Nature's pharmacy below the ground

Garlic enjoys great popularity as a pungent condiment around the world. The Chinese are fond of oil flavored with garlic cloves to season meat and vegetables; people living in the Mediterranean region have cloves as their staple to season bread and pasta.

Garlic can satisfy our stomach, but many believe that eating garlic every day can keep the doctor away.

Modern science has shown that allicin, an unstable compound of garlic, has a strong antibiotic property. However, allicin doesn't exist unless you crush or chew the cloves.

Some see garlic's medicinal power in near-mystical terms, while others call it "penicillin growing out from the soil".

The "stinking rose" treatment has been used widely in herbal medicine through the centuries - renowned for fighting a wide range of diseases from the common cold to the plague.

About 4,600 years ago, Khufu, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, fed garlic to slaves who built the Great Pyramid of Giza, hoping to prevent diseases. The earliest record of garlic's medicinal use was in the Ebers Papyrus, the oldest medical papyri.

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates championed garlic's benefit for patients with stomach and lung-related diseases. At that time, garlic was very popular among Olympic athletes because it was said to be good for them to keep fit and muscular.

When pandemics swept through Europe in the Middle Ages, people ate garlic every day hoping to survive. During the 1722 epidemic in Marseilles in France, vinegar made of garlic played the role of panacea.

In China, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) herbalist Li Shizhen wrote in his classic pharmacopeia Compendium of Materia Medica that garlic could prevent cold and help the digestive system. A popular saying went that "when garlic hits market, pharmacy goes bankrupt".

Garlic's legendary medicinal prowess was invoked during the two world wars. During World War I, garlic was used to treat dysentery in military camps. In World War II, garlic was sprinkled onto wounds as an antibiotic.

Now various health claims for garlic have been buoyed by modern researchers. Studies show that garlic is not only antibacterial, but also antiviral and antifungal. There is evidence it can help people manage both their blood pressure and their cholesterol levels.

But whatever health benefits lurk in garlic, some people are put off by garlic's smell. That problem can be overcome, as new garlic supplements, in pill and capsule form, are now available without the pungent bulb's telltale taste and odor.

You can contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.