5 PROVEN HEALTH BENEFITS OF GARLIC.

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”
Those are famous words from the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, often called the father of Western medicine.

He actually used to prescribe garlic to treat a variety of medical conditions.

Well… modern science has recently confirmed many of these beneficial health effects.

Here are 11 health benefits of garlic that are supported by human research studies.

1. Garlic Contains a Compound Called Allicin, Which Has Potent Medicinal Properties

Garlic is a plant in the Allium (onion) family.
It is closely related to onions, shallots and leeks.
It grows in many parts of the world and is a popular ingredient in cooking due to its strong smell and delicious taste.

However, throughout ancient history, the main use of garlic was for its health and medicinal properties
Its use was well documented by all the major civilizations… including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and the Chinese.

The entire “head” is called a garlic bulb, while each segment is called a clove. There are about 10-20 cloves in a single bulb, give or take.

We now know that most of the health effects are caused by one of the sulfur compounds formed when a garlic clove is chopped, crushed or chewed.

This compound is known as allicin, and is also responsible for the distinct garlic smell.
Allicin enters the body from the digestive tract and travels all over the body, where it exerts its potent biological effects (which we’ll get to in a bit).

2. Garlic Is Highly Nutritious, But Has Very Few Calories

Calorie for calorie, garlic is incredibly nutritious.
A 1 ounce (28 grams) serving of garlic contains (3):

• Manganese: 23% of the RDA.
• Vitamin B6: 17% of the RDA.
• Vitamin C: 15% of the RDA.
• Selenium: 6% of the RDA.
• Fiber: 0.6 gram.
• Decent amounts of calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin B1.

Garlic also contains trace amounts of various other nutrients. In fact, it contains a little bit of almost everything we need.

This is coming with 42 calories, with 1.8 grams of protein and 9 grams of carbs.

Bottom Line: Garlic is low in calories and very rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and Manganese. It also contains trace amounts of various other nutrients.

3. Garlic Can Combat Sickness, Including the Common Cold

Garlic supplementation is known to boost the function of the immune system.
One large 12-week study found that a daily garlic supplement reduced the number of colds by 63% compared with placebo.

The average length of cold symptoms was also reduced by 70%, from 5 days in placebo to just 1.5 days in the garlic group.

Another study found that a high dose of garlic extract (2.56 grams per day) can reduce the number of days sick with cold or flu by 61%
If you often get colds, then adding garlic to your diet could be incredibly helpful.

Bottom Line: Garlic supplementation helps to prevent and reduce the severity of common illnesses like the flu and common cold.

4. The Active Compounds in Garlic Can Reduce Blood Pressure

Cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes are the world’s biggest killers.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is one of the most important drivers of these diseases.
Human studies have found garlic supplementation to have a significant impact on reducing blood pressure in people with high blood pressure.

In one study, aged garlic extract at doses of 600-1,500 mg was just as effective as the drug Atenolol at reducing blood pressure over a 24 week period

Supplement doses must be fairly high to have these desired effects. The amount of allicin needed is equivalent to about four cloves of garlic per day.

5. Garlic Improves Cholesterol Levels, Which May Lower The Risk of Heart Disease

Garlic can lower Total and LDL cholesterol.
For those with high cholesterol, garlic supplementation appears to reduce total and/or LDL cholesterol by about 10-15%
Looking at LDL (the “bad”) and HDL (the “good”) cholesterol specifically, garlic appears to lower LDL but has no reliable effect on HDL
Garlic does not appear to lower triglyceride levels, another known risk factor for heart disease

Bottom Line: Garlic supplementation seems to reduce total and LDL cholesterol, particularly in those who have high cholesterol. HDL cholesterol and triglycerides do not seem to be affected. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

GARLIC:PLANTING, GROWING AND HARVESTING GARLIC.

Garlic is easy to grow and produces numerous bulbs after a long growing season. Plus, it’s frost tolerant! Here’s how to grow garlic in your garden.Beyond its intense flavor and culinary uses, “the stinking rose” is good in the garden as an insect repellent and has been used for centuries as a home remedy.

Planting

Garlic can be planted in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked, but fall planting is recommended for most gardeners. Plant in the fall and you’ll find that your bulbs are bigger and more flavorful when you harvest the next summer.

In areas that get a hard frost, plant garlic 6 to 8 weeks before that frost date. In southern areas, February or March is a better time to plant.

Break apart cloves from bulb a few days before planting, but keep the papery husk on each individual clove.

Plant cloves about one month before the ground freezes. 

Do not plant cloves from the grocery store. They may be unsuited varieties for your area, and most are treated to make their shelf life longer, making them harder to grow. Instead, get cloves from a mail order seed company or a local nursery.

Ensure soil is well-drained with plenty of organic matter. Select a sunny spot.

Place cloves 4 inches apart and 2 inches deep, in their upright position (the wide root side facing down and pointed end facing up).

In the spring, as warmer temperatures come, shoots will emerge through the ground.

