On 2014 Jun 03, Salvatore Chirumbolo commented:

This thorough review on the chemopreventive action exhibited by several natural components in human daily diet, should have addressed the possibility of a toxic activity by herbal remedies and phytochemicals, besides their claimed protective potential (Banerjee et al., Phytother Res 2003, 17(2):97). Many phenolic and aromatic derivatives, working as active components, often show a bimodal, “Janus-like” behaviour in the organism, what causes scientific challenge to be continued (Lee and Park, Mutat Res 2003; 523:265). For example, toxicity of garlic was addressed since past reports (Abraham and Kesavan, Mutat Res 1984, 36(1):85; Joseph et al, Ind J Exp Biol, 1989; 27(11):977)and may be an important debating issue in cancer research and chemoprevention. Garlic (Allium sativum L.) contains an active form of arsenic (Sousa-Ferreira H et al., Food Anal Methods, 2011; 4:411). Intake of garlic, as a chemopreventive raw food, involves a complex mechanism of raw food treatment, adsorption, pharmacokinetics and bioavailability (Amagase et al., J Nutr 2001, 131:955S), which were not yet addressed in the review. Evidence was reported showing that different people might have a different response to garlic, and thus garlic may be more beneficial for some specific groups. Garlic-derived compounds may work synergistically to produce various effects, but, because of garlic's chemical complexity, processing methods yield preparations with differing efficacy and safety, and this is a critical issue to ascertain garlic property against cancer. For example thiosulfinates (Amagase, J Nutr 2006, 136:716S), such as allicin, have been long misunderstood to be active compounds due to their characteristic odor, but some paper reported that it is not necessary for garlic preparations to contain such odorous compounds to be effective, as they decompose and disappear during any processing. Therefore, concluding remarks about the molecular activity of specific phytochemicals in daily food, should be reviewed by taking into account the role of ancillary molecules in raw sources and in vivo or clinical research.

On 2014 Jun 03, Salvatore Chirumbolo commented:

This thorough review on the chemopreventive action exhibited by several natural components in human daily diet, should have addressed the possibility of a toxic activity by herbal remedies and phytochemicals, besides their claimed protective potential (Banerjee et al., Phytother Res 2003, 17(2):97). Many phenolic and aromatic derivatives, working as active components, often show a bimodal, “Janus-like” behaviour in the organism, what causes scientific challenge to be continued (Lee and Park, Mutat Res 2003; 523:265). For example, toxicity of garlic was addressed since past reports (Abraham and Kesavan, Mutat Res 1984, 36(1):85; Joseph et al, Ind J Exp Biol, 1989; 27(11):977)and may be an important debating issue in cancer research and chemoprevention. Garlic (Allium sativum L.) contains an active form of arsenic (Sousa-Ferreira H et al., Food Anal Methods, 2011; 4:411). Intake of garlic, as a chemopreventive raw food, involves a complex mechanism of raw food treatment, adsorption, pharmacokinetics and bioavailability (Amagase et al., J Nutr 2001, 131:955S), which were not yet addressed in the review. Evidence was reported showing that different people might have a different response to garlic, and thus garlic may be more beneficial for some specific groups. Garlic-derived compounds may work synergistically to produce various effects, but, because of garlic's chemical complexity, processing methods yield preparations with differing efficacy and safety, and this is a critical issue to ascertain garlic property against cancer. For example thiosulfinates (Amagase, J Nutr 2006, 136:716S), such as allicin, have been long misunderstood to be active compounds due to their characteristic odor, but some paper reported that it is not necessary for garlic preparations to contain such odorous compounds to be effective, as they decompose and disappear during any processing. Therefore, concluding remarks about the molecular activity of specific phytochemicals in daily food, should be reviewed by taking into account the role of ancillary molecules in raw sources and in vivo or clinical research.