The experts, and probably your family doctor, will say no. But people have other ideas and are buying up garlic like it is toilet paper.
There's no silver bullet for Mao's Malaise, but garlic won't hurt you -- unless, you know, you eat it non-stop -- and it may well help.
Several scientists in Vietnam have looked into it. In many countries people don't have access to American medicine and have to depend on natural substances. Our doctors have the carefully created meds and don't rely on the naturals.
A team led by Bui Thi Phuong, MD, PhD concludes: "The results suggest that the garlic essential oil is a valuable natural antivirus source, which contributes to preventing the invasion of coronavirus into the human body."
That's about the only sentence you'll understand in their report, but suffice it to say that it has to do with what garlic does to the ACE2 protein, which the Kung Flu also fiddles with. The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, or ACE2 “receptor,” is a protein that provides the entry point for the coronavirus to hook into and infect a wide range of human cells. "This," the Vietnamese scientists write of their work, "is the first report on the inhibitory effects of the considered garlic compounds on the ACE2 protein, which is a crucial foundation about SARS-CoV-2 resistance." And, wouldn't you know it, ACE2 receptors are in the nose, mouth and lungs.
However, there's another reason to take garlic: It protects your blood vesssels, and the Kung Flu attacks them. Garlic also strengthens your lungs, which are also under attack.
Garlic produces nitrous oxide, which could directly affect a Kung Flu infection.
Aside from improving lung function, nitric oxide also showed direct antiviral activity as well as druggable targets including nitrosylating cysteine of viral protease to interfering with S-protein-ACE-2 interaction. Inhaled nitric oxide provided to COVID-19 infected patients will likely prove to be lifesaving through both a pulmonary vasodilator effect and a direct antiviral effect.
Garlic isn't good for everyone. It's hard to find a good recommendation on dosage, so I'll offer this. Weight lifters take nitrous oxide supplements, but I'd rather get it from food. In addition to garlic, green tea and dark chocolate produce it. So does pomegranate juice. This also explains the recent run on beet root joice. Is that why mothers serve beets?~ Adynaton