Raw garlic has long been recognized as a powerful natural medicine. It has immune-stimulating properties and is an effective antibiotic and antiviral agent that can be used to help address many kinds of infections. It also contains compounds that appear to fight cancer, and helps lower high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The latest on garlic’s health benefits come from a Chinese study showing that eating garlic two or more times per week can cut the risk of lung cancer by 44 percent. Among smokers, garlic consumption reduced the risk by 30 percent. The researchers conducted in-person interviews with 1,424 lung cancer patients and 4,543 healthy people who had completed a standard questionnaire about their eating habits and health, and analyzed this data to reveal the apparent association between garlic and cancer. The compound believed principally responsible for garlic's disease-fighting ability (and pungent smell) is allicin, which is formed from an inactive precursor compound only after garlic is mashed or chopped and exposed to air for at least a few minutes. The Chinese study was published in the July 2013, issue of Cancer Prevention Research.
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