Phytochemical Allicin, the Novel Dietary Antioxidant

By Kyle J. Norton

Phytochemicals may be next potential sources of new medications for the treatment of diseases with little or no side effects.

Scientists may have found a dietary and bioactive ingredient for the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with the oxidative stress.

Allicin is phytochemical containing sulfur in the class of organosulfur compound, found abundantly in onion and garlic.

Oxidative stress is a condition characterized by the overexpression of free radicals in the host body.

Most cases of oxidative stress are caused the inability of the host liver in stimulating the production of antioxidant enzymes which play a critical role in inhibiting the free radical expression, causing oxidative stress.

In a healthy individual, the ratio of free radicals and antioxidant enzymes is always balanced.

However, an individual whose antioxidant enzymes were suppressed due to damage to the antioxidant enzymes productive system or other sources may have a greater risk of the onset of oxidative stress.

Dietary antioxidant intake such as fruits and vegetable may be helpful to keep the free radical in check.

Oxidative stress has been found to cause damage to cell lipids, proteins, DNA, leading to many chronic diseases, including atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetics, rheumatoid arthritis, post-ischemic perfusion injury, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular diseases, chronic inflammation, and stroke.

The oxidative stress that causes chronic ailment is a result of a chain reaction started by free radical donate or steal an electron from another atom, leading to a domino's effect which can not be stopped until all outer ring electron of free radicals is paired or inhibited by antioxidants.

A free radical is any atom or molecule that has a single unpaired electron in an outer shell and highly reactive to react with another cell.

Most free radicals and other ROS are derived internally either from normal essential metabolic processes in the human body or from external sources such as exposure to X-rays, ozone, cigarette smoking, air pollutants, and industrial chemicals.

Antioxidants are biomolecules inhibited the oxidation.
On finding a natural ingredient and whole food for the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with oxidative stress, researchers investigated the effect of allicin (the active ingredient of garlic) contained in the commercial preparation Garlicin against hydroxyl radicals (.OH) using high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method.

Allicin equivalent in Garlicin (1.8, 3.6, 7.2, 14.4, 21.6, 28.8 and 36 micrograms) produced concentration-dependent decreases in the formation of 2,3-DHBA and 2,5-DHBA, the OH adduct products.

The inhibition of formation of 2,3-DHBA and 2,5-DHBA with 1.8 micrograms/ml was 32.36% and 43.2% respectively while with 36.0 micrograms/ml the inhibition was approximately 94.0% and 90.0% respectively.

These results suggested that allicin is highly active against the OH adduct products through its free radical scavenging activity.

Furthermore, Allicin also exerted a significant antioxidant activity by preventing the lipid peroxidation of liver homogenate in a concentration-dependent manner.

Additionally, by examing the antioxidant effects of four main chemical classes, alliin, allyl cysteine, allyl disulfide, and allicin, prepared by chemical synthesis or purification, researchers discovered
* Alliin scavenged superoxide, while allyl cysteine and allyl disulfide did not react with superoxide.

* Allicin suppressed the formation of superoxide by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system, probably via a thiol exchange mechanism.

* Allicin did not exhibit hydroxyl radical scavenging activity in this study, probably due to some unknown mechanisms.

The finding suggested that allyl disulfide, alliin, allicin, and allyl cysteine exhibit different patterns of antioxidant activities as protective compounds against free radical damage.

Taken altogether, allicin processed high levels of free radicals scavenging activity may be used for the prevention of the overexpression of ROS in the initiation of oxidative stress.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blog, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
References
(1) Antioxidant activity of allicin, an active principle in garlic by Prasad K, Laxdal VA, Yu M, Raney BL. (PubMed)
(2) The antioxidant properties of garlic compounds: allyl cysteine, alliin, allicin, and allyl disulfide by Chung LY. (PubMed)