COMMISSION ON FOOD CHEMISTRY (VI.5)
Number: 650/87/96
Title: Chemical Characterization of Garlic Preparations
Coordinator(s): S.W.
Page (Working Group: Natural Constituents)
Remarks: AOAC International
Completion Date: 1998 - project abandoned
Objective:
To establish standardized procedures for the characterization of garlic
and its preparation that can be used to relate the composition of these
preparations to their biological activities. Rationale: There is mounting
evidence, particularly epidemiologic data, that garlic has beneficial
activity in the prevention of cancer and other diseases. However, the
chemistry of garlic is extremely complex, and some of the original studies
of the chemical components of garlic have been shown to be in error.
Commercial preparations of garlic vary in chemical composition resulting
from different methods of processing. This is alarming since there are
a number of on-going and planned human studies of the effectiveness
of garlic preparations, which will all suffer from the lack of uniform
procedures for the characterization of the test materials. Approach:
A working group of experts on the composition of garlic will be formed
to develop, and publish, a concensus document on the constituents of
garlic that should be determined and procedures for their analysis.
This document may include recommendations for additional work, including
further evaluation such as collaborative studies. Such follow-up activities
could be the subject of future IUPAC projects.
Progress:
Drs Calvey (FDA) and Block (State University of New York at Albany)
are continuing work on a review of garlic chemistry and methods of analysis.
This should be ready submission for submission by December 1997. The
commission leadership strongly supports deadline extension of one year
for this project, i.e. until 1998.
No progress made in 1998-1999 - project abandoned
Last update: 6 September 1999