Garlic: Health benefits and actions

Recent years have seen an increasing emphasis on foods and food components in disease prevention. Garlic (Allium sativum L.), one of the best-researched herbal remedies, holds a unique position in history, traditionally employed to treat infection, colds, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other disorders. Clinically, it has been evaluated for lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose concentration, as well as for the prevention of arteriosclerosis and cancer. Epidemiologically, garlic consumption inversely correlates with the risk of oral, stomach, esophageal, colon, and prostate cancers. In addition, the biological activities of garlic, including antibacterial, antithrombotic, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and antidiabetic actions and modulation of drug metabolism, have been extensively investigated. Here, we briefly summarize the recent findings on garlic and its sulfur-containing compounds in preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer, along with its modulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes and membrane transporter activities. Finally, garlic safety and drug interaction are discussed.