The original herb may have come from the high plains of a west-central Asian desert, but it evolved to its current form under the husbandry of humans. For at least 5,000 years, since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and even before the earliest Chinese dynasties, people have used garlic as medicine. In central Europe in ancient and medieval times, peasants wore necklaces of garlic cloves to keep away vampires and other evils. It is used in China as a preventive for colds and a folk remedy for dysentery. It is even administered as a juice in enemas to kill intestinal parasites.
People weren t just using it in flights of fancy.
They knew it was beneficial. In the last few decades, more than 1,000 scientific papers have been published on garlic and related herbs of the Allium family. These studies provide strong although not conclusive scientific evidence that garlic has extraordinary medicinal powers. Garlic seems to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels, dilate blood vessels, and thin the blood, all of which lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke. It s believed to kill harmful bacteria in the stomach and protect against gastric cancer.