Vasily P. Karagodin, Igor A. Sobenin and Alexander N. Orekhov Pages 196 - 213 ( 18 )
Garlic is believed to produce beneficial changes in different cardiovascular risk factors, thus possessing antiatherosclerotic properties. The hypotensive and cholesterol-lowering effects were investigated in two studies in men with mild arterial hypertension and in men with mild hypercholesterolemia. Eight-week treatment resulted in the reduction of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 5.2% (P=0.008) and 4.0% (P=0.014), respectively. In hypolipidemic study, the 12-week treatment resulted in a decrease in LDL cholesterol by 11.8% (P=0.002), while HDL cholesterol increased by 11.5% (P=0.013). In men with cerebral atherosclerosis it has been demonstrated that 14-days treatment inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation by 25.4% (P<0.05) and increased plasma fibrinolytic activity by 22.4% (P<0.05).
One more study was performed in high-risk patients to evaluate the changes of prognostic cardiovascular risk that was calculated using algorithms derived from Framingham and Muenster Studies. Twelve-months treatment lowered 10-years prognostic risk of CHD by 13.2% in men (P=0.005), and by 7.1% in women (P=0.040). Ten-year prognostic risk of acute myocardial infarction and sudden coronary death was lowered by 26.1% in men (P=0.025).
The Atherosclerosis Monitoring and Atherogenicity Reduction Study (AMAR) was designed to estimate the effect of two-year treatment with garlic powder pills on the progression of carotid atherosclerosis in asymptomatic men. A significant correlation has been revealed between the changes in blood serum atherogenicity and the changes in carotid intima-media thickness (r=0.144, P=0.045). Evidence obtained from these studies as well as series of double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trials indicates that garlic powder pills are effective for prevention of cardiovascular disorders.Atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, prevention, treatment, garlic, allicor.
Department of Commodity Research and Commodity Expertise, Faculty of Trade Economics and Commodity Science, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russia, Stremyanny per. 36, 117997