Elephant garlic refers to a bulbous plant belonging to the liliaceae family. It is a type of lily, a biennial plant, but it is much larger and has a shape similar to garlic, so it is called by several names such as king garlic, giant garlic, and ungnyeo garlic. Overseas, it is known that elephant garlic is native to southern Europe and southwest Asia in the Mediterranean region, and it is said that it was a native crop cultivated for a long time in Korea. It was cultivated in domestic farms until the 1940s, but it is said that it disappeared after that. In 2007, the U.S. returned about 1,600 agricultural genetic resources taken from the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War to the Rural Development Administration’s Genetic Resource Center and began to be cultivated again.
Elephant garlic, which weighs about 60~80g, which is 4 times the size of regular garlic, and 5~10 times the size of garlic, has a less strong flavor and less spicy than regular garlic. It has a crunchy texture and a subtle sweetness, so it is widely used as an additive to salads, fried, stir-fried, stewed, pickled, etc., as well as various meat and vegetable dishes. Elephant garlic is also known to have various beneficial effects on the body as it contains abundant ingredients such as allicin and scordidine, which are representative ingredients of garlic. Now, let’s take a look at the main effects of elephant garlic one by one.
Main Benefits of Elephant Garlic
1. Prevention of vascular disease
Elephant garlic contains allicin, a key ingredient in garlic and a pungent ingredient, that helps to reduce blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which is beneficial for smooth blood flow. In addition, this allicin component is said to help expand blood vessels and inhibit the formation of blood clots, which are clots in the blood vessels.
Also, along with allicin in elephant garlic, scordidine, a major component of garlic, is also involved in lowering blood cholesterol, thereby preventing various vascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure.
2. Improving immunity
Allicin, which is abundant in elephant garlic, is well known for its antibacterial and sterilizing properties. Due to the excellent antibacterial action of the abundant allicin component, it also helps to remove toxins and harmful substances that lower the immune system, which is said to be effective in enhancing the immune function. In addition, the aforementioned ingredient called scordidine is also known to help strengthen the body’s immunity through smooth metabolism by completely burning nutrients that have entered the body through strong redox action.
3. Anticancer effect
Sulfur-containing substances such as allicin and scordidine, which are abundantly contained in elephant garlic, inhibit the transformation of mutant cells into cancer cells and prevent them from reaching the developmental stage of cancer cells. It is also known to help prevent carcinogens from damaging normal cells by accelerating the action of enzymes that detoxify carcinogens.
4. Fatigue recovery
It is said that it helps to restore energy and relieve fatigue by the excellent metabolism and blood circulation promoting action of scordidine, which is contained in large amounts. In addition, scordidine increases the absorption of vitamin B1, which is deeply involved in energy metabolism in the body, and thus has a beneficial effect on improving the effect of vitamin B1.
5. Diabetes improvement
Elephant garlic is rich in allicin, which helps to control blood sugar, so it is said to be beneficial in preventing and relieving symptoms of diabetes.
Also, elephant garlic contains S-arylcysteine, an antioxidant, much more abundantly than garlic. This S-arylcysteine component is known to play a role in protecting blood vessels damaged by diabetes, so it is known to have a beneficial effect in preventing complications caused by diabetes.
Other Benefits
In addition to the various benefits mentioned above, elephant garlic is said to have a good effect on warming the intestines and facilitating digestion. In addition, the rich scordidine component has the effect of increasing energy metabolism, so it is said to have a beneficial effect on suppressing the accumulation of fat, and it is reported that effects such as nourishing and strengthening muscles can be obtained.
