Is garlic a "fake food"? No, that's not true: A nutrition expert confirmed to Lead Stories that "Garlic is a real food." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recognizes garlic as a food that is safe for human consumption.
The claim appeared in a video post on Facebook (archived here) on September 13, 2023. The caption under the video opened:
It is NOT Rea..... 🌱🤥 #Garlic #Fakefood #Realfood #Healthy #Biohacking #drsebiapproved
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Sept 21 15:26:38 2023 UTC)
The video opens with an unidentified narrator saying, "Garlic is a fake food."
Christopher Gardner, a professor of medicine at Stanford University who specializes in evidence-based research of various foods and diets, confirmed for Lead Stories in a September 21, 2023, email that the claim made in this video is false:
Garlic is a real food.
Botanically, it is a member of the allium family, that also includes onions, shallots, leeks and chives....which are also all real foods.
Under the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, the Food and Drug Administration currently recognizes garlic as a safe food for humans to consume.
At the 1:34 mark in the video, an advertisement for Honduran Sea Moss, which is being sold on a website called awakensupps.com is displayed. The "About Us" page of this website states that it is a health brand focused on the alkaline vegan lifestyle of Dr. Sebi.
"Dr. Sebi," whose real name was Alfredo Bowman, was a Honduran man who died in 2016. He was not a licensed physician and was known for promoting questionable herb-based products and holistic practices.
Other Lead Stories fact checks mentioning Dr. Sebi can be found here.
