Medicinal and therapeutic properties of garlic, garlic essential oil, and garlic-based snack food: An updated review

Tarun Verma; Ankur Aggarwal; Priya Dey; Anil Kumar Chauhan; Summya Rashid; Kow-Tong Chen; Rohit Sharma

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1120377

Medicinal and therapeutic properties of garlic, garlic essential oil, and garlic-based snack food: An updated review

Front Nutr. 2023 Feb 16:10:1120377. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1120377. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tarun Verma¹, Ankur Aggarwal¹, Priya Dey¹, Anil Kumar Chauhan¹, Summya Rashid², Kow-Tong Chen^{3

4}, Rohit Sharma⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dairy Science and Food Technology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
² Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Occupational Medicine, Tainan Municipal Hospital (Managed by Show Chwan Medical Care Corporation), Tainan, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Rasa Shastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Garlic (Allium sativum) is an edible tuber belonging to the family Liliaceae. It has been used since ancient times as a spice to enhance the sensory characteristics of food and as a household remedy for the treatment of a variety of ailments. Garlic has been studied for its medicinal and therapeutic effects in the treatment of various human diseases for a long time. Health benefits associated with the consumption of garlic are attributed to the various sulfur compounds present in it such as allicin, ajoene, vinyl-dithiin, and other volatile organosulfur compounds which are all metabolized from alliin. Several researches in the literature have shown evidence that garlic exhibits antioxidant, antiviral, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, antihypertensive, anti-anemic, anti-hyperlipidemic, anticarcinogenic, antiaggregant, and immunomodulatory properties. The present review identifies and discusses the various health benefits associated with the consumption of garlic, its essential oil, and bioactive constituents, along with exploring the various snack-food products developed by incorporating garlic.

Keywords: allicin; antimicrobial; antioxidant; essential oil; garlic; organo-sulfur compounds.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a grant (no. RA112001) from the Tainan Municipal Hospital (Managed by Show Chwan Medical Care Corporation), Tainan, Taiwan.