10 health benefits of garlic

1. Heart disease: Garlic is a superb natural supplement to your diet for combating heart disease. Not only does garlic work to lower bad cholesterol levels in the bloodstream, but garlic also helps protect the aorta in the heart by slowing the aging process of the aorta. Basically, garlic has natural anti-clotting and blood thinning properties.
2. Impotence: This one might be for you guys. And yes, garlic helps with impotence. How? First, garlic helps with blood circulation, and that's important for ... well, you know what it's important for if you're an adult. But garlic also stimulates the male body to create a nitric oxide synthase enzyme, an enzyme needed for males to reach an erection.
3. Low-weight birth: Studies done in Great Britain have shown that garlic taken by pregnant women helps the unborn to gain weight. Also, to add, if you are concerned about the bad breath garlic can give you, there are available at most pharmacies and grocery stores garlic supplements (usually in a pill form) that don't leave you with the bad breath.
4. Infections: Natural, raw garlic works as an antibiotic. It can even kill some harmful bacteria, including that from staph infections, that are resistant to modern medical antibiotics.
5. Allergies: Take at least one garlic pill a day, or eat a tea spoon of garlic a day, to help ward off allergies, especially allergies caused by changes in weather. Your best bet is to begin taking the garlic at least a few weeks before a new allergy season kicks in. It's the antiviral properties of garlic that help with this.
6. Tooth aches: Sore tooth? Rub some garlic oil on it. Or place a crushed garlic clove on the tooth and around the gums. Give it a few minutes. The pain should begin to ease.
7. Cold sores: Crush a clove of garlic into a glass of slightly warm water and drink it twice a day. The anti-viral and anti-bacterial benefits of garlic can help to lessen the effects of and help to defeat cold sores and other forms of herpes. Be warned, however, not to apply garlic directly to sores on the skin because in some people this can cause a burning sensation. Also, some people have allergies to garlic and should not apply garlic to their skin. To be safe, always check with your doctor.
8. Cancer: Studies have shown that regularly partaking of garlic helps to lessen carcinogenic compounds in the body, especially helping to prevent stomach, colon and esophagus cancer.
9. Food poisoning: Garlic is loaded with an anti-bacterial chemical called allicin (which also causes garlic's unique smell). Allicin is a great natural compound for fighting bacteria, which includes bad bacteria that can build up in the stomach due to food poisoning.
10. Common cold: Garlic helps to kill viruses in your body, especially cold viruses and other harmful bacteria when the garlic is eaten raw.