Drug & supplement interaction

Garlic + Bacille Calmette-Guerin

Bacille Calmette-Guerin brand name: BCG.

No Known Interaction
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first.

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Interaction report

Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Bacille Calmette-Guerin and Garlic in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Garlic safety at a glance

Garlic overall Use caution Generally safe as food, but supplements may cause stomach upset and increase bleeding risk.
Pregnancy Likely Safe When used orally in amounts commonly found in foods. Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Safe When used orally in amounts commonly found in foods. Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Bacille Calmette-Guerin and Garlic? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Bacille Calmette-Guerin

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Bacille Calmette-Guerin is filed under a single classification — tuberculosis vaccine. Garlic has documented interactions with 12 drug classes — the most serious being anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs (moderate), antidiabetes drugs (moderate) and antihypertensive drugs (moderate) — and none of Bacille Calmette-Guerin’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Garlic Does Interact With Other Medications

Garlic has 989 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Bacille Calmette-Guerin isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Garlic

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Garlic. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

What Garlic Itself Has Been Linked To

This is not an interaction — nothing below involves Bacille Calmette-Guerin. It is the side-effect record for Garlic on its own, from the licensed Natural Medicines monograph. If something new turns up after you add Garlic, this list is the first place to look. 7 entries are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Kidney stones / Blood clots Worth acting on Additional detail

    “Oral use of dietary garlic or supplements containing garlic has caused platelet dysfunction, increased fibrinolytic activity, prolonged bleeding time, retrobulbar hemorrhage (bleeding behind the eye) postoperative bleeding, and spinal epidural hematoma. Also, a case of kidney hematoma following extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (SWL) has been reported in a patient with nephrolithiasis who took aged garlic.”

    Garlic · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in kidney stones (nephrolithiasis).

    6 sources cited
    1. 586. Rose KD, Croissant PD, Parliament CF, Levin MB. Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma with associated platelet dysfunction from excessive garlic ingestion: a case report. Neurosurg 1990;26:880-2. PubMed
    2. 587. Burnham BE. Garlic as a possible risk for postoperative bleeding. Plast Reconstr Surg 1995;95:213.
    3. 4801. Kiesewetter H, Jung F, Jung EM, et al. Effects of garlic coated tablets in peripheral arterial occlusive disease. Clin Investig 1993;71:383-6. PubMed
    4. 4802. Kiesewetter H, Jung F, Jung EM, et al. Effect of garlic on platelet aggregation in patients with increased risk of juvenile ischaemic attack. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 1993;45:333-6. PubMed
    5. 11325. Carden SM, Good WV, Carden PA, Good RM. Garlic and the strabismus surgeon. Clin Experiment Ophthalmol 2002;30:303-4. PubMed
    6. 51397. Gadkari JV, Joshi VD. Effect of ingestion of raw garlic on serum cholesterol level, clotting time and fibrinolytic activity in normal subjects. J Postgrad.Med 1991;37:128-131.
  • A bowel blockage / Trouble swallowing / Raised blood pressure Worth acting on Additional detail

    “Orally, dehydrated garlic preparations or raw garlic may cause malodorous breath, body odor, abdominal pain or fullness, anorexia, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, belching, heartburn, nausea, unpleasant taste, reflux, and bowel obstruction.

    Large quantities of garlic may damage the gastrointestinal tract.”

    Garlic · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anorexia.

    6 sources cited
    1. 51438. Smyth, A. R., Cifelli, P. M., Ortori, C. A., Righetti, K., Lewis, S., Erskine, P., Holland, E. D., Givskov, M., Williams, P., Camara, M., Barrett, D. A., and Knox, A. Garlic as an inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing in cystic fibrosis--a p
    2. 51444. Hansanugrum, A. and Barringer, S. A. Effect of milk on the deodorization of malodorous breath after garlic ingestion. J.Food Sci. 8-1-2010;75(6):C549-C558. PubMed
    3. 732. Berthold HK, Sudhop T, von Bergmann K. Effect of a garlic oil preparation on serum lipoproteins and cholesterol metabolism. JAMA 1998;279:1900-2.
    4. 1873. Steiner M, Khan AH, Holbert D, Lin RI. A double-blind crossover study in moderately hypercholesterolemic men that compared the effect of aged garlic extract and placebo administration on blood lipids. Am J Clin Nutr 1996;64:866-70. PubMed
    5. 4784. Mader FH. Treatment of hyperlipidaemia with garlic-powder tablets. Evidence from the German Association of General Practitioners' multicentric placebo-controlled double-blind study. Arzneimittelforschung 1990;40:1111-6.
    6. 4793. Simons LA, Balasubramaniam S, von Konigsmark M, et al. On the effect of garlic on plasma lipids and lipoproteins in mild hypercholesterolaemia. Atherosclerosis 1995;113:219-25. PubMed
  • Pain or burning when passing urine Worth acting on Additional detail

