Antimycobacterial activity of garlic Helpful in addition to treatment?

notice it also mentions the vapor can damage lung tissue so please be careful

I was just reading an article on FB of all places that said old timers used to cut up garlic jar and fill it with Honey and then use the honey as a tonic for bacterial infections. They also used onions for respiratory infections and sore throats. I dont know if these things work but its cheap enough to try and nothing to loose

I have been experimenting with topical skin absorption of fresh garlic oil/allicin to avoid first pass metabolism by the liver. Apparently Allicin is the garlic component that has the most antimicrobial action, but its metabolite has unknown or known less effectiveness? The allicin can be absorbed through the skin.,

CAUTION: topical garlic oil can cause a serious chemical burn so use extreme caution (small amounts distributed over wide skins areas?). A large amount applied to a small area can cause skin breakdown and needing surgical intervention. I found a medical case report about this very issue but as my account is new it won't let me post a link.

thanks for the warning......good to know! welcome to the blog

Your welcome! I have seen some discussion about breathing in garlic vapors but that also seems like tricky business as the concentration that kills microbes is just about the same concentration that kills lung epithelial cells. The authors suggested keeping a steady flow of glutathione in the person's system to help offset this problem, but I read elsewhere that microbes can also use glutathione to avoid damage. It is a dizzying and frustrating array of variables to try to account for.

I've heard garlic can help tone down Mac-Lung in addition to other treatments. On the other hand, garlic is not good for GERD which can be related. Has anyone noticed improvements with garlic? (I am not suggesting, at all, that garlic be used as a sole treatment.) Thanks

GREAT question - Reports of the benefits of garlic are everywhere. It has been used for a very long time in herbal and folk medicine. And there is truth there.
But hard research studies, including vehicles for delivery of the benefits to the lungs and dosage, are missing in every case.
Here are some articles to dive into for a better understanding, some are easier reading than the others.
This has a great graphic showing the benefits of allicin in the body:
https://www.scientificarchives.com/article/allicin-as-an-adjunct-immunotherapy-against-tuberculosis
And one with an interesting explanation of how they built a model lung to test allicin:
https://www.spandidos-publications.com/10.3892/etm.2019.8387
Finally -
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8001868/
It unfortunately they reported "Allicin taken up by cells, or entering the bloodstream, reacts readily with GSH in competition with cysteine residues in proteins. For this reason, it is difficult to envisage being able to achieve a therapeutically relevant concentration of allicin in cells anywhere in the body by simply swallowing it. Furthermore, as mentioned in the introduction, allicin is an irritant which stimulates pain-sensing neurons, and self-medication has led to a spate of reports of self-inflicted harm."

So, Monday light reading for your entertainment.
My takeaway -
Inhaling garlic vapors may help by boosting antibiotic effectiveness, reducing their side effects and potentially having antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory actions.
Eating garlic, not so much - the helpful compounds are broken down by the body before the allicin reaches the lungs
Research is underway to develop a proper method of delivery and dosage.

Let's invite further evidence-based comments to our party!
Sue

Skin absorption is possible but be very cautious and incremental as very serious skin chemical burns are a real possibility. I have become a bit of an expert in the matter over the last few months trying this on myself. I will attempt to post on my efforts later but in the meantime if you try it GO SLOWLY

Are you using allicin/garlic topically or as a vapor?
I haven't found any papers about topical application having an antibacterial effect on the lungs, have you?
I saw in another post that you were trying to avoid the allicin passing through the liver, but topical application goes to the blood vessels, then to the circulatory system, which passes through the liver, before it would get to your lungs, right?
Sue

Will Inhaling garlic vapors help? This is very interesting. Thank you Sue.