The use of garlic in the form of a food supplement or supplementation is usually associated with the practices of our grandparents. Folk medicine ordered to eat it when we caught ourselves in a state of reduced immunity. As research shows, certain sulfur compounds contained in the plant perform not only health-promoting functions but also show some anabolic features.
Researchers from Japan conducted an experiment on three groups of rats. They gave rats food, which varied in percentage of protein, and the amounts were divided into 10% 20% and 40%. Subsequently, all three groups were divided into two smaller ones where one received food enriched with garlic powder and the other received food without garlic. 1 kg of food contained 8 g of garlic. 1 g of garlic contained 5 mg of diallyl disulfide.
The rats were fed like that for 28 days. After this time, the nitrogen balance was measured. The addition of garlic had no effect on the nitrogen balance in the 10% and 20% protein group. However, in the group that consumed 40% of protein in the diet, the subgroup with the addition of garlic showed an increase in the nitrogen balance.
The level of testosterone increased in proportion to the amount of protein consumed in the groups of rats receiving the addition of garlic. In addition, the level of corticosteroids was lower in groups eating garlic feed.
Researchers in Japan linked their observations on testosterone stimulation with the content of diallyl disulfide. It is a substance that affects the level of LH and this in turn has an effect on testosterone stimulation in the testicles. The greater amount of stimulated hormone correlates with more protein in the diet, which gives us a picture of the increased nitrogen balance.
Sources:
https // www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov / PubMed / 11481410
