For more than 6,000 years, people have consumed garlic for its
powerful therapeutic properties. Modern medicine is only now
beginning to reveal this common herb as truly a wonder drug.
Rajesh Vjas, a homeopathic medicine doctor in Morgan Hill, often
recommends garlic therapy to treat his patients for a whole gamut
of physical illnesses.
For more than 6,000 years, people have consumed garlic for its powerful therapeutic properties. Modern medicine is only now beginning to reveal this common herb as truly a wonder drug.
Rajesh Vjas, a homeopathic medicine doctor in Morgan Hill, often recommends garlic therapy to treat his patients for a whole gamut of physical illnesses. High blood pressure, asthma, rheumatism, and even flu symptoms and the common cold can be abetted by the herb, he said.
“Sometimes I have people swallow a clove a day just like a capsule,” he said. “People who have hyperacidity should make sure they have it with meals. If they have it raw, they should have it as much at the start of the meal as possible.”
Vjas especially recommends garlic for people with heart disease. One study in India credited garlic with certain cholesterol-lowering qualities. When garlic is heated, a compound is formed that can help keep arteries from clogging as well as reduce blood pressure. This blood-thinning property can prevent strokes and heart attacks, he said.
And garlic has also been shown to be effective in treating influenza viruses, as well as fungi and yeast microbes such as those that cause vaginal infections and athlete’s foot. The effective antibacterial component of garlic is called “allicin,” an enzyme equivalent to about a one percent dose of penicillin.
“It’s an antifungal,” Vjas said. “It can also used for intestinal parasites like worms.”
Tests have shown that allicin can kill 23 different types of bacteria, including salmonella and staphylococcus.
Vjas recommends garlic therapy to his patients suffering from pain in the eardrums.
“Crush some garlic and put it on the infected area and it will suck out the infection,” he said.
Chest problems such as colds, whooping cough, asthma and even tuberculosis can also be relieved with raw crushed garlic due to the antihistamine properties in its aromatic oils, he said.
And with rattlesnakes in this region of California, garlic can also be used for snakebite victims.
“It thins the blood so you can get rid of the poison through the wound,” he said. “At the (bite) site itself, it’ll be more of an antibacterial.”
Garlic can also be considered a cheap alternative to Viagra. It has long been touted as a way to improve a person’s love life, and Vjas believes there’s some truth in this.
“It’s going to increase your metabolism,” he said. “It’ll get the circulation going which will provide the aphrodisiac.”
Garlic contains vitamins such as C, A, and B which invigorate the immune system and combat carcinogens. And garlic might assist in retarding the aging process, Vjas said. “It has antioxidation properties that keep you younger.”
Garlic’s medicinal benefits have been known since the days of the Sumerians. And unlike many powerful drugs, it’s cheap, available without a prescription and tastes delicious.
As an old Welsh saying goes: “Eat leeks in March and garlic in May, and all year the doctor can play.”
For more information, contact Dr. Vjas at 779-0888 or by e-mail at dr****@*sa.net
