Can I eat garlic when I have a cold?

There are three types of colds: wind-cold, wind-heat, and summer-heat. This is the classification in traditional Chinese medicine. Western medicine divides them into bacterial and viral. A cold usually recovers in a week. During the cold, you will feel very sleepy and want to sleep. You will also have symptoms such as nasal congestion, cough, and runny nose, which are very painful. Colds are also very common diseases and basically everyone will catch a cold. You need to be careful about your diet when you have a cold. So, can you eat garlic when you have a cold?

Garlic has antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects, and is often used clinically to treat infectious diseases and digestive tract diseases. An injection called allicin currently used in hospitals utilizes its anti-inflammatory effect. Garlic is used to fight colds, mainly because of its antiviral function. In addition to preventing colds, eating garlic regularly can also help prevent colds. If a cold is still in its early stages, such as sore throat, runny nose and other symptoms, eating some garlic in time can also help the body sweat and kill the cold virus in the cradle.

What foods can effectively treat colds? I believe that there will be a lot of foods mentioned by relatives and friends, and the most commonly heard and highly praised one is garlic.

Many people say, "When you have a cold, eat some garlic, then cover yourself with a blanket for a good night's sleep, and you'll be cured the next day." And then they really recover after doing so. It seems that garlic is really effective in curing colds.

But did you know that garlic is forbidden to be consumed when taking medicine for a cold? The reason is that after eating garlic, the efficacy of cold medicine will become abnormally strong.

At this point, you may be thinking: Garlic is really useful, isn’t that great? Why is it forbidden to eat garlic? What I want to tell you here is: the side effects of eating garlic are greater than you think.

Cold medicines contain ingredients that can reduce fever and relieve pain, but these ingredients have the side effect of causing stomach pain, while garlic has the disadvantage of damaging the gastric mucosa. So the side effects of the medication plus the properties of garlic.

The stomach will suffer great damage as a result. If the stomach becomes weak, it cannot absorb nutrients properly. How can you restore your health and strength?

If the situation develops to this point, no matter how effective the medicine is, it will be futile in restoring physical strength. Instead, it will cause a long-term cold and prolong the cold even longer. Therefore, the reason why “you cannot eat garlic after taking cold medicine” is this.

Indeed, garlic has a therapeutic effect on colds, and cold medicine also has a therapeutic effect on colds. But the human body does not necessarily mean “one plus one equals two”. Garlic is indeed the most suitable ingredient for preventing colds, but you should be especially careful when taking cold medicine and stay away from garlic temporarily.

Patients need to get enough sleep and pay attention to rest. Those with serious conditions or the elderly should stay in bed more, avoid smoking, and drink plenty of water. Keep the room well ventilated. If you have symptoms of sore throat, you need to take anti-inflammatory measures in time. If you have a fever, you need to reduce the fever in time. Drink more water, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, and avoid eating greasy, raw, cold, and irritating foods.