Ingredient Spotlight: Garlic

Garlic is known to have many health benefits, especially for healthy heart and blood function. But that's not all. According to WebMD, "garlic has more than 40 other healthy compounds, such as arginine, oligosaccharides, flavonoids, and selenium. Experts say any of them, or mixtures of them, could be why garlic supports good health."

Best of all, garlic is also nature's insect repellent. Products with high-dietary-sulfur garlic, such as Bug Off Garlic, represent a powerful and safe way to protect your horse, dog, or cat from fleas, ticks, and other biting insects BEFORE they bite. This is important because many popular insect control products use pesticides to kill insects on animals AFTER they bite, and that means after the potentially infectious fluid exchange between the insect and the animal has already occurred.

The science behind the supplement

When a relatively small amount of high-dietary-sulfur garlic is ingested by an animal, the animal will naturally emit a smell that confuses the prey-sensing organs of biting insects. It's a smell too subtle for the poorly developed sense of smell of most humans, but it's an odor that baffles bugs. Essentially, when biting insects smell the CO₂ exhaled by animals, they know they've found a blood meal, and garlic blocks this prey-detection system. Best of all, Bug Off Garlic doesn't come with the dangerous and painful side effects known to sprays and spot-on chemicals for flea and tick control.

Bug Off Garlic is sold in granule form (for horses, dogs, and cats), chewable tablets (for dogs) in various convenient sizes, as well as capsules for people.

Related Reading

• Frequently Asked Questions About Garlic
• Garlic: Friend Or Foe? by Dr. Deva Khalsa, featured in Dogs Naturally Magazine
• EPA Report: Spot-on Pesticides Linked to Pet Death
• Garlic Studies

Springtime uses the highest-quality, human-grade garlic -- third-party tested for potency, purity, and safety. Below you will find more information on Springtime products containing garlic: