allium sativum

Garlic is a panacea for all the ills. It is an invaluable medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia as well as having potent actions to support respiratory and digestive health.

Many medicinal plants and plant preparations were found in the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Garlic bulbs were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Hot water extracts from garlic bulbs mixed with honey were a European folk remedy for whooping cough and intestinal worms.

In Pakistan, a garlic extract is traditionally taken orally for illness of the stomach, to treat coughs and reduce fever. In Nepal, East Asia and the Middle East, garlic has traditionally been used to treat fevers and a variety of illnesses associated with the digestive system and lungs (14).

Herbal actions describe therapeutic changes that occur in the body in response to taking a herb. These actions are used to express how a herb physiologically influences cells, tissues, organs or systems. Clinical observations are traditionally what have defined these actions: an increase in urine output, diuretic; improved wound healing, vulnerary; or a reduction in fever, antipyretic. These descriptors too have become a means to group herbs by their effects on the body — herbs with a nervine action have become the nervines, herbs with a bitter action are the bitters. Recognising herbs as members of these groups provides a preliminary familiarity with their mechanisms from which to then develop an understanding of their affinities and nuance and discern their clinical significance.