Most commercial garlic supplements can be categorized into garlic macerates, garlic powder / garlic bulb extract that provides allicin, aged garlic extract and garlic extract powder.

So what should you look out for when choosing a garlic supplement?

• Generally, you should make sure that the product really has an allicin releasing potential. Garlic preparations that consist of garlic powder or garlic bulb extract produce a substantial amount of allicin. Make sure that when selecting a supplement, it contains allicin yield on the label.
• However, regardless of the amount of allicin produced ex vivo, experiments conducted under simulated digestive conditions showed that the enteric-coating of the supplement is crucial to protect alliinase from the gastric acid in the stomach, so that allicin can be produced.
• Given the powerful properties of the metabolites of allicin, the product should not only contain allicin, but also these beneficial metabolites such as ajoene, dithiins and DATS.