    “Orally, garlic might cause dysuria, hematuria, or polyuria. In one case, an older male with high dietary and supplemental garlic intake at doses of 300-5400 mg daily for 3-4 years developed severe hematuria with clots after undergoing a minimally invasive prostate procedure.”

    Garlic · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in myasthenia gravis.

    4 sources cited
    1. 51438. Smyth, A. R., Cifelli, P. M., Ortori, C. A., Righetti, K., Lewis, S., Erskine, P., Holland, E. D., Givskov, M., Williams, P., Camara, M., Barrett, D. A., and Knox, A. Garlic as an inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing in cystic fibrosis--a p
    2. 51450. Hurley, M. N., Forrester, D. L., and Smyth, A. R. Antibiotic adjuvant therapy for pulmonary infection in cystic fibrosis. Cochrane.Database.Syst.Rev. 2010;(10):CD008037. PubMed
    3. 51467. Kianoush, S., Balali-Mood, M., Mousavi, S. R., Moradi, V., Sadeghi, M., Dadpour, B., Rajabi, O., and Shakeri, M. T. Comparison of therapeutic effects of garlic and d-Penicillamine in patients with chronic occupational lead poisoning. Basic Clin.Pharmacol
    4. 113618. Nair A, Abdelqader B, Sureshkumar S, Katmawai-Sabbagh S. Hematuria and dietary supplements - A case report on pronounced bleeding following a minimally invasive urological intervention in a patient on long term garlic supplements. Urol Case Rep 2023;50:10 PubMed
  • Wheezing Worth acting on Additional detail

    “Garlic exposure, most notably in occupational settings, may cause asthma and other symptoms such as sneezing, nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, and sinusitis. A case of minor hemoptysis has been reported for one patient with cystic fibrosis following intake of garlic capsules orally once daily for 8 weeks. A 77-year-old female developed pneumonia related to the intake of one whole black garlic clove daily.”

    Garlic · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in asthma.

    4 sources cited
    1. 40661. van der Walt, A., Lopata, A. L., Nieuwenhuizen, N. E., and Jeebhay, M. F. Work-related allergy and asthma in spice mill workers - The impact of processing dried spices on IgE reactivity patterns. Int Arch.Allergy Immunol. 2010;152(3):271-278. PubMed
    2. 51218. Seuri, M., Taivanen, A., Ruoppi, P., and Tukiainen, H. Three cases of occupational asthma and rhinitis caused by garlic. Clin Exp.Allergy 1993;23(12):1011-1014. PubMed
    3. 51438. Smyth, A. R., Cifelli, P. M., Ortori, C. A., Righetti, K., Lewis, S., Erskine, P., Holland, E. D., Givskov, M., Williams, P., Camara, M., Barrett, D. A., and Knox, A. Garlic as an inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing in cystic fibrosis--a p
    4. 96011. Suzuki Y, Saito J, Misa K, Fukuhara N, Fukuhara A, Munakata M. A case of black garlic-induced pneumonia as an adverse reaction. Allergol Int. 2016;65(3):353-5. PubMed
  • Shortness of breath Worth acting on Additional detail

    Recorded for Garlic in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Wheezing above.

  • A severe allergic reaction Worth acting on Additional detail

    “There is a case report of an immediate sensitivity reaction to oral raw garlic, resulting in wheals, in a 31-year-old female. The patient did not react to cooked garlic, and skin prick tests showed allergy only to raw garlic. Researchers note that at least some allergens in raw garlic are heat labile.”

    Garlic · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in allergic rhinitis (hay fever).

