2002 Nov
Sanjay K Banerjee and Subir K Maulik
Abstract
Garlic and its preparations have been widely recognized as agents for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes.
Effectiveness of garlic in cardiovascular diseases was more encouraging in experimental studies, which prompted several clinical trials.
Though many clinical trials showed a positive effect of garlic on almost all cardiovascular conditions mentioned above, however a number of negative studies have recently cast doubt on the efficacy of garlic specially its cholesterol lowering effect of garlic. It is a great challenge for scientists all over the world to make a proper use of garlic and enjoy its maximum beneficial effect as it is the cheapest way to prevent cardiovascular disease.
This review has attempted to make a bridge the gap between experimental and clinical study and to discuss the possible mechanisms of such therapeutic actions of garlic.
Keywords: garlic, animal experiment, clinical trial, cardiovascular
Conclusions
Epidemiological study shows an inverse correlation between garlic consumption and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease progression [180–182]. The wealth of scientific literature supports the proposal that garlic consumption have significant cardioprotective effect, which include both animal and human studies. But certain issues regarding the proper use of garlic, i.e use of different preparations available, dose, duration and interaction with generic drugs should be optimized. Further research should also be carried out to identify specific compounds from garlic or garlic products that are responsible for most of its biological effects.
