Can garlic help protect against 2019 coronavirus? Fact Check

Rumours on the Internet advocate eating garlic in order to protect yourself from the 2019 Novel Coronavirus strain and the resulting COVID-19 disease.

FALSE

The medicinal properties of foodstuff like onions and garlic have long been a subject of “old wives tales” and “alternative” medical advice.

For example, one persistent tale claims that leaving a sliced onion next to your bed at night will help draw out the flu, since onions can absorb the virus.

So it was perhaps no surprise that these flavoursome cooking goodies would soon find themselves in coronavirus themed anecdotes. Soon after the outbreak, people on social media were promoting the idea of eating (or even drinking) both garlic and ginger.

“Good news! Wuhan CORONA VIRUS can be cured * with a bowl of freshly boiled garlic water. An old Chinese doctor proved its effectiveness. Many patients have also shown that this is

Good news, Wuhan’s corona virus can be cured by one bowl of freshly boiled garlic water. Old Chinese doctor has proven it’s efficacy. Many patients has also proven this to be effective. 8 cloves of chopped garlics add 7 cups of water and bring to boil.

#corona #virus The best most effective natural anti-biotic is the garlic. This miracle kills all kinds of virus infections in the body if you use every day.

Despite these claims, there is no evidence that garlic has any medicinal property that can repel the 2019 coronavirus strain. While considered a generally healthy good, no reputable entity is recommending consumption of garlic, garlic water or ginger.

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In fact the World Health Organisation have specifically debunked this claim.

there is no evidence from the current outbreak that eating garlic has protected people from the new coronavirus.

Short of no one wanting to stand within 10 metres of you courtesy of the reek of garlic, there is nothing that consuming this food will realistically do to protect against the coronavirus.