In Bulgaria, there lives a 110-year-old man, who some call a modern-day “Methuselah.” He credits his longevity to eating garlic every day. He’s not alone. Throughout history, many people have relied on garlic as an anti-aging food.
For example, Duke Robert I of Normandy once wrote: “Because garlic has the power to save from death, endure it, though it leaves behind bad breath.” And in some quarters, garlic is aptly referred to as the “bulb of the tree of life.”
Garlic is known to be one of the oldest cultivated crops; it has been grown since Neolithic times. In fact, garlic was used and revered for its life-giving properties throughout ancient China, Japan, Egypt, Greece, and the Middle East. It’s fitting that garlic, an herb with such an extensive and distinguished history, is associated with bestowing long life to those who consume it regularly.
Ground-breaking research
Dr. L. Svendsen and colleagues at the Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Denmark, conducted a study in 1994 to assess the anti-aging capability of garlic. Their experiment used several laboratory dishes of human skin cells to which they added various amounts of garlic extract. The skin cells were allowed to reproduce while the scientists monitored their health and life span.
According to Dr. Svendsen’s article in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, the cells supplemented with garlic were healthier and lived much longer than the non-supplemented cells.
“To our knowledge, this is the first report of the effects of garlic on the long-term growth…of normal human skin cells, the results of which have applications for both anti-aging and anti-cancer research,” he concludes.
Now that an in vitro test, a study that uses cells grown in a laboratory, found youth-preserving effects for garlic, the next step would be to investigate the effects of garlic in living animals (in vivo).
Dr. T. Moriguchi at the University of Tokyo, Japan, did just this in his 1994 study reported in the journal Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. This experiment, called an in vivo study since it used live animals, tracked the life span and mental functions of mice supplemented with garlic compared to mice given no garlic supplements. The garlic-fed mice were found to live significantly longer than the control mice. The garlic supplements, according to memory acquisition tests, also improved the learning ability and memory of the animals.
Dr. Moriguchi wrote that garlic “…might be useful for treating physiological aging and age-related memory deficits in humans.” Hopefully, future studies, based on people taking garlic supplements, will confirm this.
Garlic takes on the top three killers in the U.S.
Heart disease, cancer, and infections are the top three killers in the United States. The life-extending secret of garlic lies partly in its battle against all these formidable killers. Considering that garlic lowers cholesterol levels, reduces blood pressure, discourages the formation of heart-clogging blood clots, inhibits the growth of cancerous cells, enhances immune function, and prevents and treats infections, it should come as no surprise that plenty of garlic in the diet or from supplements may translate into a longer, healthier life.
Garlic: all-around rejuvenator
The evidence, from laboratory experiments, animal studies, and anecdotal stories from people, seems to suggest that garlic may be a virtual fountain of youth.
Does garlic deserve its reputation as a jack-of-all-trades for a long life? Considering the approximately 2,000 scientific papers documenting garlic’s role in disease prevention and treatment published in the past two decades, it would certainly seem merited.
There are many odor-controlled garlic supplements available at your local health food store.
REFERENCES
Koch, Heinrich P., Ph.D. and Lawson, Larry D., Ph.D., editors. Garlic. The Science and Therapeutic Application of Allium sativum L. and Related Species. Baltimore, Md: Williams & Wilkins, 1996.
Moriguchi, T., et al. “Prolongation of life span and improved learning in the senescence accelerated mouse produced by aged garlic extract,” Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin 17(12):1589-1594, 1994.
Svendsen, L., et al. “Testing garlic for possible anti-ageing effects on long-term growth characteristics, morphology and macromolecular synthesis of human fibroblasts in culture,” Journal of Ethnopharmacology 43(2):125-133, 1994.
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