This week on Reactions, we’re talking garlic.
Hey, it’s good for your taste buds
and good for your body, but you’ve got to wonder,
how can something that adds such a brilliant
flavor to food leave you with such
bad breath after you eat it?
Our buddies over at Compound Interest have some
answers for us, so sit back, get peeling, and
get ready for some hard chemistry facts about garlic.
Garlic contains four major volatile organic
compounds that are responsible for that
notorious garlic breath. Interestingly enough,
none of these compounds are present in
garlic until it’s crushed or chopped.
When garlic’s structure is damaged,
enzymes convert the compound allin
to allicin – the compound responsible for garlic’s
distinct smell. Allicin is then broken down
into the four compounds that were just mentioned.
Once you take your first bite, the allyl methyl
sulfide compound is broken down in the body
much slower than the rest of the gang, so
it’s mostly responsible for your garlic breath.
This compound is then passed into
your bloodstream and organs, and is excreted
when you sweat, breathe, and when you have to pee.
But hey, if you’re worried about garlic breath,
try eating some parsley or drinking milk.
These two foods are actually known
to reduce garlic breath!
There’s also more to garlic than its delicious
flavor and accompanying bad breath.
You may have heard people tell that you
garlic is good for you health.
Well they’re right!
Garlic carries antibacterial properties,
and three compounds in particular do the dirty
work: Diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide,
and diallyl trisulfide.
Sulfur-containing organic compounds like
these can penetrate the cell membranes
of bacteria cells, and combine with certain
enzymes or proteins to alter their structure,
which ultimately damages the cells. Also, along
with these organosulfur bacterial assassins,
allicin has similar antibacterial properties.
Well now all you people out there are
properly armed with some chemical facts to
back your love affair with garlic, maybe
you want to check out this other video
about the chemistry of Sriracha, and hey,
why not check out Chemistry Life Hacks
Volume 2 – it’s got a little tip for an unwanted
effect of the other most loved allium, onions.
So thanks for watching folks,
we’ll see you again soon,
and don’t forget to subscribe.