Care

Northern gardeners should mulch heavily with straw for overwintering.

Mulch should be removed in the spring after the threat of frost has passed. (Young shoots can’t survive in temps below 20°F on their own. Keep them under cover.)

Cut off any flower shoots that emerge in spring. These may decrease bulb size.

Weeds should not be a problem until the spring. Weed as needed.

Garlic requires adequate levels of nitrogen. Fertilize accordingly, especially if you see yellowing leaves.

Water every 3 to 5 days during bulbing (mid-May through June).

A note on garlic scapes: Some folks love cooking the scapes (the tops of hardneck garlic). Whether you trim the scapes or let them keep growing is your preference. We like to stir fry scapes the way we cook green beans—similar, with a spicy kick!

Pests/Diseases

Garlic has very few problems with pests in the garden (in fact, its a natural pest repellent!), and also very few problems with the diseases that plague other veggies. White Rot is one concern, but you should also keep an eye out for the same pests that plague onions.

• White Rot is a fungus that may attack garlic in cool weather. Not much can be done to control or prevent that problem except rotating your crops and cleaning up the area after harvesting. The spores can live in the soil for many years. The fungus affects the base of the leaves and roots.

Harvest/Storage

Harvest time depends on when you plant, but the clue is to look for yellow tops. Harvest when the tops begin to yellow and fall over, before they are completely dry.

In Northern climates, harvesting will probably be in late July or August. In Southern climates, it will depend on your planting date.

Check the bulb size and wrapper quality; you don’t want the wrapper to disintegrate. Dig too early and the bulb will be immature. Discontinue watering.

To harvest, carefully lift the bulbs with a spade or garden fork. Pull the plants, carefully brush off the soil, and let them cure in an airy, shady spot for two weeks. We hang them upside down on a string in bunches of 4 to 6. Make sure all sides get good air circulation.

The bulbs are cured and ready to store when the wrappers are dry and papery and the roots are dry. The root crown should be hard, and the cloves can be cracked apart easily.

Once the garlic bulbs are dry, you can store them. Remove any dirt and trim off any roots or leaves. Keep the wrappers on—but remove the dirtiest wrappers.

Garlic bulbs may be stored individually with the tops removed, or the dried tops may be braided together to make a garlic braid to hang in the kitchen or storage room.

Bulbs should be stored in a cool (40 degrees F), dark, dry place, and can be kept in the same way for several months. Don’t store in your basement if it’s moist!

The flavor will increase as the bulbs are dried.

If you plan on planting garlic again next season, save some of your largest, best-formed bulbs to plant again in the fall. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

 

HEALTH BENEFITS OF BITTERLEAF.

This kind of leaf is very familiar to some people but others may not have any idea about this wonder leaf. Bitter-leaf can grow anywhere unlike other leaves that only grow in certain places and temperature. These leaves flourishes anywhere they grow. They add beauty to all places where they are present. The most distinctive characteristic of this plant is its bitterness. Every part of this plant is bitter starting from the leaves to its roots. The bitterness of this plant is actually good for the body. It has a lot of health benefits to people. The plant can remind people that life is not always sweet; it takes to taste bitterness before you can achieve sweetness. This plant is very useful in toning the vital organs of the body especially the liver and the kidney.

The liver is one of the most important organs of the body. It has a lot of vital functions that is needed for normal functioning of the whole system of the body. Without the liver all major process in the body will be paralyze. The liver is known as the largest organ inside the body. It has an approximate weight of 1-3 kg in an average adult individual. There are a lot of major functions that the liver should do every day and this includes the production of bile acid that helps in fat metabolism.

Without the liver fats will not be digested inside the body to be use as energy. Bitter-leaf can be very helpful in maintaining the livers optimum health to release bile acid every time people eat fatty foods. Another major function of the liver is the production of glycogen. Glycogen is stored energy that is release in times of low level of glucose especially for people who do fasting.

The liver should be well taken care of by using bitter-leaf. Once the liver is been damage it can’t be restored into its normal function. People with liver problems can boil a bitter-leaf and drink a glass of it every day.

Another very vital organ inside the body is the kidney. Kidney helps in the excretion of waste products inside the body. If the normal function of the kidney breakdown there will great huge problem inside the body. Bitter-leaf a natural herb that is useful in taking care of the kidney and the liver.

Diabetic patient can also use bitter-leaf as one of their medication to prevent high sugar level in the blood. It will not only lower the sugar level in the blood but also repair impaired pancreas. As you all know pancreas is the organ responsible for the production of insulin for glucose to reach each cell to use by the body as energy. Impaired pancreas does not release the right amount of insulin to maintain the right sugar level in the blood. Bitter-leaf is a real wonder of nature. You can take the benefit of this amazing plant by squeezing its leaves in ten litters of water. BY MARK PERRY.

TEN HEALTH BENEFITS OF PUMPKIN LEAVES(UGWU).

