Nutraceutical use of garlic sulfur-containing compounds

Garlic is one of world s oldest medicines that have been employed not only for flavouring but also as a medical herb for its prophylactic and therapeutic actions. Most of garlic beneficial effects are due to the presence of the organosulphate molecule allicin. Allicin is a highly unstable molecule and, during processing, is rapidly transformed into a variety of organosulfur components. The enzyme alliinase, which is responsible for the conversion of alliin to allicin, is irreversibly destroyed at the acidic environment of stomach. This is the reason why most garlic supplements contain garlic powder or granules, but do not contain allicin itself. Garlic alliinase could be encapsulated and coated with materials which would protect it in the harsh conditions of the stomach. The objective of this chapter is to summarize the most important garlic health benefits and to discuss promising encapsulation/stabilization approaches. © 2010 Landes Bioscience and Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.