The recipe author's web page is here:
http://www.gardenbetty.com/contact/
She looks like more of a free spirit than a scientist, so not that she was thinking this, but what I was thinking was that antioxidants tend to bond with toxins and form compounds that are much less easily absorbed by the body. The garlic and olive oil in the recipe could contain the necessary antioxidants to do so. That's why the recipe doesn't make people sick...or at least that is just my guess.