Brown garlic: A nutritionally improved garlic with therapeutic value in asthma treatment via modulation of S-nitrosothiols

Nitric Oxide (NO) regulates important physiological functions. Garlic (Allium sativum) is an important food component consumed fresh and processed for thousands of years. It has high L-arginine, which contributes to the NO system in the body. Both garlic and NO impact important physiological processes. Here we produced brown garlic, with significantly higher nutritional and therapeutic value compared to fresh and black garlic. Lower exhaled NO was recorded in asthmatic mice fed with brown garlic but with higher blood SNOs and no change in eNOS and iNOS expression. Lung biopsy showed reduced eosinophil accumulation in asthmatic mice fed with brown garlic. Real-time PCR and Western blot analyses indicated high expression of antioxidant genes but reduced interleukin genes, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-13, IL1β, and TNF-α brown garlic-fed asthmatic mice as compared to that in fresh and black garlic-fed asthmatic mice. This study provides the first comprehensive and conclusive insight into the nutritional benefits of brown garlic and its therapeutic value for the treatment of asthma in animals.