People who eat raw garlic twice per week are 44% less likely to develop lung cancer

Aug 6, 2013 16:26 GMT  ·  By

Smokers might want to look into the possibility of "seasoning" their next cigarette with some raw garlic. Apparently, this could help lower their chances of developing lung cancer.

Daily Mail informs us that, according to an investigation carried out by scientists in China, people who consume uncooked garlic at least twice a week are about 44% less likely to get said form of cancer.

In the case of smokers, garlic appears to lower lung cancer risk by 30%, the same source informs us.

"Garlic may potentially serve as a preventive agent for lung cancer," the scientists reportedly wrote in their study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Researchers suspect that garlic helps lower lung cancer risk because it contains a chemical compound that acts as an anti-oxidant and reduces cell damage.

This chemical is known to the scientific community as allicin.