    6 sources cited
    1. 96015. Yagami A, Suzuki K, Sano A, et al. Immediate allergy due to raw garlic (Allium sativum L.). J Dermatol. 2015;42(10):1026-7.
    2. 88392. Ma S, Yin J. Anaphylaxis induced by ingestion of raw garlic. Foodborne Pathog Dis 2012;9(8):773-5. PubMed
    3. 96012. Treudler R, Reuter A, Engin AM, Simon JC. A case of anaphylaxis after garlic ingestion: Is alliinase the only culprit allergen? J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2015;25(5):374-5.
    4. 51406. Lembo, G., Balato, N., Patruno, C., Auricchio, L., and Ayala, F. Allergic contact dermatitis due to garlic (Allium sativum). Contact Dermatitis 1991;25(5):330-331.
    5. 51498. Bojs, G. and Svensson, A. Contact allergy to garlic used for wound healing. Contact Dermatitis 1988;18(3):179-181. PubMed
    6. 51510. Bleumink, E. and Nater, J. P. Contact dermatitis to garlic; crossreactivity between garlic, onion and tulip. Arch.Dermatol.Forsch 8-15-1973;247(2):117-124. PubMed
  • Hives Worth acting on Additional detail

    “Orally, garlic may cause pruritus, flushing, and acne. Oral intake of a specific garlic product containing allicin (Allimax) has been associated with a case of pruritic rash. Enteric-coated garlic tablets standardized to 1.5% allicin have also been associated with a case of pruritus. Garlic has also been associated with a case of superficial pemphigus in a 49-year-old male with type 2 diabetes.”

    Garlic · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in acne.

    6 sources cited
    1. 51316. Tanamai, J., Veeramanomai, S., and Indrakosas, N. The efficacy of cholesterol-lowering action and side effects of garlic enteric coated tablets in man. J Med Assoc.Thai. 2004;87(10):1156-1161.
    2. 51474. Lissiman, E., Bhasale, A. L., and Cohen, M. Garlic for the common cold. Cochrane.Database.Syst.Rev. 2012;3:CD006206. PubMed
    3. 107239. Jafari F, Tabarrai M, Abbassian A, Jafari F, Ayati MH. Effect of Garlic (Allium sativum) Supplementation on Premenstrual Disorders: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2021;2021:9965064. PubMed
    4. 51564. Ruocco, V., Brenner, S., and Lombardi, M. L. A case of diet-related pemphigus. Dermatology 1996;192(4):373-374. PubMed
    5. 51467. Kianoush, S., Balali-Mood, M., Mousavi, S. R., Moradi, V., Sadeghi, M., Dadpour, B., Rajabi, O., and Shakeri, M. T. Comparison of therapeutic effects of garlic and d-Penicillamine in patients with chronic occupational lead poisoning. Basic Clin.Pharmacol
    6. 4833. Lee TY, Lam TH. Contact dermatitis due to topical treatment with garlic in Hong Kong. Contact Dermatitis 1991;24:193-6. PubMed

Showing the 10 most notable of 41 recorded effects — ranked by how unusual each one is across medicines generally, with serious effects weighted up.

Everything above comes from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record for Garlic — expand a row for the licensed statement it rests on. We haven’t matched Bacille Calmette-Guerin to its FDA label in our system yet, so we can’t compare its own side-effect list here — the leaflet that comes with your prescription is the authoritative list for Bacille Calmette-Guerin.

Special populations

Garlic in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Likely Safe

When used orally in amounts commonly found in foods.

Pregnancy Possibly Unsafe

When used orally in medicinal amounts. Garlic is reported to have abortifacient activity. One study also suggests that garlic constituents are distributed to the amniotic fluid after a single dose of garlic. However, there are no published reports of garlic adversely affecting pregnancy. In clinical research, garlic 800 mg daily was used during the third trimester of pregnancy with no reported adverse outcomes. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of topical garlic during pregnancy.

Lactation Likely Safe

When used orally in amounts commonly found in foods.

Lactation Possibly Unsafe

When used orally in amounts greater than those found in foods. Several small studies suggest that garlic constituents are secreted in breast milk, and that nursing infants of mothers consuming garlic are prone to extended nursing. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of topical garlic during lactation.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

From our Q&A

Questions About Garlic or Bacille Calmette-Guerin

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Garlic or Bacille Calmette-Guerin, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Bacille Calmette-Guerin

This page covers Garlic only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Bacille Calmette-Guerin page lists 1 supplement it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Dhea (moderate).

By severity: 1 moderate.

Open the Bacille Calmette-Guerin interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Garlic as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 4,118 real supplement products containing Garlic, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Garlic. Even though Garlic itself has no known interaction with Bacille Calmette-Guerin, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Garlic
Top 5%

#59 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Bacille Calmette-Guerin
Steady interest

#1,896 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Garlic reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Garlic

What is Garlic?

