You Aid my Body in it’s Defense of Cancerous Cells and Tumors

Garlic, I am in awe of your ability to fend off cells that would otherwise take over my delicate ecosystem.

Another shockingly overwhelming group of studies that I came across in my infatuation with natures miracle clove, are the anticancer properties found in the many compounds in garlic.  In most studies where cancer cells were given the ability to interact with the organosulfur compounds or garlic extract, the cancer cells underwent cell death(apoptosis), and the garlic suppressed the future growth of the cancerous cells.   According to the article, Diallyl Disulfide Induces Apoptosis and Autophagy in Human Osteosarcoma, “DADs treatment resulted in autophagy-mediated death”, and was referring to the death of cancer cells. 

In the article, Updates on the Anticancer Potential of Garlic Organosulfur Compounds, “Garlic and its derived components potentially reduced the progression of tumors in animal models and suppressed cancer cell growth…  The anti-cancerous potential of garlic has been validated by many preclinical studies using human cancer cells, including those of the lung, mouth, stomach, pancreas, ovary, endometrium, breast, prostate, and bone cancer(Dorant et al., 1993; Tanaka et al., 2006). Further, laboratory experimentation has demonstrated that chemical components reported in garlic can repair DNA damage, induce cancer cell growth arrest, and reduce inflammatory responses.” 

Garlics organosulfur compounds and particularly that of aged garlic extract, has been found to have an antimutagenic effect. Meaning that these compounds are stopping the cancer cells from mutating into tumors.   From the article, Garlic(Allium sativum): A Review of its Potential Use as an Anti-Cancer Agent, “Recently it has been observed that aged garlic extract, but not the fresh garlic extract, exhibited radical scavenging activity.  The two major compounds in aged garlic, S-allylcysteine and S-allylmercapto-L-cysteine, had the highest radical scavenging activity.  In addition, some organosulfur compounds derived from garlic, including S-allylcysteine, have been found to retard the growth of chemically induced and transplantable tumors in several animal models. Therefore, the consumption of garlic may provide some kind of protection from cancer development.” 

Garlic stops cancerous progression through different pathways.  Cellular death occurs within the confounds of garlic extract.  With regards to the stopping of cellular growth; “antimutagenic activity”, aged garlic extract has taken a distinct lead.   Most types of cancerous cells are affected by the organosulfur compounds found in both aged and fresh garlic extract.  Both play a role in the destruction of cancerous cells.  The unknown benefits still remain; what we know is enough though to be able to act on these great findings.