Garlic for Health:

Garlic As a Natural Remedy and for General Health

Editor's Note: Do NOT try these home remedies without consulting a health professional to make sure they are appropriate for you.

Garlic is an excellent herb for creating and maintaing overall health, but it also has some specific health uses very few people know about.

Available in pills, capsules, tinctures, and of course raw forms, garlic is one of the most popular healthy herbs of today.

It's also a natural and extremely potent antibiotic.

The most important part of garlic is called allicin. This is a natural antibiotic that's effective against toxic bacteria, viruses, and fungus.

Allicin is quite powerful as an antibiotic. In fact, it's said that 1 milligram of Allicin has a potency of 15 standard units of Penicillin.

The more popular version of garlic unfortunately tends to be the "odorless" pills and capsules found in health food stores. Allicin - the most important part of the garlic - is what causes the odor, though, so buying odorless garlic is ultimately a waste of money. It doesn't have much of an effect at all as an antibiotic or general health promotion if it doesn't have its trademark smell.

Garlic also has germanium in it -- this is an anti-cancer agent and garlic has more of it than any other herb. In some lab tests, garlic was fed to a group of mice. Those that received the garlic showed no cancer development, but those who weren't fed garlic showed at least some.

Garlic is a great herb for many other things too. It helps regulate the body's blood pressure; so whether you have problems with low or high blood pressure, garlic may help equalize it.

Garlic also helps strengthen your body's defenses against allergies; helps loosen plaque from the artery walls; helps regulate your blood sugar levels; and is the best choice for killing and expelling parasites such as pin worms from the human body.

In addition to having all these health benefits, garlic, like most herbs, is packed with vitamins and nutrients. Some of these include protein, potassium, Vitamins A, B, B2 and C, calcium, zinc and many others.

Garlic is very cheap to buy at grocery stores, and in its raw form it's also the best for your body.

Below are two natural home remedies that involve garlic:

1. For sore throats: Put a small slice of garlic in your mouth and suck on it for 10-15 minutes. You can put it between your teeth and cheek, then scratch it with your teeth a little to help stimulate juice from the garlic slice. This juice slides down your throat and may help with the pain.

2. For ear infections: Wrap a small piece of garlic in tissue, then insert into the ear. Leave there overnight if possible. This may relieve the pain and even reduce the duration of the ear infection.