Study shows that garlic, social risk apart, reduces cancer risk

Munching garlic won't do much for your social life but it is great for reducing your risk of cancer, according to researchers in the US.

The latest analysis published yesterday by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that regular eaters of raw or cooked garlic are half as likely to get stomach cancer.

That most pungent of plants also leaves you a third less likely to get colorectal cancer according to the study, which is published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The team did not chance statistics on how many friends you might lose while eating garlic to keep illness at bay.

Claims of garlic's malodorous but beneficial properties can be traced back centuries. It is said to keep away a whole range of afflictions including consumption, impotence, blood pressure problems and diabetes. It is supposed to improve your immunity and keep cholesterol levels low.

So what possible new recommendation could any researcher make for this heady plant, a member of the lily family and near relative of the onion? The US team, led by Prof Lenore Arab, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, carried out a mathematical combination of hundreds of other studies on garlic, looking at issues such as cancer and heart disease.

No fewer than 300 scientific papers were analysed, pooling data from work done in Argentina, China, Switzerland, the Netherlands and other countries fond of a clove or two.

Their study delivered "consistent" results for the two cancers mentioned above. "There seems to be a strong, consistent protective effect for people who are regular garlic consumers," Prof Arab said. "We didn't have enough information to be able to say the same about garlic's possible effects on other forms of cancer."

Clearly the Irish are heeding this call to healthy if odoriferous eating. We annually import about 720 tonnes of fresh garlic every year, according to the Central Statistics Office. That amounts to about 200 grams for every man, woman and child in the State, not counting what we eat in dried form and in prepared foods.

We are nothing short of abstemious compared to our continental neighbours, however, who gobble up more like 1,800 grams per capita per year. This explains why taking a trip on a crowded Paris Metro is enough to bring tears to your eyes.