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Submited By: Michael Simmonds on 10/11/2007
Garlic is the best anti-clotting herb. It contains nine anticoagulant compounds. It is a major herb for heart attack prevention because of its blood-thinning effect and its ability to help control high blood pressure. These same effects also help prevent strokes.
Garlic is mentioned in the Bible and the Talmud. Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny the Elder, and Dioscorides all mention the use of garlic for many conditions, including parasites, respiratory problems, poor digestion, and low energy. Its use in China was first mentioned in A.D. 510. Louis Pasteur studied the antibacterial action of garlic in 1858.
The sulfur compound allicin, produced by crushing or chewing fresh garlic or by taking powdered garlic products with allicin potential, in turn, produces other sulfur compounds: ajoene, allyl sulfides, and vinyldithiins.
Garlic inhibits platelet stickiness (aggregation) and increases fibrinolysis, which results in a slowing of blood coagulation. It is mildly anti-hypertensive and has antioxidant activity. Garlic’s cardiovascular protective effects were illustrated in a four-year clinical trial on people 50-80 years old with atherosclerosis. It was found that consumption of 900 mg of a standardized garlic supplement reduced arterial plaque formation by 5-18%.
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