HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHEWING RAW GARLIC

You might not make a lot of new friends if you chew on garlic, a plant used for centuries as both a pungent flavoring and a medicine. A member of the onion family, garlic contains a powerful sulfur compound called allicin, which also lends it a distinctive – and to many people, unpleasant – smell.Garlic not only makes food delicious, it may also have a number of health benefits. The allicin in garlic exhibits strong antioxidant activity – the ability to fight harmful free radicals in the body – which has led scientists to study its health-promoting properties.

OFFERS AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECT

If you suffer from an inflammatory condition, it may help to consume raw garlic. A study published in "Food and Chemical Toxicology" in August 2013 found that garlic had an anti-inflammatory effect, with raw garlic exhibiting a stronger effect than garlic that had been

heated. The levels of a compound called allicin were greater in the raw garlic, which is most likely the reason for its greater benefits.

LOWERS CHOLESTEROL

Medical students who consumed 10 grams of raw garlic each day for two months significantly lowered their cholesterol levels, according to a study published in the "Journal of Postgraduate Medicine" in 1991. Another study, published in the "Pakistan Journal of

Pharmaceutical Sciences" in October 2006, found that raw garlic consumption increased beneficial HDL cholesterol levels, while decreasing total cholesterol, although the difference wasn't large enough to recommend using garlic as the only method for lowering cholesterol.

IT MAY LOWER CANCER RISK

People who consumed raw garlic at least twice a week experienced lower rates of lung cancer than those who consumed raw garlic less often, according to a seven-year study published in "Cancer Prevention Research" in July 2013. Garlic may also be beneficial for preventing or treating colon and pancreatic cancer, according to the University of Maryland

Medical Center -- although research is still preliminary.

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Green tea ingredient may ameliorate memory impairment, brain insulin resistance, and obesity

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology A study published online in The FASEB Journal, involving mice, suggests that EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), the most abundant catechin and biologically active component in green tea, could alleviate high-fat and high-fructose (HFFD)-induced insulin resistance and cognitive impairment. Previous research pointed to the potential of EGCG to treat a variety of human diseases, yet until now, EGCG's impact on insulin resistance and cognitive deficits triggered in the brain by a Western diet remained unclear. Journal Reference: Yashi Mi, Guoyuan Qi, Rong Fan, Qinglian Qiao, Yali Sun, Yuqi Gao, Xuebo Liu. EGCG ameliorates high-fat– and high-fructose–induced cognitive defects by regulating the IRS/AKT and ERK/CREB/BDNF. The FASEB Journal, 2017; fj.201700400RR DOI: 10.1096/fj.201700400RR

Loblolly pine genome is largest ever sequenced: Seven times bigger than the human genome

Genetic Society of America The masssive genome of the loblolly pine -- around seven times bigger than the human genome -- is the largest genome sequenced to date and the most complete conifer genome sequence ever published. This achievement marks the first big test of a new analysis method that can speed up genome assembly by compressing the raw sequence data 100-fold.

How healthy is genetically modified soybean oil?

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