Some years back I was very run-down getting repeated throat infections. My doctor suggested that I take high dose vitamin C tables (500mg) this seemed to do the trick. You could try this, but it may be worth seeing your doctor first to make sure there are no under-lying conditions which need to be looked at. The garlic is very good at combating infections. I don't think I would take it raw. I have taken capsules which are supposed not to repeat on you, but I could still taste it. If you do take lots of it, you will begin to taste/smell of it, however, this is supposed to put biting insects off of biting you! If you have a partner, I think you should both follow the same eating routine for obvious reasons.
I think you need a good varied diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables to help you along, and make sure that you get plenty of relaxation, and not too much alcohol.
I hope you are feeling better soon.

A friend of mine use to eat raw garlic crushed in a teaspoon of honey throughout winter to avoid colds. And yes - you could smell it!:022:

It also tastes very strange and burns your tongue! you can buy odourless garlic casules.

there are other foods that are of equal or better benefit for boosting your immune system, for example beetroot. This you eat raw, or cooked freshley, as a great believer in beetroot I have over the years developed a great deal of receipes using it raw and cooked - (even put a receipe for beetroot cake on here) grated beetroot, with raw garlic and red cabbage is a favourite, raw garlic can be a bit anti-social, so if you are going out - in that case eat parsley.

If I think I am going to get a cold I will eat raw garlic. What I do is is crush it and make a cheese and tomatoe sandwich with it in. It takes away the sting to a certain degree. With luck it will ward it off.

I have heard if you take out the little green bit in the middle of the clove it is supposed to stop the smell on your breath.

I also take on a daily basis a rounded teaspoon of ascorbic acid (vit C) to help my immune system.

I have far less colds than I used to when I was younger which I put down to obviously healthy eating but using things such as garlic and supplements. I do get caught out occasionally but nowhere near as often as I used to.

Some years back I was very run-down getting repeated throat infections. My doctor suggested that I take high dose vitamin C tables (500mg) this seemed to do the trick. .

this is worth a try as 500mg will not cause the potential problems of kidbey stones or diaorreah associated with vit C mega doses and will not cost a great deal; however, the evidence from clinical trials to suggest that high does of vit C help prevent infections is very poor. there is eveidence, though, that high doses can reduce the severity and longevity of infections (esp URTIs) once you have them.

alex.

eating raw garlic is brilliant. Good for your immune system, your heart and blood, keeps mosquitos away. But it will keep humans away if they don't like the smell.

Hi

I agree that raw garlic seems to help me stay free from colds and infections. After I have come into contact with people who are ill, I will always put plenty of raw crushed garlic on my meals and take several doses of echinacea.

I know many people dismiss both of these, but there is some research to back up the claims.

For example as I understand it the active ingredient in garlic is allicin, which has antibacterial,antiparasitic, antifungal and antiviral activities*1

I have heard (I will have to search to check this) that the effectiveness of the allicin content is destroyed if the garlic is heated, or left exposed to oxygen for long. So eating it freshly crushed is the way to go.

Although I am also aware of at least one study*2 that has shown that garlic capsules that contain allicin significantly reduced the number of colds experienced by the treatment group when compared with a placebo group.

*1 Microbes and Infection, Volume 1, Issue 2, February 1999, Pages 125-129, Antimicrobial properties of allicin from garlic, Serge AnkriCorresponding Author Contact Information and David Mirelman, Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

*2 Advances in Therapy,Volume 18, Number 4 / July, 2001, 189-193, Preventing the common cold with a garlic supplement: A double-blind, placebo-controlled survey, Peter Josling

ddi you know that during the plague lots died but the two men who had the job of picking up dead bodies survived as they ate raw garlic interesting that.

I eat garlic every week ( cooked) to use it as antibiotics because I have got mild aortic stenosis and trouble with teeth .

Amethystfairy:)

Echinecea, Vit C and Garlic.. Brilliant for preventing colds/flu/infections

Also Manuka Honey!

Garlic is brilliant for lowering cholesterol as well

There's one thing worse than my husband's snoring - and thats snoring after he's had raw garlic in an evening cheese sandwich (yeh I know...)

Can't comment on his immune function - but one thing he does get is earache :rolleyes:

historically people have eaten parsley to counter the smell of garlic, it has limited effect, Broken basil leaves will do a better job with the breath problems but wont help with the smell that emits from the sweat glands quite as much.
BGFL

We all eat garlic it in our family so the smell is not an issue. I only find I notice the smell on others when I have not had any. They can probably smell it on me, but its only an issue when I'm going to get close to people who hate it.

Raw garlic staves off any cold

Have just started taking raw garlic when I start to feel run down....I crush it up into little pieces, swallow quickly with water and then have a few bites of something sweet! then i can breathe clearly through both nostrils almost immediately (usually one is always a bit blocked), and I feel good again and quite energised as garlic is a stimulant....best to have it raw rather than cooked or in capsules which destroys the enzymes

I would imagine swallowing the peeled clove whole, or in half would leave less in the mouth to produce bad breath from there....?

I would also imagine taking it in the evening would limit the bad breath to any long suffereing other half you might have

I believe the allicin is only released when crushed - so if you are after its antibacterial properties it needs to be crushed. One way of eating it is in a small sandwich of buttered wholemeal bread, if you are not too keen on the taste or smell. As for 'garlic breath', this seems to be a necessary side-effect but it actually doesn't matter what time of day it is taken - and fresh parsley seems to be a reasonable antidote. So maybe a parsley and garlic sandwich?

Michael Murray lists the functions of garlic as for cancer-prevention, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, CVD, infections and worms, even dealing with some bacteria resistant to some antibiotics. Some claims! but all well referenced.

Cooked garlic is less potent, as are most pill forms, but there are now capsules that are less odoriferous that supply a pharmaceutical dose of necessary ingredients. See Healing Power of Herbs by M T Murray.

If it helps, I have found that frozen raw garlic is a lot easier to take than fresh. I buy it in packs int he supermarket which have long bars of crushed/pureed garlic in them (I mean, goodness knows what type of cooking they expect you to be doing to want to use a whole or even a half bar!) and I now semi thaw it and chop the bars into cubes which must be equivalent to a clove or two each. When I feel the need to eat some raw I simply pop a cube in my mouth and down it with some water. Because its so cold your tongue doesn't have time to register the taste. Not sure if its any better for the garlic breath though!