Back where I come from, we call these green “ugwu” or “ugu”, and most Nigerians have no idea what the English name is (like most local foods) it is known  as pumpkin leaves. My grandmother used to say this was a great vegetable to blend and mix with juices and stuff, but way back then, as a child, I could never understand why someone would want to blend a vegetable. And it didn’t have the best texture in the world. Now, look at me, blending all sorts of greens!

This vegetable is used a lot in Nigeria to cook soups (what you may refer to as a sauce), to boil and eat plain, or to blend into a shake. People say it is healthy, but I don’t think people truly know what those health benefits are.

Pumpkin leaves contain a healthy amount of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron, while still staying very low on the calorie front.

We all know about the vision benefits vitamin A provides, as well as the skin benefits. Vitamin C helps to heal wounds and form scar tissue, and maintain healthy bones, skin, and teeth. However since the body cannot produce this vitamin on its own or even store it, you should be consistently getting enough vitamin C in your diet.

As for calcium, your mother probably already told you growing up that you need a healthy dose of calcium for your bones and teeth as a child. However, if you are a female, it is important to consume enough calcium to help prevent osteoporosis and keep your bones strong. There have also been studies showing that calcium may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular failure.

Iron helps our muscles store and use oxygen, and helps carry oxygen from our lungs to other parts of our bodies as part of hemoglobin. If you’ve ever heard the term “anemia”, this can be caused by iron deficiency. Women and children in particular need a healthy dose of iron consistently, and these leaves help provide that nutrient naturally.

Some of the health benefits of pumpkin leave include:

1. Prevention of convulsion: The young leaves sliced and mixed with coconut water and salt are stored in a bottle and used for the treatment of convulsion in ethno medicine.
2 lowers cholesterol:leaves has hypolipdemic effect and may be a useful therapy in hypercholestolemia.
3 Boost fertility: A particular study showed that pumpkin has the potential to regenerate testicular damage and also increase spermatogenesis.
4. It has a liver protecting effects.
5.  It has antibacterial effects
6 .The leaves are rich in iron and play a key role in the cure of anaemia, (my mother used to mix the leaf extract with milk)
7. They are also noted for lactating properties and are in high demand for nursing mothers.
8.It has an hypoglycaemic (sugar reducing) effect. It is good for diabetics
9. Increases Blood Volume and Boost Immune System
10. The high protein content in leaves of plants such as pumpkin could have supplementary effect for the daily protein requirement of the body. NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
 

GUAVA TREE INFORMATION: HOW TO GROW AND CARE FOR GUAVA FRUIT TREE.

Guava fruit trees (Psidium guajava) are not a common sight in North America and need a decidedly tropical habitat. In the United States, they are found in Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, Florida and a few sheltered areas in California and Texas. The trees are very frost tender and will succumb to a freeze when young, although adult trees may survive short periods of cold.

That said, the plants are attractive and produce deliciously rich, sweet fruits that are excellent fresh or in desserts. Given enough guava tree information, it is possible to grow these small trees in a greenhouse or sunroom and reap the benefits of their Vitamin C-rich fruits.

The guava fruit grows on a small tree with a wide, short canopy and a sturdy single to multi-stemmed trunk. The guava tree is an interesting plant with mottled greenish bark and long 3- to 7-inch serrated leaves. Guava trees produce white, 1-inch flowers that yield to small round, oval or pear shaped fruits. These are more accurately berries and have soft flesh, which may be white, pink, yellow or even red and varies in taste from acidic, sour to sweet, and rich depending on variety.
The guava plants thrive in any soil with good drainage and full sun for best flowering and fruit production.

Guava fruit trees are tropical to sub-tropical and may achieve 20 feet in height. Growing guavas require cold protection and is not suitable outdoors in most zones of the United States. They must have shelter from freezing winds, even in sunny warm climates where occasional icy temperatures occur.

Caring for a Guava Tree

If you are lucky enough to live in a region where guava plants grow outside, the tree should be planted in well-drained soil where its roots have room to spread.

Fertilize growing guavas every one to two months while young and then three to four times per year as the tree matures. Guava trees need a high amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, along with some magnesium for maximum fruit production. An example is a formula of 6-6-6-2, worked into soils just prior to the onset of the growing season and then evenly spaced out three times during the growth period.

Water frequently after planting and then keep mature trees moderately moist during the blooming and fruiting seasons. Once established, caring for a guava fruit tree is similar to any fruiting tree care.

Growing Guava from Seed

Growing guava from seed may not produce a fruiting tree for up to eight years and the plants are not true to the parent. Therefore, cuttings and layering are more often used as propagation methods for guava fruit trees.

Growing guava seeds, however, is a fun project and produces an interesting plant. You need to harvest seed from a fresh guava and soak off the flesh. The seeds can remain usable for months, but germination can take up to eight weeks. Boil the seeds for five minutes prior to planting to soften the tough outside and encourage germination. BY BONNIE L GRANT.