Garlic Fights Food Poisoning Better Than Anti-Biotics

An ingredient in garlic has been found to be 100 times more powerful than two popular antibiotics at fighting one of the leading causes of food poisoning.

The compound, diallyl sulphide, is able to pierce a protective “biofilm” employed by the harmful Campylobacter bacteria that makes it hard to destroy.

Tests showed diallyl sulphide was as effective as 100 times bigger doses of the antibiotics erythromycin and ciprofloxacin – two of the most advanced antibiotics used to treat food poisoning.

The research is published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy showed that diallyl sulphide was also able to work in a fraction of the time taken by the drugs.

 

What is Campylobacter?

Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of food-borne illness in the world.

Symptoms of Campylobacter infection include diarrhoea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever.

The bacteria also trigger nearly a third of cases of a rare paralysing disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Most Campylobacter infections stem from eating raw or undercooked poultry or foods that have been cross-contaminated via dirty surfaces and utensils.

The researchers looked at diallyl sulphide’s ability to kill Campylobacter bacteria when they join together to form a slimy biofilm.

This makes the bugs 1000 times more resistant to antibiotics than free-floating bacterial cells.

The compound easily penetrated the protective film to kill the microbes by targeting a metabolic enzyme.

Two previous studies published last year showed that the garlic compound was also effective against other food-borne bugs, including Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli.

 

Garlic – The Natural Antibiotic

Garlic is a powerful, natural antibiotic – and it doesn’t kill off our healthy bacteria like prescription antibiotics do.

Unlike chemical antibiotics, garlic is also an effective antiviral and antifungal – and taking just a few cloves of garlic each day can really speed infections away.

The antibacterial property belongs to the garlic constituent allicin, which is released when you cut a garlic clove. This activate phagocytes, B-Cells, and T-cells — all three levels of the cellular immune system.

Diallyl sulphides are less volatile than allicin. They do not degrade as quickly and, importantly, the health benefits survive cooking.

Garlic still needs to be chopped or crushed to produce the sulphides – if garlic is cooked whole then it has almost no medicinal value or health benefits.

Diallyl sulphides do not share the anti-fungal properties of allicin. However they are reportedly good for the blood and circulation in some cases.

The sulphides might also help to lower the levels of “bad” cholesterol, hence garlic might help to keep the heart and cardiovascular system healthy.

The garlic sulphides break down in the body within a few hours so for maximum health benefit it is best to have “a little often” as opposed to one large daily dose.

For those of you that can’t handle eating raw garlic then Nutrition Care Metabol Forte contains concentrated forms of Allium and Diallyl Sulphides to support healthy immune function, management of healthy cholesterol levels and supports cardiovascular function.

Eagle Gartech is also a great product for natural treatment of colds and flus. It also contains immune boosting and anti-viral herbs like Echinacea, Andrographis and Astragalus.

 

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