A Historical Review of Garlic as Medicinal Plant and Antioxidant in Modern Perspective

Abstract

Over the ages, garlic has been regarded as a medicinal herb. Most historians date its origin to the Tienghan Mountain area of western China. According to the historical sources, the Sumerians were already using garlic to heal patients as early as 2100-2600 BC and probably contributed to its introduction into China, which later propagated to Korea and Japan. Garlic is commonly said to have been one of the earliest plants to be domesticated as a result of this profound antiqueness and early domestication. Modern research has elucidated the antioxidant ability of garlic since the 1980s. Its constituents neutralize reactive oxygen species and aid cellular glutathione in preventing lipid peroxidation and safeguarding major, such as proteins and DNA, against oxidative damage. Other data indicate cardiometabolic improvements, including the reduction of serum cholesterol and fibrinolytic activity. The historical applications of garlic and the current evidence of the antioxidant activities of garlic are united in this review. PubMed, Google Scholar, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), PakMediNet, and the ScienceDirect sources were used to identify sources.