Garlic
Our bodies actually require a certain amount of cholesterol in order to perform some important tasks, including building new cells, producing hormones, and forming protective insulation around nerves.
We naturally produce a supply of what's called about 2,000 mg a day, to be exact. Add to that cholesterol we take in from the food we eat (primary from meat and dairy products) and you see how we could have a problem.
We naturally produce a supply of what's called about 2,000 mg a day, to be exact. Add to that cholesterol we take in from the food we eat (primary from meat and dairy products) and you see how we could have a problem.
The average American adults consumes about 450 mg of daily dietary cholesterol. This may not sound like much, but consuming an extra 200 mg (equal to just two hen eggs) per 1,000 calories a day is enough of a threat to heart health that it has been calculated to shorten the average life span by about three and one-half years.
Cholesterol consists of two types of lipoproteins that transport cholesterol through your blood. High density lipoproteins, or HDLs, scour your arteries and carry excess cholesterol to your liver for removal from your body. The higher your levels of HDL 'good cholesterol,' the better.
On the other hand, 'bad cholesterol' low density lipoproteins, or LDLs, are the artery clogging troublemakers that can coagulate on your artery walls like built-up slime and chemical pollution in water pipes. A healthy goal is an overall cholesterol level, which includes both HDLs and LDLs, below 200 mg per deciliter of blood - the numeric measurement your doctor gives you when he or she checks your cholesterol.
In study after study, researchers have found that garlic has a significant effect in reducing cholesterol levels. At the University of Munich in Germany, researchers experimented with both garlic extracts and wild garlic in laboratory experiments, examining how they affected the production of cholesterol in cells. They found that both forms of garlic inhibited cholesterol production by 44 to 52 percent.
In another German study, people who took 900mg of garlic powdered a day not only showed significantly lower total cholesterol but, in responses to a questionnaire, said that they "had a greater feeling of 'well-being'.
Scientist at the Clinical Research Center in New Orleans conducted an experiments with 42 healthy middle-aged men and women with high cholesterol levels averaging 262. Three times a day, half the subjects received a tablet containing 300mg of garlic powder, while the other subjects received a placebo, a tablet that resembled the garlic powder tablet but which actually contained no garlic. All of the subjects followed their customary dietary and exercise habits. The results: After 12 weeks, the cholesterol levels of the garlic-takers fell from 262 to 247, while the cholesterol levels of those who took no garlic showed no significant change.
Even patients already suffering from coronary heart disease have been shown to benefit from adding garlic to their diets. A study looked at coronary heart disease patients as well as healthy individuals who took garlic every day for 10 months. Taking garlic lowered the cholesterol levels in both groups.
So many convincing studies have been conducted that some researchers have focused their efforts on summarizing them. For instance: Several doctors at the Department of Medicine at New York Medical College reported to fellow physicians via the medical journal the Annals of Internal Medicine that just "one-half to one clove (of garlic) a day or its equivalent may decrease total serum cholesterol levels by about 9 percent." And, they add, this is a conservative figure.
Scientists at the University of Oxford in England reviewed 16 different studies involving 952 subjects who received garlic preparations in experiments that lasted at least four weeks. Their conclusion: "Garlic supplements may have an important role to play in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia" (elevated cholesterol). Garlic-taking subjects in those studies showed cholesterol levels reduced by an average of 12 percent, a reduction that was still in effect in the subjects six months later.
A group of German scientist noted that in seven out of eight experiments involving more than 500 patients, a daily dose of garlic powder reduced cholesterol levels by 5 to 20 percent. Researchers have also found that garlic actually prevents fat digestion. In other words, even if you don't eat a flawlessly low-fat diet, eating garlic can help keep your cholesterol under control.
At Tagore Medical College in India, a country where garlic has long been used as a folk remedy for heart disease, researchers fed male volunteers a diet that included a fat-laden 3.5 ounces of butter (almost half a stick) a day. Some of the volunteers were also given raw garlic or garlic oil extract. Those who ate the buttery diets without garlic showed an average 16 point rise in their cholesterol levels, but those who received garlic had an average cholesterol drop of 15 points.
Researchers at the Institute for Clinical Research in Switzerland decided to conduct an experiment during the Christmas/New Year's season, the peak of the year for cholesterol rich meals.
Over a two-month period, 43 experimental subjects with elevated total cholesterol levels ranging between 230-390 feasted on their customary high-fat holiday meals; about half of them also took a garlic preparation, while the other half did not. At the end of the holiday season, 35 percent of the patients who took garlic along with their holiday meals had lower cholesterol levels, compared to just 20 percent of those who didn't take garlic.
In a separate experiment, subjects were fed a fat-rich diet for seven days; on the eight day their cholesterol was measured. Then, for another seven days, they were again given a fat-rich diet along with 40 grams of garlic, and their cholesterol was measured once more. The results: while the fat-rich supplement overall cholesterol levels, the garlic supplement still succeeded in significantly reducing cholesterol.
Garlic's fat-fighting ability may be linked to the compound ajoene. According to a team of researchers in France, ajoene appears to act to prevent the human digestive system from turning fat into cholesterol. It does so by inhibiting the production of an enzyme called human gastric lipase (HGL), which is involved in the digestion and absorption of dietary fats. Ajoene, the researchers believe, inactivates HGL. These data, the researchers note, may explain the age-old Mediterranean and Oriental belief in the "blood-thinning" effects of garlic on a molecular and physiological basis.
