Recently, the SARS epidemic has gradually subsided, but everyone dare not relax in prevention. Many people have found various ways to improve their immunity. Garlic is also considered as a healthy food, because it can prevent and treat many diseases and is sought after by many people. Many people are willing to take the risk of "exporters" and eat garlic. In fact, any healthy food has an appropriate consumption. Scientists believe that it is more appropriate to eat a clove of raw garlic (about 5 grams in weight) every day. If it is cooked garlic, two or three cloves is enough. It's no use eating too much
■ "Eighteen martial arts" garlic
Sterilization and anti-inflammation: 1954, Soviet medical scientists confirmed that garlic juice could kill bacteria in the culture medium within 3 minutes. With the development of medicine, allicin contained in garlic has a broad-spectrum antibacterial effect, which has been proved one by one. It has strong antibacterial effect on epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis virus, influenza virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, hepatitis virus, Cryptococcus neoformans, pneumococcus, Neisseria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and so on.
Cancer prevention: Garlic can block the synthesis of nitrosamines, inhibit the growth of cancer cells and kill them. Garlic is rich in selenium, which can accelerate the decomposition of peroxides in the body and reduce the oxygen supply needed by malignant tumors, thus inhibiting cancer cells. Scientists believe that garlic can prevent leukemia, oral cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
Prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases: Another nickname given to garlic by scientists is "vascular scavenger". The researchers found that the deposits on the inner wall of blood vessels of people who eat garlic for a long time are much lighter than those who don't. Vascular wall deposition is the main cause of cardiovascular diseases. After a long time, the artery will be blocked and the elasticity will become worse, causing stroke or myocardial infarction. Garlic can also reduce blood lipid and blood viscosity, resist platelet aggregation and greatly reduce the risk of heart disease, cerebral thrombosis and cerebral hemorrhage.
Promote hair growth: The volatile oil contained in garlic can accelerate blood flow to sebaceous glands and hair follicles, thus promoting hair growth and treating alopecia. Applying garlic paste to scalp can promote hair growth and eliminate dandruff. If the same amount of vegetable oil is added to the head, it can also alleviate the dryness of hair.
Enhance immune function: Animal experiments show that the fat-soluble volatile oil in garlic can significantly improve the phagocytosis of macrophages and enhance the immune system.
Anti-aging: Garlic contains protein, fat, sugar, vitamins and minerals, which can prevent vascular aging and immune decline.
Brain-strengthening and intelligence-improving: the components in garlic combine with vitamin B 1 in human body to produce "alliin", which can promote and play the role of vitamin B 1, enhance the oxidative energy supply of carbohydrates, provide enough energy for brain cells and make thinking agile.
■ Disadvantaged people should pay special attention.
However, everything has two sides, and garlic also has its "taboo crowd".
People with liver disease should not eat it: Many people think that garlic can resist bacteria and viruses, so garlic is used to prevent hepatitis. Some people even eat garlic every day after suffering from hepatitis. This practice is extremely unfavorable to hepatitis patients, because garlic has no effect on hepatitis virus. On the contrary, some components of garlic can stimulate the gastrointestinal tract, inhibit the secretion of intestinal digestive juice and affect food digestion, thus aggravating many symptoms such as nausea of hepatitis patients. In addition, the volatile components of garlic can reduce red blood cells and hemoglobin in blood, and may cause anemia, which is not conducive to the treatment of hepatitis.
Non-bacterial diarrhea should not be eaten: garlic should not be eaten raw when non-bacterial enteritis and diarrhea occur. Because there is inflammation in the local mucosal tissue of the intestine, the blood vessels in the intestinal wall are dilated, congested and swollen, and the permeability is increased. A large number of protein, electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, calcium, chlorine, and liquids in body tissues penetrate into the intestinal cavity, and a large number of liquids stimulate the intestinal tract, which accelerates intestinal peristalsis, thus causing abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms. If you eat raw garlic again, spicy allicin will stimulate the intestine, aggravate congestion and edema of intestinal mucosa, promote exudation and aggravate the condition. If diarrhea has occurred, garlic should be eaten with caution.
Patients with eye diseases should not eat garlic: Chinese medicine believes that eating garlic in large quantities for a long time will "hurt the liver and hurt the eyes." Therefore, patients with eye diseases should try not to eat garlic, especially those with poor health and weak qi and blood. Otherwise, after a long time, their eyesight will decline, tinnitus, top-heavy and memory will decline. Some people suffer from myopia or other eye diseases and need to take Chinese medicine for treatment. At this time, they must avoid eating, otherwise it will directly affect the curative effect. Eating a lot of garlic in summer and autumn has the greatest influence on the eyes.
■ Tip: How to eat garlic to remove bad breath?
The best way to eat garlic is to eat it raw, but many people will have a headache after eating garlic. There are several ways to reduce the bad breath caused by eating garlic.
1. Eat with the rich food in protein.
Brush your teeth and rinse your mouth immediately after eating.
Drink some milk, coffee, tea or eat some fruit.
4. chew tea.
Eating more dates can get rid of bad breath.
6. Use vinegar or wine to remove oral odor.
7. Chew angelica slices. (Yu Wei)