Garlic could boost your immunity by keeping sick people away from your smelly breath. It could also destroy your immunity by attracting vampires to you, even badly infected ones.
But if science demonstrates that garlic is useless to protect you against vampires, it shows that it will at least protect you against heart disease, the formation of dangerous blood clots, coughs, colds, and flu.
And it will improve your love life. Garlic is known as an aphrodisiac, and research shows it is beneficial in treating impotency.
Legend used to have it that vampires recoiled from the mere sight of garlic, never mind its characteristically pungent odour once consumed. People living in vampire country were advised to brandish garlic cloves along with crosses and solid silver staves, to keep the blood suckers at bay.
However, Norwegian medical doctor Hogne Sandvik and colleague Anders Baerheim conducted a scientific study to test garlic as an "effective prophylactic (protection)" against vampires. They couldn't find a vampire willing to participate in their study, so they used leeches - the closest medical equivalent - instead.
In strictly standardised research surroundings, the leeches were placed either on hands smeared with garlic or a clean hand. The garlic-smeared hand was preferred in two out of three cases. And the leeches used only 14,9 seconds to attach themselves, compared with 44,9 seconds when going to the non-garlic hand.
The results of Sandvik and Baerheim's study were printed in an issue of the prestigious British Medical Journal.
Sandton homeopath, acupuncturist and osteopath Dr Frederic Motz regularly prescribes garlic to his patients.
"It is marvellous, both to reduce blood pressure and for viral and bacterial infections, and wonderful when used in food," French born Motz says.
It is a good general boost for the immune system, he says. It contains sulphur that enhances digestive processes.
Garlic is best eaten in its fresh, raw state, he says, as cooking does destroy some of garlic's active antibiotic ingredients. Other experts say that cooking won't destroy garlic's properties that regulate the viscosity of the blood.
And, if you are concerned about the odour on your breath, or the smell seeping through your pores, Motz advises you simply to chew parsley after eating garlic. That way you'll get a good dose of cholorphyll along with the odour-dampening properties.
And more good news is that science is proving you can depend on garlic's aphrodisiacal qualities, thanks to its ability to improve blood circulation significantly.
Studies show that garlic contains an enzyme, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) that is primarily responsible for the mechanism of erection. In certain forms, garlic can stimulate the production of NOS in individuals who have low levels of this enzyme.
Russians have been known to send garlic to regions where there are flu outbreaks, when they ran short of pharmaceutical antibiotics.