Garlic has long been known to offer protection against heart disease and some forms of cancer, but the question has been, how much? Research on the other side of the globe has now provided the answer: half a clove of raw garlic a day will do nicely.
Husband and wife team Rex and Christine Munday, at New Zealand's Ruakura Agricultural Research Center, studied the effects of various doses of diallyl disulphide, the chemical in garlic thought to have the most potent anti-cancer properties. The substance works by encouraging the digestive system to produce enzymes that purge it of cancer-causing chemicals.
The Mundays found that modest intakes equal to roughly a half clove a day spurred an increase in the enzymes of 20 to 60 per cent. Which came as something of a relief, Rex Munday says, because while "it has been recognized that garlic is an inducer of these enzymes, previous studies have all been with doses at meaningless levels."
For instance, says Munday, one study indicated "you would need to eat your own weight in garlic to achieve beneficial results." But the Mundays also emphasize that the half-clove dosage applies only to raw garlic -- if it is cooked, nine times as much is needed to produce the same result.
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