Garlic and Heart Health

Garlic, considered by experts as one of the oldest cultivated plants in history, carries an extensive list of diseases that is thought to be useful in alleviating. A major player in herbal medicine around the world, has been used for a wide variety of conditions including dysentery, tuberculosis and influenza for at least five thousand years. These days, however, have "rediscovered" for the treatment of two common diseases today: hypertension (high blood pressure) and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol and conditions). Both these conditions contribute to a high risk of heart disease and stroke.

In truth, there are great prescription medicines available for both hyperlipidemia and hypertension. People seriously affected probably need to be one of them rather than relying on the garlic or any herbal product to be effective enough to control their conditions. But many people have less high blood pressure and / or cholesterol, the kind of condition for garlic should be considered as an alternative to expensive prescription drugs.

Scientists have studied the garlic quite extensively with regard to the treatment of hypertension and hyperlipidemia and appears to be effective in reducing blood pressure and cholesterol in people who take on a regular basis. The active component of garlic is an amino acid called alliin who converted to allicin and other active metabolites. Any garlic you buy should be standardized by the sum of which contains allicin.

As I mentioned, studies on garlic as a treatment for the above conditions are very good, however, it is important to know not just use the average garlic cloves outside the grocery store shelf when you perform these studies. In fact, many clinical studies were conducted using Kwai, a standardized form of packaging that contains garlic quantities of allicin. What this means is that it is difficult to say whether or not a couple of cloves fresh garlic taken daily in their diet will be sufficient to achieve the kind of results that may be looking for.

That is why I feel uncomfortable recommending anything other than Kwai or similar standardized preparation. Each capsule contains 150 milligrams of Kwai concentrated garlic (the equivalent of 450 milligrams of sweet cloves) standardized to 900 micrograms of allicin. A total of four capsules a day is recommended.

Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you're taking garlic as the interactions between her and some anticoagulants have been reported.