This is a two-piece article on how effective garlic can be when you are about to catch on a cold (or to prevent one altogether).

For a while now I’ve been recommending random people to chew on garlic cloves in order to beat common cold – but what good is advice if you don’t follow it yourself? Since, I woke up this morning feeling the onset of a cold, I have decided to conduct an experiment on myself.

First, a little background about me. I simply cannot remember the last time I was out of commission due to the common cold. Also, I usually suffer for 7-10 days and then I’m fine for many months (I probably catch a cold twice a year). Lastly, I pretty much never take any medication at all (not even Tylenol/Aspirin). Ever.

As soon as I woke up this morning feeling like shit, I knew exactly what I had to do–Google for help. I found this paper, and several articles referencing the magic chemical, “allicin.” I found this research Nobel-prize worthy and went straight to the kitchen and grabbed my Chef’s knife with a red handle and got to work.

Now, this page suggests:

To help prevent or lessen the severity and symptoms of a cold, eat two cloves of raw garlic at the onset of symptoms.
Chopping or mashing garlic releases the herb’s full potential as the active component, allicin, forms only on contact with air.

For some reason, there are a lot of people that believe that Vitamin C does the trick. Apparently not:

Large doses of vitamin C–2,000 mg daily in four divided doses–during the weeks prior to catching a cold may lessen the severity of the symptoms, but controversy reigns over whether vitamin G can actually shorten the duration of a cold.

So, that’s exactly what I do. I slice up the biggest clove I could find (I swear it was the size of two) and serve myself a cup of Orange Juice while I let the active component work it’s magic with air. On the above page, it is also recommended to, “avoid chewing to prevent garlic breath,” and to, “put garlic in applesauce or mix with honey” for a less intense flavour. I decided to be a man and just chew on it as-is.

As soon as I start chewing on the first slice – there’s a problem. This is absolutely disastrous. Never in my life would I have thought that garlic has such an intense flavour. My mouth is literally burning and I quickly chug some OJ for quick relief. But, in the interest of science, the experiment must go on! I decide to mash up the remaining slices and start eating them in small batches, with sips of OJ right after. About eight or so minutes later, I’m done! I feel much better now – my nasal cavities have cleared completely (though my hearing still feels a bit dulled).

Everything tastes pretty bad right after the clove ingestion. I’m pretty sure the entire kitchen stinks of garlic and I’m just used to it now. It’s a good thing I decided to do this before my shower. I plan on continuing this experiment for the next six days (one clove in the mornings and one before bedtime for a super-sexy garlicy bed) and reporting the outcome.