What Happens to Your Cold Symptoms When You Eat Garlic?

Garlic is a spice used to flavor foods. Traditional medicine incorporates garlic for a variety of health conditions due to its high content of bioactive compounds.

1. Your Immune System Gets a Boost

Adding aged garlic extract to your diet may help boost your immune function, potentially reducing inflammation.

One study observed an increase in immune cell activity following 90 days of daily consumption of aged garlic extract.

Greater immune cell activity helps your body fight pathogens more effectively.

2. Your Cold Symptoms May Be Less Severe

When you consume aged garlic extract, you may have fewer or less intense upper-respiratory symptoms, such as sore throat, cough, and congestion. 

Garlic increases the number of immune cells in your body, potentially leading to fewer or less severe cold symptoms, as your body is more capable of mounting an immune response.

3. Your Cold May Be Shorter

While aged garlic extract can’t entirely shorten your cold duration, it may help you feel better sooner. Eating garlic may help reduce the number of suboptimal days when you’re unable to function normally.  

Garlic may reduce the duration of colds by supporting immune function. Evidence suggests that daily garlic consumption may reduce the number of colds you get each season. More research is needed in this area.

Does Eating Garlic Help With a Cold?

Eating garlic won’t prevent you from getting a cold, but it may help reduce the number and severity of your symptoms. 

Eating garlic may help alleviate a cold by inhibiting the replication of viral cells.  

Still, limited research exists on the effectiveness of eating garlic for a cold. 

Prioritize adding garlic to your diet rather than taking supplements, as whole garlic has few safety concerns.

How Much Garlic Do You Need to Eat to Help With a Cold?

There’s no set amount of whole garlic to eat to help with a cold.

Some research suggests that taking 2.5 grams of aged garlic extract daily helped enhance immune function, reduce cold symptoms and their severity, and shorten the duration of colds.

Is Garlic Safe for Me?

Consuming whole garlic is relatively safe. Do not consume garlic if you are allergic to it or its parts.

Still, eating whole garlic may cause some side effects, such as breath and body odor, stomach pain, gas, and nausea. 

Garlic supplements may increase the risk of bleeding. Individuals taking blood thinners (anticoagulants) or aspirin should exercise caution when using garlic supplements. Garlic supplements may be unsafe for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding. 

Always consult your healthcare provider before starting a new supplement.

How to Add Garlic to Your Diet

• Saute garlic with oil as a flavor base for dishes
• Make garlic-infused olive oil
• Roast with vegetables, fish, or meat
• Use in salad dressings
• Blend into sauces and dips
• Rub on toast for flavor