Garlic

Winners Explained

Allicin Max

Allicin International

Overall rating

Value for money

Garlic is a popular herbal supplement and there is reasonable evidence of the beneficial effects of garlic in helping to lower blood lipid levels, including cholesterol, and also in helping to ´thin´ the blood. As such, its use as an aid to heart health is justified. In addition, garlic has been used as an anti-infective by numerous civilisations throughout history due to the presence of the compound allicin, and again evidence suggests that this may be justified, particularly as an aid to intestinal health.  

However, the evidence indicates that about 4000mg of fresh garlic equivalent (about 2 cloves) is necessary to produce observable effects, and this is the benchmark against which products have been assessed.

From the information provided on the pack of this product, it is possible to infer that each capsule provides 180mg of ´pure allicin´ which would correspond to about 110g of fresh garlic! However, closer inspection of the enclosed leaflet reveals that each capsule contains 180mg of ´allicin powder´, which only contains 58 micrograms of actual allicin. This is a very low level and only corresponds to about 50mg of fresh garlic.

As such, despite the claims on the enclosed leaflet, in the opinion of the SC Expert Panel this product would be very unlikely to deliver the expected benefits of increased garlic intake. The product is very expensive for what it provides.

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