For more than 5,000 years, people have used garlic as a spice and herbal medicine. Today, garlic is sometimes used in alternative medicine to treat a wide variety of health conditions, ranging from high cholesterol to cancer, hypertension and skin infections. You should talk with your physician before taking garlic to reduce your cholesterol levels or for any other purpose. Don’t stop taking any cholesterol-lowering medications unless directed by your doctor.
Benefits
Taking garlic may help to decrease your LDL, or “bad cholesterol,” levels and increase your HDL, or “good cholesterol,” according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Garlic may also help to reduce triglycerides in your blood. These factors might decrease your risk of heart and cardiovascular diseases, notes the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. No conclusive medical evidence confirms garlic’s effectiveness in lowering cholesterol, however.
Function
Garlic contains the amino acid derivative called alliin, which converts to the compound allicin when combined with the enzyme alliinase in the body, explains the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Allicin has antihyperlipidermic actions that may help to reduce cholesterol levels in people with elevated cholesterol. Garlic’s chemical compounds might also help to prevent LDL oxidation that can damage cells in the body, says the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Dosage
To lower cholesterol levels, you might take 600 to 900 mg of garlic capsules or tablets each day, divided into two or three doses, according to the University of Michigan Health System. Alternatively, you could eat one or two whole cloves of raw garlic each day or 2.4 to 7.2 grams of aged garlic extract daily. You should ask your doctor for the proper dosage of garlic before you start taking it to reduce cholesterol levels.
Medical Evidence
A 1993 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that garlic moderately reduced total blood cholesterol levels, and another 1994 clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom found that garlic helped to lower triglycerides as well, says the University of Michigan Health System. Another double-blind study conducted in Germany in 1990 found the same results, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. And a 1996 double-blind crossover study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that taking aged garlic extract helped to lower cholesterol levels in men with moderate hypercholesterolemia.
Considerations
More recent medical studies have failed to find substantial cholesterol-lowering benefits from taking garlic, however. A 2007 randomized clinical trial published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found no benefit in reducing cholesterol levels from taking raw, aged or powdered garlic, says the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A 1998 multicenter, placebo-controlled trial of garlic powder published in the same journal found similar results. Another human study published in a 2000 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found no effects on cholesterol or triglyceride levels from taking garlic powder. Due to this conflicting scientific evidence, you shouldn’t take garlic to reduce your cholesterol levels before first discussing it with a healthcare professional.
Risks
Because garlic is such a widely consumed food throughout the world, it’s generally considered safe for consumption. Some commonly reported side effects from taking garlic include fatigue, headache, gastrointestinal problems and sweating. Garlic may inhibit your blood platelets’ stickiness and ability to form clots, posing bleeding risks if you have hemophilia or another bleeding disorder. Also, if you take anticoagulants, antiplatelets or other “blood-thinning” medications, you shouldn’t take garlic without first consulting your doctor. Garlic may interact with other medications as well, such as insulin and other diabetes drugs, cyclosporine, as well as protease inhibitors used to treat HIV, such as saquinavir.
