We all know that garlic is a great way of keeping away vampires, as well as our partners, but it seems it may also help to keep away hypertension.
In this article we’re going to have a look at some recent research into the effects of taking garlic supplements to help patients whose high blood pressure showed little to no change with conventional medicines.
A group of doctors in Australia ran a trial with 50 patients to see what effect taking garlic supplements would have on their hypertension. The results were quite interesting.
According to a report published in the journal Maturitas (a scientific journal to do with midlife health and beyond) the patients taking four garlic extract capsules per day went on to have a lower blood pressure than that of the patients who were receiving the placebo’s.
While using garlic as a cure for ailments has dated back many thousands of years, and even more recently it has been known to reduce the blood pressure of people with untreated hypertension, as well as help to lower cholesterol, this is the first study where ‘aged garlic’ has been used in the supplement.
The twelve week trial looked at the effect, acceptability, and tolerability that using the extract of aged garlic would have on uncontrolled hypertension when taken in tandem with a prescribed antihypertensive medication.
It was found that the systolic blood pressure of the group taking the garlic supplements was about 10mmHg lower than that of the group who were taking the placebo.
While these are encouraging signs, and having good scientific research helps to move on our knowledge of the effects of taking garlic supplements, studies with far larger groups of patients are needed to get a more representative figure of the number of people who can be helped with their hypertension by taking garlic supplements.
It’s also important to note that, while these results are looking promising for many sufferers of hypertension, it’s not advisable to begin stocking up with a large supply of garlic supplements, not at the moment anyway. Always check with your doctor first, especially if you’re on other medication.
Garlic supplements, when taken with certain medication, is known to cause a thinning of the blood, and this can cause a whole new set of problems all of its own.
Further research is needed before anything can be released about how effective this is going to be in the long term, but it’s still looking like a step forward in the battle to control blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
So maybe sometime in the future we can add to the list of vampires and partners with sensitive noses, that garlic keeps away the far less welcome hypertension.
What is your understanding of high blood pressure?
