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Home Remedies: Garlic is good for you
By DANETTE M. WATT
For The Telegraph
ALTON - Narine Sargsyan is no stranger to using vegetables as a source for healthy living.
A member of the Community Supported Garden at La Vista in Godfrey for the past two years, Sargsyan enjoys the fresh, full flavors of the garden's organic produce from spring through late fall.
But she knows there are other uses for the vegetables. As a girl in Armenia, Sargsyan used to read home remedy books and said the practice is common there. She carried that practice to the United States when
she moved here in 2000.
"Our grandmas used to keep a clove of peeled garlic in their pockets in fall and spring to prevent viral infections, such as the flu. Rubbing the nostrils with the cut side of a garlic, clove can .help prevent
(the illness). Sprinkling ground cinnamon or cloves in your coffee works too," Sargsyan said.
Scientists are beginning to understand - and broadcast - the benefits of garlic, including lowering blood pressure, raising the HDL, or "good," cholesterol levels and reducing the risk of stomach cancer.
Garlic's anti-tumor, anticancer benefits are derived from allyl sulfides found in members of the onion family; These sulfides help reduce the production of certain enzymes that convert cancercausing precursors into
their active form.
"The active compounds in garlic work in three ways: They stop changes from occurring in a cell's DNA, kill already-changed cells and stop the cell from growing more DNA-altered cells,". Sargsyan said.
Another benefit to eating garlic is that it helps to reduce plaque buildup in the arterial system. Sargsyan recommends a daily clove of garlic, chopped and swallowed with water, like a pill. Swallowing the garlic,
rather than chewing it, she said, is what helps prevent the bad breath so often associated with garlic.
Sargsyan was a family physician in Armenia and is studying to take her medical board exams in the U.S. She hopes to be licensed to practice general medicine in a few years.
After arriving in the States, Sargsyan did a lot of research on organic foods and their health benefits. She said one reason doctors don't prescribe home remedies here is because Western culture doesn't promote it.
And most people don't use them or ask about them because home remedies aren't a "quick fix."
For instance, curing bronchitis or an asthma-like cough that comes from deeper in the lungs might take a week of drinking a mixture of fresh juiced carrots and warm milk. The mixture acts as an expectorant and is a
good antibacterial agent.
"You can't cure someone with a home remedy if what they have is an acute disease such as asthma exacerbation, but home remedies may be able to cut their medications in half," Sargsyan said. In her practice,
Sargsyan blends natural remedies with antibiotics and other medical procedures such as x-rays.
A healthy lifestyle may help prevent or alleviate many health-related problems, and consuming organic vegetables can be an important part of that lifestyle. Sargsyan said that's one reason why she likes being a
member of La Vista.
"Pesticides and nitrates enter our bodies and change our DNA. Eating organic is a choice," she said. "And there is no comparison between the vitamins from fresh vegetable juices and those from a
multivitamin."
Sargsyan recently presented "Natural Cures/Home Remedies" at the La Vista Barn in Godfrey.
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