Is garlic so useful?

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Garlic has been used as a cure for heart disease since time immemorial. The first mention of the medicinal use of this plant is found in Egyptian papyrus dating back to the 2nd millennium BC. The healing properties of garlic, allegedly lowering the level of bad cholesterol (low density lipoprotein) in the blood, are confirmed by the results of numerous laboratory studies. But is it really so?

The authors of the new study, published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, considered the results of their predecessors to be insufficiently substantiated. Natural garlic, as well as dietary supplements with its active ingredients, does not reduce the level of bad cholesterol in the body, which means it does not prevent cardiovascular diseases, American scientists believe. Their new study involved 170 volunteers aged 30-65 with moderately high cholesterol levels.

Natural garlic, as well as dietary supplements with its active ingredients, does not reduce the level of bad cholesterol in the body.

The participants were divided into four groups. Subjects in the first group were required to eat a 4-gram head of natural garlic every day, the second group received food supplements with garlic powder, the third received an alcoholic extract of garlic, and the fourth received pacifiers. By the end of the 6-month follow-up period, no statistically significant change in cholesterol levels was noted in any of the groups. There were no reported serious side effects, with the exception of complaints of bad breath in participants who ate raw garlic.

However, the researchers do not rule out that garlic and garlic supplements may have different effects on different populations. In particular, garlic and the allicin it contains may still benefit patients with significantly elevated levels of bad cholesterol.