Garlic has been used for thousands of years to promote wound healing and improve heart health. Most of its positive effects are due to its high content of antioxidants, particularly allicin. Kyolic, or aged, garlic extract might help to reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease by decreasing your blood pressure. Consult your health-care provider before taking aged garlic extract.
Hypertension
Hypertension refers to a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher. Although hypertension rarely produces symptoms, it causes inflammation of your blood vessels that eventually impairs blood vessel function. This decreases blood flow to your vital organs, such as your heart. Long-term effects of hypertension include kidney dysfunction, stroke and cardiovascular disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Aged Garlic Extract
Scientists at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island investigated the impact of aged garlic extract on blood lipids in men with high cholesterol. Although blood pressure wasn’t the focus of the study, it was also measured. Researchers reported in the December 1996 issue of the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” that those taking 7.2 g of aged garlic extract for six months experienced decreases in blood pressure compared with those who had a placebo.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Aged garlic extract may lower blood pressure in those with high blood pressure, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Adelaide in South Australia. Scientists examined the effects of aged garlic extract on patients with treated, but uncontrolled, hypertension. Subjects were assigned to receive 960 mg of aged garlic extract or a placebo daily for 12 weeks. At the end of the treatment, participants getting the aged garlic extract lowered their blood pressure compared with those who consumed a placebo, according to research published in the October 2010 issue of “Maturitas.”
Interactions
Kyolic garlic supplements may interfere with certain medications, including antiplatelet and blood pressure medications, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Consult your health- care provider before taking any aged garlic extract supplements.
References
- High Blood Pressure (Hypertension); March 2011
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; A Doouble-Blind Crossover Study in Moderately Hypercholesterolemic Men that Compared the Effect of Aged Garlic Extract and Placebo Administration on Blood Lipids; M. Steiner et al.; December 1996
- "Maturitas"; Aged Garlicc Extract Lowers Blood Pressure in Patients with Treated But Uncontrolled Hypertension: a Randomized Controlled Trial; K. Ried et al.; October 2010
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Garlic; 2011
