By Lynn Alison From Newsmax

The United States has the dubious distinction of having the highest obesity rate in the world. Obesity carries many health risks, including in many cases chronic inflammation.

According to numerous studies, chronic inflammation has been linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression. kidney disease, arthritis and certain types of cancer.

Now, a breakthrough study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) shows that supplementing with aged garlic extract (AGE) can effectively modify inflammation and other health markers, thus reducing the risk of diseases associated with obesity.

“Inflammation is the body’s natural response to protect us from foreign substances that may be harmful,” Dr. Fabrizio Mancini, author of “The Power of Self-Healing,” tells Newsmax.

“When the process becomes long term or chronic, then it is detrimental to organs and tissues. We must control obesity and stop eating foods that are harmful to our health. If we don’t, we will pay the price of disease and even death.”

Mancini explains that when a person is obese, certain pro-inflammatory proteins called cytokines are released that lead to destruction of the cells.

Overeating increases this immune response. The increased immune response causes the body to generate excessive inflammation, which may lead to a number of deadly diseases.

“It is therefore important to keep a balance,” says Bente Halvorsen, a professor at the Research Institute for Internal Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway and a leading expert on heart disease. “We believe there is a connection between metabolism, inflammation, heart attack, and stroke,” she says, according to an article published in Science Daily.

For the garlic intervention study, the UF/IFAS team recruited healthy yet obese adults to take part in a double-blind randomized trial. The participants were divided into two groups — one taking aged garlic extract powder daily and the other taking a placebo.

At the end of the six-week study, they measured two markers of inflammation and found that those taking AGE had significantly lower levels of inflammation compared to those in the placebo group. In addition, the aged garlic extract group saw an improvement in their immune cell activity and lower LDL cholesterol levels.

“Although the mechanism on how aged garlic extract reduces obesity-related inflammation is not clear, the changes in the immune cells and inflammatory markers show a positive anti-inflammatory effect in adults with obesity,” says Susan Percival, Ph.D. professor of nutrition, one of the study’s authors.

Garlic has been used throughout history to combat illness. Some of the other health benefits include:

• Fighting the common cold. According to Healthline.com, a large 12-week study found that taking a daily AGE supplement reduced the number of colds by a whopping 63 percent. The average length of a cold was also reduced by 70 percent.
• Lowering blood pressure. In one study, supplementation of 600-1,500 milligrams of aged garlic extract was just as effective as the hypertension drug Atenolol in reducing blood pressure over a 24-week period.
• Removing arterial plaque. According to Dr. Matthew Budoff, a leading cardiologist and professor of medicine at UCLA, garlic supplements can also reverse arterial plaque buildup reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Dementia. Several research papers written by German scientists suggest that aged garlic extract or AGE may prevent arterial stiffness by maintaining the flexibility of the arteries and enhancing nitric oxide availability which relaxes the blood vessels and reduces the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Cancer. According to the National Institutes of Health, garlic has major antioxidant properties that help ward of cancer. Eating one fresh clove of garlic a day or taking supplements may lower your risk of breast, esophageal, stomach, bowel and prostate cancer.

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