By now, you probably have heard that garlic has numerous health benefits. These benefits include decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, improving immunity, helping you live longer, and detoxifying the body.
There are numerous compounds in garlic which are responsible for these health benefits, but researchers have pinpointed one in particular for its outstanding health benefits: allicin. Unfortunately though, getting the health benefits of allicin isn’t as easy as popping a garlic supplement.
What Is Allicin?
If an animal is attacked, it can fight or flee. Plants can’t do this, so instead they’ve evolved others ways of protecting themselves from dangers — and one way is evolving to contain strong, protecting chemicals. The allicin in garlic is one of the most effective examples of this. Allicin protects the garlic plant from infection and pests.
Here is how it works:
Garlic doesn’t normally contain allicin. However, if the garlic plant is injured in some way – such as getting chopped up with your kitchen knife – a chemical reaction starts to occur.
The enzyme allinase converts alliin (a derivative of the amino acid cysteine) into allicin. It is allicin which gives garlic its strong aroma. This strong aroma keeps pests away, and also has antibacterial and antifungal properties to protect the plant from infection.
Let’s say that a strain of fungi starts attacking garlic. The garlic then releases allicin, which kills the fungi. Botany is pretty cool, huh?1
Health Benefits of Allicin
In the same way that allicin can protect garlic from threats, it can also protect us. Numerous studies have been performed on allicin, particularly for treating bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.
Here are just some of the studied health benefits of allicin:
- Fighting infections
- Reducing cholesterol
- Reducing high blood pressure
- Boosting immunity
- Reducing inflammation
- Fighting cancer
- Thinning blood
- Antioxidant
- Treating acne
- Reducing exercise-related muscle soreness 3, 4, 5
Allicin As an Alternative to Antibiotics
One of the most exciting benefits of allicin is that it is a natural alternative to antibiotics. Remember how I said that garlic forms allicin to prevent infection when the plant is damaged? Well, it can fight off infections in our bodies too.
Why wouldn’t you just take a pharmaceutical antibiotic for infection?
There are a lot of reasons not to take antibiotics, like antibiotic resistance or their high cost. But, for me, the biggest risk of antibiotics is that they disrupt your gut flora.
Disruption in gut flora (gut flora dysbiosis) is linked to severe health problems including IBS, SIBO, and even obesity and mental health disorders!
It is no wonder that hospitals are now buying allicin to put on feeding tubes, catheters, etc. as a means of preventing infection!6
I personally used an allicin supplement (Allimed) for fighting my bad case of SIBO. You can read about herbal alternatives to antibiotics for SIBO here.
Here are just some of the other infections that allicin may help treat:
- Antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
- Thrush
- MRSA
- Cold Sores
- Psoriasis
- Sore Throat
- E-coli
- Threadworms
- UTIs6, 7
FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been approved by the FDA. Always consult your doctor before taking any herbal remedy or natural treatment!
So, Should I Start Eating Raw Garlic to Get Allicin?
Garlic has a lot of health benefits but, if it is allicin you are after, eating lots of raw garlic isn’t exactly a good solution. Aside from the obvious smelly breath problem, you’d have to eat a LOT of garlic to get significant amounts of allicin – and your body wouldn’t absorb it anyway.
Amount of Allicin in Raw Garlic
A single garlic clove has about 5 to 18mg of allicin.5 In the studies which found health benefits of allicin, much higher amounts of allicin were used.
For example, in this study on the antimalarial potential of allicin, rats (it is hard to find allicin studies with human subjects; most are on lab animals or in vitro) were given 5 to 8 mg of allicin per kilogram of body weight.
In human terms, that means around 400 to 640 mg of allicin per day – or around 45 garlic gloves per day!
Allicin in Raw Garlic Isn’t Absorbed
Allinase is inactivated by the stomach’s pH. Thus, if you eat garlic in hopes of getting allicin, the allinase will just be destroyed before any significant amount of allicin can be produced.
For example, in one study, subjects were given 25 grams of raw garlic. Their blood and urine were checked in the 1 to 24 hours afterwards and no significant amounts of allicin or its transformation products were found. This suggests that allicin in raw garlic is not bioavailable.
That’s disappointing, but you probably weren’t going to eat 45+ cloves of garlic per day anyway! 😉
Oh, and btw… Raw Garlic Might Wreak Havoc on Your Gut…
If you have SIBO, IBS, or fructose intolerance, your body might react badly to garlic because it contains FODMAPs. You can read more about FODMAPs here.
Allicin doesn’t contain the FODMAPs part of garlic, so it is safe to consume even if you have those conditions. Of course, check with your doctor first!
