Is Eating Raw Garlic an Antiseptic for the Mouth?

[Pythagorean]

1)

Whenever I get stuffed up, runny nose, can't taste anything, I eat a clove of raw galric and the next day, I'm all cleared out.

Coincidence? I don't even remember where I picked this up.

2)

because garlic is so spicy when raw, I feel like it is somewhat of an antiseptic for the mouth (kills bad bacteria). Is this true at all?

 

[Yanick]

Yes its pretty well established that the constituents of garlic (AFAIK allicin has been the most studied component) have local antibacterial properties. For more info see http://www.aobjournal.com/article/S0003-9969%2805%2900003-8/abstract

The tricky part with the garlic and its extracts is that most of the compounds are not stable once you 'lyse' the cells due to the 'enzyme stew' that is created. From what I remember when I had to do research into this area, there are hypothesized to be hundreds, if not more, compounds which will be created when this type of situation arises. This makes it very difficult to study as well as making it difficult to really ascertain any type of pathway that the compounds may participate in in vivo. For further reading you can check out allicin. I remember reading a paper by a researcher out in Israel that did some very fascinating cancer research by using local injections of garlic compounds then injecting and enzyme locally (all into the tumor) to create the active compounds in situ. I can't seem to track down the paper now, but I'm sure its out there if you hunt around. Sorry I don't have anymore specific info. Hope this helps.

 

[nismaratwork]

If you'd be willing to put your tongue on the line... the next time this happens, have a big chunk of raw SPICEY (i.e high sulpher content) onion instead of garlic. I'd be curious if you get the same or better results.

Next, do nothing.

Third, Try regularly chewing some Chios Mastica (Mastic Gum... the sap, not the building material).

Compare to the garlic baseline. Yanick is right about garlic having local antibacterial properties, but in theory a chunk of onion should pack more of a local punch. I wonder if it's an aromatic quality of garlic, local, or systemic...

 

[Pythagorean]

thank you for your replies!

If you'd be willing to put your tongue on the line... the next time this happens, have a big chunk of raw SPICEY (i.e high sulpher content) onion instead of garlic. I'd be curious if you get the same or better results.

Next, do nothing.

Third, Try regularly chewing some Chios Mastica (Mastic Gum... the sap, not the building material).

Compare to the garlic baseline. Yanick is right about garlic having local antibacterial properties, but in theory a chunk of onion should pack more of a local punch. I wonder if it's an aromatic quality of garlic, local, or systemic...

I guess the problem with comparing different episodes like that is they could all be different bugs that have different lifetimes in my body so there was never really a baseline. If I did it over several trials for each treatment, it might be more satisfactory.

 

[nismaratwork]

You're right of course, but if this is a recurring problem that is always solved by the same means, it might be baseline enough for a few runs of each treatment. I grant that this is a pretty big commitment... but it could be fun too.