We’ve all been there: skipped eating that garlic knot during our first date, or chewed some mints right after having a heavy pasta meal. Garlic is famous for being extremely loud. It doesn’t really care about your social life and doesn’t give a damn about how your breath smells.

However, once start looking look past the smell, and the outdated legends about repelling vampires, garlic is one of the most effective foods you can give your body.

Here is the twist, however: if you really want to experience all the health effects, you have to consume it raw.

To clarify, don’t get me wrong here, there’s probably nothing better than roasting an entire head of garlic to a soft, sweet, and buttery consistency. However, cooking completely transforms the chemical composition of it. As far as its health benefits go, cooking garlic essentially kills them off.

To understand why raw garlic is so powerful, you have to look at a sulfur-based compound called allicin.

Here’s a fun piece of food science: allicin doesn’t actually exist inside an intact clove of garlic. It’s a defense mechanism. Garlic produces allicin the moment its cells get damaged. If you crush, slice, or chew a raw clove, two different compounds will mix up within the plant to form allicin. This process is causes the burning sensation you get when eating raw garlic, as well as the characteristic smell of it.

As allicin is very sensitive to heat, then cooking, roasting, or even pickling garlic can completely destroy it. By the time your garlic has mellowed out in a hot pan, the allicin is mostly gone. Eating it raw ensures you’re actually getting the active compound at peak strength.

What raw garlic actually does for your body

If you look at the cardiovascular research, garlic keeps popping up as a major player. It doesn’t just do one thing; it tackles heart health from a few different angles:

1. It’s a massive help to your heart

Reducing blood pressure: In a clinical trial study conducted and documented by the National Institutes of Health, participants suffering from hypertension who were administered aged garlic supplements for three months experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure.

The effect was even comparable to many prescribed blood pressure medications. As explained by Dr. Sudha Raj, a nutrition professor at Syracuse University’s Falk College, garlic causes our bodies to produce nitric oxide. This natural compound helps dilate and widen blood vessels, making it easier for our blood to flow through. Also, garlic reduces ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) activity in our bodies, and this is exactly how many prescribed medicines work.

Keeping your arteries clean: Dr. Wendy Bazilian, a public health expert and nutritionist, points out in studies tracked by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that compounds in the allium family (which includes garlic, onions, leeks, and shallots) make your blood platelets less “sticky.” When your platelets don’t clump together too easily, it reduces the risk of blood clots. This anti-clotting effect is a huge deal for preventing atherosclerosis, which is the dangerous buildup of plaque in your arteries that can ultimately trigger a heart attack or a stroke.

Lowering cholesterol: In addition to all this benefits, there are clinical studies in the same scientific literature indicating that the use of garlic can lower the levels of your LDL cholesterol (or “bad” cholesterol) by 10-15 percent. Of course, consuming garlic only won’t do the magic, but when you combine it with balanced diet, regular exercise, and when you try to manage your stress, it can indeed support your cardiovascular system.