Garlic
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
  • Heart health
  • Immune support and common cold
  • Antimicrobial uses

Garlic is a common food and supplement that may modestly help with blood pressure and cholesterol, though the evidence is mixed and effects are usually small. It is generally safe in food amounts, but concentrated supplements can cause stomach upset, breath and body odor, and a higher risk of bleeding. Talk with your pharmacist or doctor before taking garlic supplements, especially if you take other medicines.

Allium sativum · Amaryllidaceae · Bulb (cloves) · Fresh cloves, powder, capsules, tablets, softgels, aged garlic extract, garlic oil

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Garlic is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Garlic record says about it on its own.

Garlic: dosing

There is no single official dose for garlic supplements. Different forms, such as aged garlic extract, powdered tablets, and oil, are not interchangeable. Start low and watch how you respond.

From our Garlic monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Garlic monograph & all interactions
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Garlic

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Garlic — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
989Moderate
0Minor
1,840No known interaction
Moderate

989 interactions

Showing 60 of 989 moderate interactions — see all 989 on the Garlic page.

No interaction 1,840 drugs checked — show the list
Evidence & sources

Garlic References

The 154 references that drive our Garlic monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Silagy CA, Neil HA. A meta-analysis of the effect of garlic on blood pressure. J Hypertens 1994;12:463-8. DOI
  2. McMahon FG, Vargas R. Can garlic lower blood pressure? A pilot study. Pharmacotherapy 1993;13:406-7. DOI
  3. Auer W, Eiber A, Hertkorn E, et al. Hypertension and hyperlipidaemia: garlic helps in mild cases. Br J Clin Pract Suppl 1990;69:3-6.
  4. Garty BZ. Garlic burns. Pediatrics 1993;91:658-9.
  5. Rose KD, Croissant PD, Parliament CF, Levin MB. Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma with associated platelet dysfunction from excessive garlic ingestion: a case report. Neurosurg 1990;26:880-2. PubMed
  6. Burnham BE. Garlic as a possible risk for postoperative bleeding. Plast Reconstr Surg 1995;95:213.
  7. Sunter WH. Warfarin and garlic. Pharm J 1991;246:722.
  8. Berthold HK, Sudhop T, von Bergmann K. Effect of a garlic oil preparation on serum lipoproteins and cholesterol metabolism. JAMA 1998;279:1900-2.
  9. Steiner M, Khan AH, Holbert D, Lin RI. A double-blind crossover study in moderately hypercholesterolemic men that compared the effect of aged garlic extract and placebo administration on blood lipids. Am J Clin Nutr 1996;64:866-70. PubMed
  10. Steiner M, Lin RS. Changes in platelet function and susceptibility of lipoproteins to oxidation associated with administration of aged garlic extract. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 1998;31:904-8. PubMed
  11. Gwilt PR, Lear CL, Tempero MA, et al. The effect of garlic extract on human metabolism of acetaminophen. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1994;3:155-60.
  12. Rahman K, Billington D. Dietary supplementation with aged garlic extract inhibits ADP-induced platelet aggregation in humans. J Nutr 2000;130:2662-5. PubMed
  13. Bloch AS. Pushing the Envelope of Nutrition Support: Complementary Therapies. Nutrition 2000;16:236-9. PubMed
  14. Steiner M, Li W. Aged garlic extract, a modulator of cardiovascular risk factors: a dose-finding study on the effects of AGE on platelet functions. J Nutr 2001;131:980S-4S. PubMed
  15. Mader FH. Treatment of hyperlipidaemia with garlic-powder tablets. Evidence from the German Association of General Practitioners' multicentric placebo-controlled double-blind study. Arzneimittelforschung 1990;40:1111-6.

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Garlic with Bacille Calmette-Guerin?
We do not list a known interaction between Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
How was the Garlic and Bacille Calmette-Guerin combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Bacille Calmette-Guerin is filed under 1 classification, and Garlic has documented interactions with 12 drug classes — none of Bacille Calmette-Guerin's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Garlic interact with any other medications?
Yes. Garlic has 989 documented drug interactions in our database — Bacille Calmette-Guerin is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Bacille Calmette-Guerin interact with any supplements?
Yes. Bacille Calmette-Guerin has documented interactions with 1 supplement in our database — Garlic is not one of them. The Bacille Calmette-Guerin interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.