03-04-2005, 07:13 PM
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Confirmed User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Bostonnnn
Posts: 8,985
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Quote:
As near as I can figure out, you lose very little in cooking it. The first thing you would lose would be the allicin and its antibiotic properties. Heat breaks it down rather quickly, as do digestive chemicals. What it breaks down into; however, is a soup of sulphur compounds that are antibiotic also. Most of the health benefits from garlic come from the breakdown compounds, rather than allicin itself, anyway, as allicin breaks down in the body and it is the breakdown components that get into the bloodstream. They're the ones that really do most of the good. Even Kyolic Aged Garlic Extract, which has been soaked in alcohol and other chemicals for nearly two years still has anticoagulant effects as well as some other benefits, and it has no allicin left in it at all. Fresh garlic is better all the way around, cooked or raw.
Cooked garlic would seem to have less immediate antibiotic value. Doctors have indicated that the smellier the garlic, the better it works, as the smelly compounds seem to do the most work. Some of the helpful compounds are probably destroyed during the cooking process and dissipate in the form of cooking odors. On the plus side, you can eat a lot more cooked garlic than you can raw garlic, at least most people can. I usually eat a clove or two raw with cooked meals, anyway. I suspect that you do lose a little with cooking, but are able to make up for it by being able to eat more of it. For a more complete discussion check out the Health Benefits page of oue website. Back to Questions
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A garlic a day keeps the vampires away. |
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