A US study conducted by a team of biologists from the University of Alabama in Birmingham shows that garlic causes red blood cells to release hydrogen sulfide in the body that relaxes blood vessels.

The blood vessels dilatation reduces blood pressure and allows blood to carry more oxygen to brain and other important parts of the body.

It is known that hypertension – high blood pressure – is a major risk factor for heart disease.

The beneficial properties of garlic are known for centuries, but this research may lead to a standardized garlic diet that may have healing results for cardiovascular diseases and even cancer.

Biology professor David Kraus from the University of Alabama, who led the research said that there is already another research going on that shows "that sulfide can protect from cardiovascular damage during a heart attack, it can alleviate various sorts of inflammation, [and] it can reduce platelet aggregation that would cause a clot to form".

So, the natural way of the red blood cells to produce H2S in contact with a chemical compound of garlic, called allicin, might help to obtain all these additional benefits for our health.

Garlic is a well known and loved food ingredient and easy to introduce in your daily meal.

Professor David Kraus gives also a tip of how to incorporate garlic into a diet: “Take an entire bulb of garlic and chop it up and put it in there and then spread that on bread, you can put it on vegetable dips, or in vegetables, you can use it on pasta, you can use it in a number of different ways”.

The research and its conclusions were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.