What about Garlic Supplements for Allicin?
A seemingly easier way to get allicin is to take a garlic supplement. There are plenty of these on the market, but don’t be too quick to think they’ll provide you with allicin.
Remember, allicin is only produced when garlic is damaged and the enzyme allinase converts alliin into allicin. Once allicin is produced, it quickly starts to deteriorate into sulfur-containing compounds such as diallyl disulfide.
According to the Linus Pauling Institute, the half-life of allicin in crushed garlic is only 2.5 days. So, it is no wonder that studies have shown that garlic supplements contain no allicin. 9
Let’s repeat that:
Garlic supplements contain ZERO allicin!
Here’s where things get a little confusing. Garlic supplements do contain allinase and alliin (the precursors to allicin). If the garlic supplement is enterically coated, it can get to the small intestine (which has a more-neutral pH) without being damaged. The alliin can then be converted into allicin for the body to use.10
Unfortunately, this doesn’t solve the problem that little allicin is being produced in the first place. Lots of garlic supplements like to boast their “allicin yield” or “allicin potential” but these labels are often inaccurate or misleading. The allicin yield is tested in pH-neutral environments which are not representative of the stomach or even small intestine.11
A Reliable Allicin Supplement?
I’m not going to leave you hanging! Yes, there actually is an allicin supplement that I can feel confident recommending. It is called Allimed in the United States and it is the one I used for treating SIBO.
Unlike other allicin supplements, Allimed is made from stabilized allicin known as Allisure. Allisure won’t be broken down by GI acids and can actually be absorbed into the body. Allimed has been around for over a decade now and has been used in numerous tests and achieved great results.
***You can learn more about Allimed here.***
***You can buy Allimed here.***
Have you ever tried using allicin as an alternative to antibiotics? How did it work for you? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments section below!
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I just started Allimed for SIBO today and have way excessive and smelly flatulence as well as throat irritation.
Hello. I am older and suffer from c Difficile. I have SIBO and ver bad. I read about Allicin and decided to purchase Allimed. I dose 2 pills per meal. It works. I have been miserable for years and it began working in 2 days! Can I take this as a maintenance drug regularly? Thanks.
I have a recurring ear infection and the last time (February – April 2020) I needed 4 runs of amoxycillin to get rid of it, but it still came back a few weeks later. So I started eating a head of raw garlic twice a day and it went away after a few weeks. I reduced the garlic to a head a day afterwards and kept eating more or less a head a day over the rest of the year. But now the infection came back (December 2020) again and for a week I have increased the garlic to a head of raw garlic three times a day and it is much better. It should be gone in another couple of weeks or so. Also I used to have a fungus infection under two toenails, but the garlic got rid of that over the last year also. Raw garlic alone is very good and cheap. I mix it in the blender with the juice from a lime and a cup of water, with a tablespoon of raw sugar added to reduce the burning. I blend it and let it st a few minutes to let the air react and then belend it again a couple of times to let the air react with it before drinking.
did you even read the article? eating cloves isn’t a good solution
hello! do you think someone with garlic intolerance could take allicin for sibo-c? oregano is just not agreeing with me and im afraid to take antibiotics. im not sure which garlic compund (allicin,sulfur etc) they are testing at a food intolerance test. thank you!
Hi Sylvie, I wish I read this before but I actually purchased ALLICIN MAX for MRSA, is it as good as ALLIMED?
Yes, it’s actually the same thing. Same parent company. Both contain Allisure. The Allicin Max box even says so on the back. So no worries.
Dear Sylvie, I’m disappointed that you have ignored the questions on acacia powder. I’d be terrified to take this. Pamela
Hi Pamela, You really need to consult a doctor. Sorry to disappoint but as a (free to you) website that provides (free to you) information in my free time there is only so much I can do. I speak for me and every other blogger when I say please consult a doctor (and please pay them for their time) Cheers!
take the liquid then
I’m surprised to see gum acacia on the product label; I thought all gums are to be avoided with SIBO? And I intuitively feel resistance to the maltodextrin for the same reason. I have high levels of both Hydrogen and Methane bacteria, did a strict 3-month SIBO specific diet and 2 weeks of Neomyicin and Rifaxamin, and the the bacteria is still here. I’m going to liberalize my diet somewhat by following Dr Siebecker’s SIBO/SCD Diet combined with herbal antibiotics for my next attempt at non-beneficial bacteria eradication. I definitely want to use an allicin product, but am concerned about the gum acacia and matodextrin. Would love your insight/reassurance for this. Thank you!!
