic like I do? (I put beef into the frying pan, then garlic, start cooking, stop cooking, then remove the garlic).
 

charlie

Admin
The Law & Order Admin
Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
14,364
Location
USA
I eat the garlic. I think the juice/flavor would also be an irritant.
 

Jenn

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Messages
1,035
The study is done with extracts. I don't believe a clove and an extract are necessarily the same thing. It is a root, so is ginger. Ginger is soothing to the stomach lining, anti nausea.

I am not giving up my garlic mashed potatoes for anything. I soak the sliced cloves in warmed coconut oil and butter while cooking the potatoes. They get very sweet cooked on LOW in this manner.
 

pboy

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
1,681
Its more of a medicine than a food, its definitely irritating and stimulates a heightened immune response. If you're cold, constipated...heavy, stagnant, or have a lot of garbage on your mind that you may be having trouble sorting out, its great in those acute situations raw or mostly raw.
However, if well cooked or aged and eaten with adequate salt / oil to neutralize it its pretty inert and can add a nice flavor to food without causing any noticeable problems, even with the potential to help boost gastric and salivary secretions. In terms of nutrition, its not that great but not bad either ...it provides about an 'adequate' amount per calories.
 
Back
Top Bottom