Garlic has been used to fight off vampires and unwanted kisses, but now a study has shown it might prevent cancer, a researcher from Ohio State said.
A pilot study was conducted to see if different amounts of garlic stopped the formation of cancer-causing agents, said Earl Harrison, a professor of human nutrition.
Scientists have been interested in garlic for awhile.
Harrison’s group worked on the analysis part of the study. They looked at urine samples and compared the amount of garlic subjects ate against the cancer-causing agents.
By measuring compounds in urine, scientists can determine how much garlic was eaten.
The people who were given more garlic had fewer possible carcinogens in their urine, he said.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was the method Harrison’s group used to analyze the urine, and it worked in a way similar to a Breathalyzer test.
Researchers gave control group participants a placebo, garlic or vitamin C, and the experimental subjects were given garlic.
Both groups received a nitrate formula that used the same process a cancer-causing formula might.
Nitrosoproline, which does not cause cancer, was used in place of nitrosamines, which might cause cancer, because both use the same process to form, Harrison said.
Nitrates, which are used as a preservative in many foods, such as bacon, are harmless. However, they can turn into nitrites, which have been shown to turn into nitrosamines.
To be sure, garlic has not been proven to prevent cancer because of the study’s small sample size, Harrison said.
No food has been proven to prevent cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute Web site.
The study used vitamin C, which has been found to fight cancer, as a positive control, or comparison to garlic. Vegetables containing nitrates are not shown to cause cancer because they contain vitamin C, which blocks the process, according to the study.
Garlic and vitamin C showed similar results.
Five grams of garlic had the same effect as a half gram of vitamin C, the amount given to some test subjects, according to the study.
“People have studied this issue before, whether garlic has an effect on cancer,” said Harrison, an investigator in OSU’s Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Other fruits and vegetables might fight cancer.
Researchers have found that tomatoes might prevent prostate cancer. Also, red, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables might have cancer-fighting properties because of the pigments, Harrison said.
But more research still needs to be done.
It is not certain why garlic, vitamin C or any other fruits or vegetables fight cancer. Researchers are working to find out why, he said.
The rate of people being diagnosed with cancer in the United States has fallen along with the amount of people dying from cancer since 1975. Ohio has followed national trends, according to the National Cancer Institute Web site.
Harrison and his colleagues came from several organizations.
Harrison, who was the study’s senior author, worked on it with researchers from Penn State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Cancer Institute, according to the study.
The study was published in the journal Analytical Biochemistry.
The National Institutes of Health and an interagency agreement between the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture paid for the study, which cost $200,000, Harrison said.
Harrison and his colleagues do not plan to duplicate the study.
However, he said other groups are also looking at garlic as a form of cancer prevention.
