Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
Does garlic supplementation reduce cardiovascular disease risk?
Study design:
This review article included original studies and previous review articles (meta-analyses).
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found in 4 meta-analyses and 2 original studies that garlic supplementation significantly reduced blood pressure by 7-16 mmHg (systolic) and 5-9 mmHg (diastolic). Significant means that there is an association with a 95% confidence.
The investigators found in 8 meta-analyses that garlic supplementation significantly reduced total cholesterol by 7.4-29.8 mg/dL.
The most consistent benefits were shown in studies that used aged garlic extract (AGE).
The investigators found a few small studies that used aged garlic extract also showed favourable effects on C-reactive protein (CRP), pulse wave velocity (PWV), and coronary artery calcium (CAC).
Although garlic is generally safe, rare adverse reactions have been documented with limited causality established.
The investigators concluded garlic supplementation has the potential for cardiovascular protection based on risk factor reduction (hypertension and total cholesterol) and surrogate markers (C-reactive protein, pulse wave velocity and coronary artery calcium) of atherosclerosis. Larger studies are warranted to evaluate these effects further.
Original title:
Garlic and Heart Disease by Varshney R and Budoff MJ.
Link:
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/146/2/416S.long
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on garlic consumption and cardiovascular disease right here.