Garlic and Cancer

Special Issue; International audience; This review summarizes current knowledge on the anticarcinogenic properties of garlic. Collectively epidemiologic studies – mostly casecontrol studies – provide strong evidence that garlic consumption reduces the risk of cancer especially, the risk of gastric and colon cancer. Furthermore many experimental studies demonstrate that organosulfur compounds (OSCs) and garlic extracts can prevent or slow down the carcinogenic process induced by a variety of chemical carcinogens in animals. Garlic and OSCs have been shown to be active during all the stages of carcinogenesis. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the cancer-preventive effects of ga…