Nutritional, biological, and therapeutic properties of black garlic: a critical review

Functional foods play a key role in human health and disease. Garlic (Allium sativum) is an eminent plant and has been part of food since ancient times due to its high medicinal food value. The unpleasant taste and odor of raw garlic make consumers reluctant for its use. With consumer demand, the trend for black garlic is getting attention worldwide. Black garlic is obtained from fresh garlic after a controlled fermentation process at high humidity and temperature. The fermentation process causes implausible changes in its physicochemical properties. Several in vitro and in vivo studies have been conducted to elucidate the effect of this natural agent against different health disorders and it has been found that black garlic is an effective in decreasing diabetic, hypercholesterolemic atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemic hypertension, inflammation, oxidative stress, cancer, and different neuro risks. The market for black garlic is developing rapidly to its positive functionality for human health. In the present review article, we have recapitulated the nutritional, chemical, bioactivity, physiochemical modifications during processing, food, and medicinal use and current knowledge of the subject, as well as the sensory aspects, and proposed future prospects on their possible applications as a functional food product.