Garlic & Health

Introduction

Consumption of garlic may contribute to the prevention of cancer and cardio-vascular diseases.  These diseases are by far the leading causes of death and morbidity in the EU. Increasing garlic consumption and improving the content of the active compounds, may therefore lower the annual costs of these diseases, which are estimated to be many millions of Euros.
The European growers of garlic may also benefit from increased garlic consumption, especially through growing improved  garlic varieties with increased health promoting capacities.

Traditional medicine

Garlic has been used for a long time as food with many therapeutic effects. In spite of this, few scientific studies have investigated the mechanisms of these effects. There is a crucial lack in studies in which well defined garlic preparations and compounds are used. The studies so far indicate that the sulphur containing flavour compounds of the garlic plant are the major component of the health promoting effects.

New perspectives

Modern pharmaceutical and genetic techniques may allow an effective study of the underlying mechanisms and the development of improved garlic types. Therefore, the European Union has financed a research project on the development of high quality garlic and on the influence of garlic consumption on biomarkers of atherosclerosis and cancer. The project is financed within the framework of the European research programme ‘Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources’, Key action 1: Food, Nutrition and Health. The project started in 2000 and has a running time of four years. The EU funding covers in total some four million Euros.

Agro economy

The production of garlic (Allium sativum L.) in Europe is concentrated in Mediterranean countries such as Spain, France and Italy. The market price of European garlic is high, especially in comparison with the garlic grown in China. This price difference could severely threaten the European garlic growers if there was a free market in Europe for garlic. However, to protect the European garlic growers the European Commission issued a regulation in 1993 that only 12000 tons of Chinese garlic can be imported annually.

The garlic and health project therefore aims to develop methods, through improved seed technology and genetics, which will enable European garlic growers to meet the internal demand for high quality products and to compete on an international level.

Improved garlic varieties will be among the concrete products of the project. For this, genetic variation and the genetic background of the production of the active compounds will be studied and new breeding technologies will be developed and applied.

Targeting health benefits