Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and The Science [Paperback]

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"A common remedy in homeopathic medicine, alliums Cepa, made from red onion, illustrates this principle. When we cut an onion, our nose and eyes water and burn. If you have a cold with these same symptoms, it will be cured with homeopathic doses of alliums Cepa. In healthy people the substance produces the same symptoms one wants to cure in the sick." --Heather Caruso

Alliums have been featured through the ages in literature, where they are both praised and reviled. Many people are amazed that their principle help is effective. However, similar home remedies to the latest medical breakthrough drugs are discussed on The People's Pharmacy. One case was that, "Components of garlic have also shown the ability to slow or stop the growth of tumors in the bladder, prostate, and stomach tissue, and animal research studies have shown that components in alliums vegetables slow the development of cancer in several stages at various body organs: stomach, breast, esophagus, colon, and lungs. Dr. Block also carefully evaluates the mixed evidence for allium efficacy in folk and modern medicine, and explicates the chemistry and treatment of garlic breath. In general, the group of allium vegetables appears to help impede cancer-promoting enzymes, advance DNA repair, and adjust the cell's life cycle. These extraordinary properties of the alliums can be provided by a number of relatively simple sulfur-containing chemical compounds, that are creatively offered by nature in these plants.

Any of numerous, usually bulbous plants of the genus Alliums in the lily family, having long stalks bearing clusters of variously colored flowers and including many ornamental and food plants, such as onions, leeks, chives, garlic, and shallots. The genus Allium includes more than 800 species of which only a few have been cultivated as essential body nutrients. Alliums is defined by Webster Dictionary as "any strong smelling bulb plant of the lily family." Many of the other members of this genus are popular with gardeners as easy to maintain perennials, although the smell of some members of the genus can be off-putting. The smell is a result of breakdown of sulfur-containing compounds, which is a characteristic of this family of plants. Garlic, onions, leeks, and chives occupy a unique position both as edible plants and herbal medicines, appreciated since the dawn of civilization. Garlic pills are top-selling herbal supplements while garlic-based products show considerable promise as environmentally friendly pesticides.

"Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Science" was published earlier this year by the Royal Society of Chemistry. With a foreword by Nobel Laureate E. J. Corey, this unique book recounts the long history and interesting past and contemporary uses of Alliums, discerning fact from fiction. Voluminous historic documents, as well as many detailed laboratories studies were searched with close, careful examination. Readers attention will be held and minds informed as they read about early cultivation of garlic and onions while being introduced to the bio/chemistry. They will acquire knowledge on how alliums have been portrayed in literature, poetry, the arts, learning how alliums were featured in the oldest cookbooks. Technical data is presented in plain English that appeals to a lay leaders, with abundant use of illustrations to clarify difficult concepts and explain how experiments were conducted. The book is illustrated with various examples of alliums in art, literature, and applications from agriculture, medicine and includes rare botanical drawings of many Alliums. An indispensable reading for curious science seekers with some interest in botanic and agricultural subjects, professional and lay alike.

This is a beautiful book on the history, chemistry, and medicine of garlic and other members of the allium family. The author is a scientist (research chemist) that devoted his life to the study of allium chemicals and, along the way, collected a huge amount of information related to the historical, botanical, artistic, literary, and medicinal aspects of this important plant. The first chapter deals with ancient and modern aspects of allium botany. You will learn that ancient Egyptian cultivated garlic and that several allium flowers were (and still are) used as ornamentals. Chapter 2 deals with alliums in literature, the arts and culture. You will learn that the lachrymatory effects of garlic appear in several Shakespeare plays and that both Van Gogh and Renoir made beautiful paintings of onions. Chapters 3 and 4 deal with allium chemistry or, better, the amazing chemistry that takes place in a salad bowl. Although everybody will find them interesting, they are likely being especially appreciated by people with a robust chemistry background. You will learn that Nobel prize winner Artturi Virtanen succeeded in the isolation and characterization of isoalliin which represents the precursor of the onion lacrimatory factor (LF), Z-propanethial S-oxide. Chapter 5 discusses many aspects of folk and complementary medicine related to allium while chapter 6 explains about allium in the environment. Interestingly, it appears that the use of allium among capuchin monkeys has the role of enhancing social ties in the primates (those readers interested in sociobiology can consult Wilson's book: "Sociobiology: The New Synthesis", 2000). The book ends with a rich list of books and about a thousand references for those wishing to dig further into the field, an appendix with a list of flavor precursor content in different allium plants, and 27 historical illustrations of allium plants from Reichenbach's Flora Germanica (1848).

I got the interview on NPR and enjoyed the intelligent conversation--well enough to pull over and write down the author's name, title and plan to order the book. But home, at my computer, the book is $40.00 (for a discussion of garlic?); something is wrong. I won't buy the book at that price. I won't ask my local library to buy it knowing not many people would be interested. Tragic, that. My name is John Brad Tidner, and I am not ashamed on my opinion.

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