@eirene_belle: “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” Those are famous words from the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, often called the father of Western medicine. Garlic is a common cooking ingredient with numerous health benefits. Examples include managing cholesterol, boosting heart health, supporting the immune system, protecting against the common cold, and more. Garlic contains allicin, which acts as an antibiotic. Garlic releases allicin when a person chops or crushes it. It also contains antioxidants that may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and may improve bone health Keep in mind that garlic has some downsides, such as bad breath. Some people are also allergic to garlic. What is the 10-minute garlic rule? The 10-minute garlic rule typically refers to how long you should let garlic stand after cutting or crushing it before you cook it. This may maintainsome of the allicin, a beneficial but unstable compound in garlic that degrades when fresh garlic is heated. Eating garlic raw may provide additional benefits, as some of the beneficial compounds in garlic are sensitive to heat.