eugenez@azure.UUCP (Eugene Zinter) (12/06/83)
Subject: The Garlic Cure? Some people swear by garlic. I've never really been able to tell if it affected me one way or the other---except that people tend to not bother me much after eating it. But curiousity leads me to find out what is in garlic (and onions) that might be a ?cure? In garlic, it is allicin that is responsible for its flavor and odor. Unfortunately many don't know that allicin is an extremely irritating compound. It results in detrimental effects to the stomach lining and to all parts of the body with which it comes in contact. Now In onions, it is mustard oil that is responsible for its characteristic odor and flavor. Again, unfortunately, mustard oil is a volatile oil that is highly toxic. Mustard oil is also found in garlic (a double whammy, if you will). Its vapors are so irritating that they result in profuse watering of the eyes just by being in contact with the vapors for a few seconds. Mustard oil, if applied directly to the skin, would cause extreme redness and blistering. It's hard to say why some people suffer less colds when taking such substances (or do they really?). But, the body response may not be desirable. After all, in an attempt to purge this mustard oil from the system, the body eliminates much of the it through the lungs. That's why you have the onion smell on your breath for quite some time after eating it. The use of onions has resulted in goiter through the interference with the synthesis of thyroxine by the thyroid gland. Apparently anemia has been linked with the use of onions also. I suspect problems with such foods exist only in individuals who eat them on a daily basis. Perhaps in much larger amounts than they should in an attempt to keep from getting colds or to ?cure? one. My theory of how garlic and onions may possibly lower the incidence of colds is simple. When you ingest these foods with such substances as allicin and mustard oil, the body goes into an eliminative (emergency?) mode in order to flush these poisons out of its system. In the process a lot of other things (toxins, bacteria, etc.) are ALSO flushed out. And so, perhaps your system is "cleaned" out better, at the expense of having to deal with these substances. I believe there are better ways to prevent colds rather than drugging yourself with certain "foods". After all, the stomach is really a VERY sensitive organ and think how irritating such things as Allicin, Mustard Oil, and even Black Pepper must be to it!! Not to mention how such things must affect the digestive process. Perhaps those with colitis, ulcers, and other digestive system ailments could tell us how these substances effect them? ECZ