Modern to post-Peak Oil medicine: Garlic Case Study

The implications of Peak Oil applied to the field of health care are, at the least, unsettling. Many in the medical community, such as Dr. Paul Roth, are working to develop post-Peak Oil plans.

The difficulties are clear: modern medicine is one of the most oil-dependent fields in existence. Plastics alone are so essential to current medical practices it’s hard to imagine accomplishing anything in medicine without them.

As a further complication, medicines are not produced locally – they are manufactured and distributed on the large scale. Advanced drugs on which many people now rely often require complex manufacturing processing and are the result of enormous research efforts.

On the bright side, all the tools of modern science-based medicine can now be used to affirm or refute the claims of traditional folk medicine. From chicken soup to red wine, numerous studies have sought to investigate the medicinal and health benefits of substances that can be easily refined without modern infrastructure. Given some visions of life after Peak Oil, it is in our best interests to investigate what the research says about home remedies. As an example of this, let’s examine some of the recent research on the uses and benefits possible with garlic.

Garlic is given credit for a host of health benefits, the most common being its effect on cholesterol. It also contains a significant amount of selenium, an essential element which works as an antioxidant, helps the thyroid, and boosts the immune system. Garlic’s most potent use, however, appears to be related to its antibiotic properties.

Garlic, when crushed, produces the sulfur-based compound allicin. Applying crushed garlic to a wound or infection (waiting >7 minutes after crushing) is astoundingly effective at killing both staph- and strep-type bacteria. More incredibly, this is accomplished without enabling the development of bacterial resistance -- a frightening problem encountered with the application of every major antibiotic currently in use (especially penicillin).

As mentioned, garlic is weakly associated with lower LDL cholesterol. In addition, it is a known antioxidant and is effective against some fungi (athlete’s foot, some yeast infections, and possibly others).

Allicin can be a tricky substance. It doesn’t actually exist in garlic – as mentioned, it is created from pre-existing compounds. “Hotter” varieties of garlic produce more allicin than their milder cousins. Cooking destroys allicin, although some of the other benefits of garlic can still be realized in cooked food.

Gourmet Garlic Gardens discusses a number of emergency uses for garlic which conveniently mesh well with general post-Peak Oil uses. Although perhaps a little over-enthusiastic at times, the author references solid research on garlic.

Some cautions: garlic can interfere with anti-coagulants and its sulfur compounds can cause allergic reactions. Remember, I’m not a doctor; merely an interested researcher. For medical advice talk to your own doctor, or someone like Dr. Roth if you want a Peak Oil-sympathetic ear.