Why You Should Never Throw Away Sprouted Garlic
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Experience: 4 yearsJyotsana Rao is an engineering graduate from NIT, Nagpur, who discovered her love for writing during her undergraduate days. She is passionate about writing about everything related to beauty - makeup... more
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Whenever we see garlic sprouting, what do we do? We throw it away thinking that it’s of no use now. Many believe that it is poisonous, just like apricot and apple seeds. The medical community denies this rumor. Instead, it supports the fact that sprouted garlic is not only great when it comes to cooking, but it has many health benefits too.
According to a study by Korea’s Institue of Planning and Evaluation for Technology, the antioxidant properties present in sprouted garlic are more powerful than those in fresh and unsprouted garlic.
Raw or unsprouted garlic contains antioxidants such as allicin, alliin, and allyl disulfide. Sprouted garlic is more matured and produces these antioxidants at greater levels.
Mentioned below are a few health benefits of sprouted garlic as per the studies of Dr. Mercola:
- It lowers the risk of stroke.
- It also reduces the risk of heart diseases, including heart attack.
- It prevents cancer.
- The consumption of sprouted garlic reduces cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
- It is also effective against drug-resistant bacteria.
Due to its versatility in dealing with so many health issues, sprouted garlic is considered to be a superfood. These cloves of garlic also help in dealing with food poisoning and eliminate diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and other viral and fungal infections.
How Does Sprouted Garlic Helps In Preventing Cancer?
Dr. Jongsang Kim explains, “Plants are very sensitive to bacteria attacks, viruses, and insects during sprouting. This causes them to produce different chemicals called phytoalexins, which enable the plants to defend themselves. Most of them are toxic to microorganisms and insects, but beneficial to human health.”
Thus, when garlic begins to sprout, the amount of phytoalexins increases, and when consumed, they help the body in eliminating viruses, bacteria, and free radicals that can cause harm to the body.
So, now that you know the benefits of those green shoots on the bulbs of garlic, the next time you go to the supermarket to buy garlic, choose the older ones instead of the fresh ones. This simple move can protect you from various health problems.
