VAMPIRES aren’t the only bad guys who can’t stand garlic. It turns out the bulb fights off nasty stomach bugs without killing the beneficial ones—and could even be used to decontaminate an area after a bioweapons attack.
Garlic contains compounds that can kill bacteria and yeasts, and its traditional antibiotic properties are well known (New Scientist, 14 May 1994, p 17). But if it is so effective, shouldn’t it harm beneficial microbes as well?
To find out, David Lloyd and his team at Cardiff University exposed the gut bacteria E. coli and Lactobacillus casei to different concentrations of…
