6 Harmful Effects of Eating Garlic to Excess

Last Updated on February 5, 2021

Garlic is a widely used ingredient all over the world for very good reasons; not only does it enhances the flavor of thousands of different dishes and makes everything even tastier, but it also offers a wide range of health benefits. In fact, garlic has been used as traditional medicine since ancient times.  However, that doesn’t mean that you should eat a dozen cloves of garlic first thing in the morning. Eating too much of it can do more harm than good – especially too much raw garlic on an empty stomach. But before discussing its harmful side effects, let’s quickly remind you what some of the benefits of garlic are. • Boosts the immune system: garlic supplements are very popular in the winter, when the immune system needs to be in perfect shape to fight viruses and bacteria such as the common cold. • Controls diabetes: according to medical experts, there’s a chance that garlic may reduce pre-meal blood sugar levels – especially in people with diabetes. • Reduces blood pressure: garlic can be really effective at reducing blood pressure, especially in people with hypertension. An observational study published in the Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences back in 2013 concluded that garlic supplements can be just as effective as prescription drugs, such as Atenolol. • Lowers the risk of heart disease: besides reducing blood pressure and keeping blood sugar levels under control, this ingredient can also help you manage cholesterol levels. Garlic appears to lower bad cholesterol levels (LDL) while having no noticeable effect on good cholesterol. By helping you control these two major risk factors, garlic can significantly lower the risk of heart disease. 6 harmful side effects of garlic Eating raw garlic every day is not for everyone due to its strong and intense flavor. Nevertheless, there are still many people who do it because they want to enjoy all the health benefits mentioned earlier. But overeating garlic (especially in its raw form) can have the opposite effect and harm your organism. Let’s see exactly how:

6. Bad breath

This is perhaps the most obvious one – and if you ever had to smell the breath of a person who just ate a clove of garlic, you know exactly what we are talking about. Sometimes it doesn’t go away even after brushing the teeth twice in a row. The so-called garlic breath is so particularly unpleasant that a group of researchers decided to investigate the mechanism behind this smell. The study, published in the American Journal of Physiology, found that when you eat garlic, you produce several gases that contain sulfur. One of those gases, known as AMS (allyl methyl sulfide), comes from the gut and not from the mouth, and it is the main responsible for that horrific and persistent smell that comes out of your mouth after you eat it.