Does a statement like “Brand X contains an equivalent of 1000mg of fresh garlic” tell you anything?

It depends! This type of statement aims to highlight the ‘strength’ or the potency of the product. But most of the time it only tells you one side of the story; the important information to look for is Allicin (expressed in mcg or mg). 1000mg of fresh garlic does not mean the product contains 1000 mg of Allicin, in fact, water makes up 65% of fresh garlic. Always read the product label. Of the many commercially available preparations, Allicin powder extract is the only stable Allicin extract that is ready to used by the body directly.

What should I look for in a garlic supplement?

There are a few important considerations to note when choosing a garlic product. First of all, it is important to make sure that the product provides a sufficient level of Allicin. Since Allicin is not actually in the product at all, manufacturers often refer to the Allicin potential or Allicin yield. These terms suggest the amount of Allicin produced when allinase is activated in the garlic tablet or powder, but several indpendent studies have confirmed that this process is highly inefficient, yielding only a very small fraction of the claimed yield/potential in reality at best.

Allicin powder extracts are a much better choice because they are the only ones to deliver a standardized amount of Allicin that is stable and can be used directly by the body.

Such products are becoming more commonplace now and are set to take over, where the traditional garlic supplements left off, as they are the first garlic products to actually deliver a replicable therapeutic benefit.

Why do so many garlic products fail to deliver Allicin?

Dr. Larry D. Lawson, a respected researcher, discovered that there were basically two major problems. First of all, many of the garlic products contained little allinase activity, an enzyme needed to convert alliin into alicin. As a result, the level of Allicin formed was also low. Next, Dr. Lawson found that many of the tablets contained excipients (e.g., binders and fillers) that actually inhibit/block allinase activity. In a study, Dr. Lawson found that the allinase activity in the vast majority of the brands studied was less than 10% of expected activity. The inability to release an effective dose of Allicin would explain why so many of the studies with garlic supplements failed to show benefit in lowering cholesterol or blood pressure. Therefore, garlic supplements that require allinase to convert alliin into Allicin in the body are not an ideal solution!