Can the Health Benefits of Garlic Help Protect You from Heart Disease?

Can Garlic Help Protect You from Heart Disease

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Let’s talk about the health benefits of garlic (and to read even more garlic analysis, click here when you’re done reading).

The mission of PursuitOfGreat.com is to find methods that anyone can use to potentially make their life greater.

Not just methods that are only available to the privileged few, but anyone, no matter who you are or where you’re from.

And when one of those potential methods is as delicious as garlic, it goes straight to the top of the list.

To that end, it is time to ask the question:

The health benefits of garlic & heart disease

Garlic is touted for its health benefits the world over, including its heart-health qualities, but what does the scientific research have to say about it?

Fortunately, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan and Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute published a review of relevant scientific literature in The Journal of Nutrition in 2016 that sheds a lot of light on the subject.

The researchers found among the relevant literature, which was reduced to only double-blind, randomized, controlled trials as well as meta-analyses, that the benefits of garlic may indeed justify its inclusion as a health food superhero.

Their review found that among these studies, garlic supplementation had been shown to reduce blood pressure by 7-16 mm Hg (systolic) and 5-9 mm Hg (diastolic) in 4 meta-analyses and 2 original studies.

It also found garlic supplementation to reduce total cholesterol by 7.4-29.8 mg/dL in 8 meta-analyses.

They also identified a few small studies that showed positive effects on coronary artery calcium, C-reactive protein, and pulse wave velocity.

What form of garlic yielded the most benefits?

It is important to note that the form of garlic supplementation that was found to have the most consistent positive impact was aged garlic extract, sometimes known as AGE.

It is also important to note that, although rare, there have been rare adverse reactions to garlic that have been documented.

So what does this mean? Start loading up on garlic and offend your neighbors with your special newfound breath?

Maybe not so fast.

We need more studies to determine the best way for us to get the health benefits of garlic supplementation (having a heads up on AGE is a great start) as well as to further confirm these findings.

In the meantime, talk to your doctor first to see how garlic supplementation might be able to help you and how to do so safely. Just cramming a bunch of garlic into your diet every day may not be the best or safest approach, and your household will thank you for not doing so.

Maybe it will be another of the natural supplements that can help keep you safe and around for your loved ones for a long time, but you want to do so safely and effectively.

So talk to your doctor to determine what is right for you, and here’s to your pursuit of great!

Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26764327/

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