Garlic

The Basics

What is Garlic?

Used for several conditions linked to the blood system and heart, including atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, heart attack, coronary heart disease, and hypertension.

Brand names for Garlic

N/A

How Garlic is classified

Complementary Therapies, Food, Galactogogues, Phytotherapy, Plants, Medicinal

Garlic During Pregnancy

Garlic pregnancy category

Category N/ANote that the FDA has deprecated the use of pregnancy categories, so for some medications, this information isn’t available. We still think it’s useful to list historical info, however, given what a common proxy this has been in the past.

What we know about taking Garlic while pregnant

N/A

Taking Garlic While Breastfeeding

What are recommendations for lactation if you're taking Garlic?

Garlic (Allium sativum) contains alliin, which is metabolized by the enzyme alliinase to allicin, thought to be responsible for most of garlic’s medicinal properties and odor. Garlic has been used to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It has no specific indications for use during lactation in western countries. Garlic has been used as a galactogogue in India,[1][2] although no scientific data could be located on its use alone as a galactogogue. Garlic’s odor is transmitted to breastmilk, which may increase infant sucking time acutely and might enhance the breastfed infant’s food choices in the long term. Garlic has a long history of use as a food and medicine and is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) as a food flavoring by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including during lactation.[3] Limited scientific data found that a few days of oral garlic supplementation caused no adverse effects in nursing mothers or infants. When used as a medicinal, garlic is generally well tolerated in adults, but gastrointestinal side effects and bad breath and body odor may occur. Garlic has anti-platelet effects and should be used cautiously by women at risk for bleeding. Garlic can cause allergies and should be avoided by persons allergic to garlic or other members of the lily family, such as hyacinth, tulip, onion, leek, and chives. Topical application of garlic can cause dermatitis and burns and should be used with caution, especially in infants. One nursing mother received severe burns to the breast from prolonged (2 days) application of a poultice of raw, crushed garlic to treat a self-diagnosed Candida infection.[4] Dietary supplements do not require extensive pre-marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Manufacturers are responsible to ensure the safety, but do not need to prove the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplements before they are marketed. Dietary supplements may contain multiple ingredients, and differences are often found between labeled and actual ingredients or their amounts. A manufacturer may contract with an independent organization to verify the quality of a product or its ingredients, but that does not certify the safety or effectiveness of a product. Because of the above issues, clinical testing results on one product may not be applicable to other products.

Maternal / infant drug levels

Garlic (Allium sativum) contains alliin, which is metabolized by the enzyme alliinase to allicin, thought to be responsible for most of garlic’s medicinal properties and odor. Garlic has been used to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It has no specific indications for use during lactation in western countries. Garlic has been used as a galactogogue in India,[1][2] although no scientific data could be located on its use alone as a galactogogue. Garlic’s odor is transmitted to breastmilk, which may increase infant sucking time acutely and might enhance the breastfed infant’s food choices in the long term. Garlic has a long history of use as a food and medicine and is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) as a food flavoring by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including during lactation.[3] Limited scientific data found that a few days of oral garlic supplementation caused no adverse effects in nursing mothers or infants. When used as a medicinal, garlic is generally well tolerated in adults, but gastrointestinal side effects and bad breath and body odor may occur. Garlic has anti-platelet effects and should be used cautiously by women at risk for bleeding. Garlic can cause allergies and should be avoided by persons allergic to garlic or other members of the lily family, such as hyacinth, tulip, onion, leek, and chives. Topical application of garlic can cause dermatitis and burns and should be used with caution, especially in infants. One nursing mother received severe burns to the breast from prolonged (2 days) application of a poultice of raw, crushed garlic to treat a self-diagnosed Candida infection.[4] Dietary supplements do not require extensive pre-marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Manufacturers are responsible to ensure the safety, but do not need to prove the safety and effectiveness of dietary supplements before they are marketed. Dietary supplements may contain multiple ingredients, and differences are often found between labeled and actual ingredients or their amounts. A manufacturer may contract with an independent organization to verify the quality of a product or its ingredients, but that does not certify the safety or effectiveness of a product. Because of the above issues, clinical testing results on one product may not be applicable to other products.

Possible effects of Garlic on milk supply

Forty women who complained of an insufficient milk supply at 5 days postpartum were given a combination herbal supplement as 2 capsules of Lactare (Pharma Private Ltd., Madras, India) 3 times daily. Each capsule contained wild asparagus 200 mg, ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) 100 mg, fenugreek 50 mg, licorice 50 mg, and garlic 20 mg. By day 4 of therapy, no infants required supplementary feeding. Infants were weighed before and after each feeding on the fifth day of maternal therapy to determine the amount of milk ingested. On the day of the test weighing, infants’ milk intake averaged 388 mL, and the fluid and caloric intake was considered adequate.[11] This study cannot be considered as valid evidence of a galactogogue effect of these herbs because it lacks randomization, blinding, a placebo control, and maternal instruction in breastfeeding technique. Additionally, infants were breastfed only 6 to 8 times daily, which is insufficient to maximize milk supply.

In two studies conducted by the same investigators, capsules containing 1.5 g of garlic extract (General Nutrition Center, Pittsburgh, PA) were given to nursing mothers. In the first experiment, 8 mothers receive a garlic capsule or placebo once daily in a crossover fashion. Garlic-naive infants whose mothers ingested garlic capsules spent more time (33 vs 27 minutes) attached to the nipple during the time period of 1.5 to 3 hours after garlic ingestion when garlic odor in milk was maximal than in those whose mothers received a placebo; however, total number of nursings or total amount of milk ingestion did not differ between groups.[6] A study randomized nursing mothers to receive garlic capsules or placebo for 3 days before testing with a single capsule as in the study above. Infants who received garlic in the milk for the first time spent 30% more time nursing than after placebo. Infants who had been previously exposed to garlic in milk, did not spend more time nursing after subsequent garlic exposure in milk.[10] The authors interpreted the results of these studies as having a positive effect on infants’ later food choices (i.e., being less picky about foods).[12]

Possible alternatives to Garlic