#Publichealth

In Thai kitchens large and small, from spirited street corners in Chiang Mai to family tables on the outskirts of Nakhon Si Thammarat, the hot, sharp aroma of garlic is so familiar as to be invisible. But behind every clove of Allium sativum L.—known across Thailand as krathiam, or by regional names such as hua thiam and hom khaw—is a legacy spanning centuries of healing, belief, and now, modern medical research. Far from being a mere flavouring, garlic sits proudly at the intersection of heritage and laboratory, as both folk remedy and subject of global clinical inquiry.