Hi Amy- please consult your doctor but FYI the Allimed/Allimax we link to here is the exact same one that Dr Siebecker recommends.
Is this safe for kids?
I have been trying for years to ask sibo practioners why they all recommend Allimed but no one will answer me. It contains acacia which is like sudden for sibo sufferers. Any other product you could recommend that doesn’t contain this prebiotic? Thanks Pamela
Hi Sylvie,
Thank you for all of your information. It’s greatly appreciated. Did you ever get nausea while taking Allimed? Did you take it with food? Also, which brand of elemental diet did you use? Was curious. I bought the Physicians Elemental but have not started it yet. Working up on the Allimax as I can only tolerate smaller amounts of the drops. Thanks for all your info. Methane positive and using SCD & Low Fodmap for now. With low histamine diet.
Hello,
Nice and informative article. However animal study dosing does not translate to human dosing. E.g. a 70 kg human will not need 7 grams of something which has a mouse dose of 100 mg/kg. Actually, rodents have very different metabolism and body-surface indices. A good starting point is to divide mice dose by 12, rat dose by 6. That means just 40-90 mg of allicin instead 400-600 mg mentioned in the article. And as biology and molecular pathways are tricky, the more is not necessary better. Many pathways are actually got feedback mechanisms, so higher dose have reverse or no effect.
More about the guide for dose conversions from in vivo to human: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804402/bin/JBCP-7-27-g002.jpg
Am really looking for a cure for ringworm under my nose tried creams non is working. I don’t want tablets as the side effects are really bad. Will try 45 pcs of raw garlic in my food. .. l been putting garlic on it very painful but it’s getting cured after 3 weeks… am so desperate
Hello! I did a science experiment on which substances were the most effective at eliminating bacteria, and garlic eliminated more than any other substance! This website really helped me explain WHY it killed so much. Before, I had no idea – now I know practically everything!
Sylvie,
I have had UTI’s at least every other month for 18 months and on antibiotics at lease 3 weeks per month for 4 months. I sometimes could go a week but most of the time the bacteria changed before I was finished with the previous antibiotic. My bladder Dr says take probiotics everyday and I will not need antibiotics. He was right. I am now UTI free for 2 months. That is a great feat for me. I am not a believer in probiotics.
Awesome!
For the last 10 days I have been taking 3 x 450mg Allimed per day for my SIBO-C together with Iberogast herbals and so far it has done absolutely nothing for me. Fresh garlic on the other hand at least gives me a bowel movement. My conclusion so far is that Allimed is a complete waste of money.
Tony did you test before and after? If so what was the impact on your Hydrogen and Methane levels after 10 days?
A study concluded the following after some of its participants ate 1 clove of garlic every day for a certain amount of time:
In conclusion we found that crushed garlic (chewed) reduced total cholesterol, triglyceride, MDA (lipid peroxidation) and blood pressure that have important role in cardiovascular disease. Therefore garlic consumption can prevent this disease.
How do you reconcile what you are saying in your post and the results of this study?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1173136/
Allimax is really a saviour! I had stubborn thrush for one whole year and it stopped completely after a month plus of dosage. I had 1080mg for 6 weeks, then 720mg for 3 weeks, 360mg for 2 weeks and now just 180mg for maintenance. Few months ago I had to take chicken pox vaccine (live virus) so I decided to stop allicin for 1 week in case the antibodies can’t form. After that week I had thrush and UTI (Klebsiella)! I quickly up my dosage of allicin to 1080mg for 2 weeks, within a week my UTI was gone (I took dipstick to check for nitrate color change) and thrush disappear a week after too. It cannot be a coincidence! I did not take any other medications for thrush and UTI, just allicin. Also, I think it helped me stay flu-free for more than a year now! I should be a good living example of how allicin helped my life!
Is this the same Allicin that is the one Dr. Siebecker recommends (made by Allimax?)
Deb, the one that Dr. Siebecker recommends is the exact one we link to.
Thanks for this very helpful information. Any thoughts on difference between Allimed and Allimax?
Do you have any articles on yeast overgrowth? I loved your presentation at the SIBO Summit
Hi Jennifer,
Glad you liked it! I haven’t specifically written on yeast overgrowth yet but will add it to the list of things to tackle in future articles. 🙂
Cheers,
Sylvie
We have used claimed to treat stubborn viruses and bacteria with far better success than with antibiotics. I also use it for that ache all over feeling.
Do you mean Allimed, Pat? I’m guessing that auto-corrected above or was it something else you used? 🙂