(NaturalHealth365) Allium sativum, or garlic, is a popular herb that has a history dating back centuries. Related to both shallots and onions, garlic is grown across the world, and it’s a popular addition to many recipes due to its savory flavor. But it doesn’t just taste good.  It’s also packed with vitamins and minerals like vitamin C, vitamin B6, calcium, manganese, selenium, and potassium.

Through the years, research has found that this common cooking ingredient offers some excellent health benefits. And many of these studies suggest that it’s the organosulfur compounds contained in garlic that give it its protective, antioxidant properties. However, a brand-new study took research even further, discovering that eating garlic is linked to lower all-cause mortality, even among aging populations.

New study associates regular garlic consumption with lower mortality

Previous studies had found that garlic was associated with lower mortality risk in healthy, younger people. However, the new study published in the Nutrients journal decided to look at the oldest aging individuals in the country of China. Researchers looked at a group of more than 27,000 aging adults with the mean age of 92.9 years, and of those participants, 15.9% of them reported that they consumed garlic five or more times each week.

At follow-up time, individuals who reported they ate garlic frequently had a longer median survival time compared to those who only ate garlic rarely or occasionally. Researchers concluded that higher garlic consumption was linked to lower all-cause mortality – hypothesizing that it’s the potent antioxidant properties of garlic that provided this protective effect.

In fact, consuming garlic five or more times weekly resulted in an 11% decrease in mortality risk for even the oldest study participants.

Wait, there’s more: Additional health benefits of eating garlic

Various studies over the past couple of decades document many other health benefits of eating garlic, and it may be this combination of health benefits that does result in a lower risk of all-cause mortality.

Additional health benefits to garlic consumption include:

• Improved immunity: Garlic contains allicin, which kills microbes and helps prevent infections.
• Lower blood pressure: Studies show that supplementing with garlic capsules reduces blood pressure as well as prescription medicines.
• Blood clot prevention: Eating garlic is linked to a reduced risk of blood clots.
• Protects against heart disease: It’s thought that the antioxidants found in garlic help lower the risk of heart disease.
• Reduces cholesterol: Researchers have found that garlic consumption may lower bad cholesterol levels by up to 10-15%.
• Boosts liver health: Garlic helps the liver produce essential enzymes needed for detoxification, and it can help remedy nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, as well.

So, the all-important questions is: how can you reap the health benefits of garlic and reduce your risk of all-cause mortality?

The best way is to ensure you consume fresh (raw) garlic – multiple times per week.  It’s excellent in soups, salads or, even, directly in the mouth.  However, most people don’t eat large portions of garlic at one time – for obvious reasons. (it will leave you smelling like garlic!)

So, if you don’t think you’re eating garlic enough, you can always add a quality supplement to your diet for the additional boost.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalHealthResearch.org
NaturalFoodSeries.com
NIH.gov