Garlic has been called a natural hypolipidemic substance. That is, it interfered with the production of lipids, or cholesterol, in the same way that hypolipidemic medications prescribed by a doctor do. In fact, garlic may actually be more effective than medications.
Garlic doesn't just lower overall blood cholesterol levels. It lowers bad LDL cholesterol levels while at the same time raising good HDL cholesterol levels that clogs up your blood vessels and raises the kind that sweeps fat out.
Cholesterol consists of two types of lipoproteins that transport cholesterol through your blood. High density lipoproteins, or HDLs, scour your arteries and carry excess cholesterol to your liver for removal from your body. The higher your levels of HDL 'good cholesterol,' the better.
On the other hand, 'bad cholesterol' low density lipoproteins, or LDLs, are the artery clogging troublemakers that can coagulate on your artery walls like built-up slime and chemical pollution in water pipes. A healthy goal is an overall cholesterol level, which includes both HDLs and LDLs, below 200 mg per deciliter of blood - the numeric measurement your doctor gives you when he or she checks your cholesterol.
In study after study, researchers have found that garlic has a significant effect in reducing cholesterol levels. At the University of Munich in Germany, researchers experimented with both garlic extracts and wild garlic in laboratory experiments, examining how they affected the production of cholesterol in cells. They found that both forms of garlic inhibited cholesterol production by 44 to 52 percent.
In another German study, people who took 900mg of garlic powdered a day not only showed significantly lower total cholesterol but, in responses to a questionnaire, said that they "had a greater feeling of 'well-being'.
Scientist at the Clinical Research Center in New Orleans conducted an experiments with 42 healthy middle-aged men and women with high cholesterol levels averaging 262. Three times a day, half the subjects received a tablet containing 300mg of garlic powder, while the other subjects received a placebo, a tablet that resembled the garlic powder tablet but which actually contained no garlic. All of the subjects followed their customary dietary and exercise habits. The results: After 12 weeks, the cholesterol levels of the garlic-takers fell from 262 to 247, while the cholesterol levels of those who took no garlic showed no significant change.
Even patients already suffering from coronary heart disease have been shown to benefit from adding garlic to their diets. A study looked at coronary heart disease patients as well as healthy individuals who took garlic every day for 10 months. Taking garlic lowered the cholesterol levels in both groups.
So many convincing studies have been conducted that some researchers have focused their efforts on summarizing them. For instance: Several doctors at the Department of Medicine at New York Medical College reported to fellow physicians via the medical journal the Annals of Internal Medicine that just "one-half to one clove (of garlic) a day or its equivalent may decrease total serum cholesterol levels by about 9 percent." And, they add, this is a conservative figure.
Scientists at the University of Oxford in England reviewed 16 different studies involving 952 subjects who received garlic preparations in experiments that lasted at least four weeks. Their conclusion: "Garlic supplements may have an important role to play in the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia" (elevated cholesterol). Garlic-taking subjects in those studies showed cholesterol levels reduced by an average of 12 percent, a reduction that was still in effect in the subjects six months later.
A group of German scientist noted that in seven out of eight experiments involving more than 500 patients, a daily dose of garlic powder reduced cholesterol levels by 5 to 20 percent. Researchers have also found that garlic actually prevents fat digestion. In other words, even if you don't eat a flawlessly low-fat diet, eating garlic can help keep your cholesterol under control.
At Tagore Medical College in India, a country where garlic has long been used as a folk remedy for heart disease, researchers fed male volunteers a diet that included a fat-laden 3.5 ounces of butter (almost half a stick) a day. Some of the volunteers were also given raw garlic or garlic oil extract. Those who ate the buttery diets without garlic showed an average 16 point rise in their cholesterol levels, but those who received garlic had an average cholesterol drop of 15 points.
Researchers at the Institute for Clinical Research in Switzerland decided to conduct an experiment during the Christmas/New Year's season, the peak of the year for cholesterol rich meals.
Over a two-month period, 43 experimental subjects with elevated total cholesterol levels ranging between 230-390 feasted on their customary high-fat holiday meals; about half of them also took a garlic preparation, while the other half did not. At the end of the holiday season, 35 percent of the patients who took garlic along with their holiday meals had lower cholesterol levels, compared to just 20 percent of those who didn't take garlic.
In a separate experiment, subjects were fed a fat-rich diet for seven days; on the eight day their cholesterol was measured. Then, for another seven days, they were again given a fat-rich diet along with 40 grams of garlic, and their cholesterol was measured once more. The results: while the fat-rich supplement overall cholesterol levels, the garlic supplement still succeeded in significantly reducing cholesterol.
Garlic's fat-fighting ability may be linked to the compound ajoene. According to a team of researchers in France, ajoene appears to act to prevent the human digestive system from turning fat into cholesterol. It does so by inhibiting the production of an enzyme called human gastric lipase (HGL), which is involved in the digestion and absorption of dietary fats. Ajoene, the researchers believe, inactivates HGL. These data, the researchers note, may explain the age-old Mediterranean and Oriental belief in the "blood-thinning" effects of garlic on a molecular and physiological basis.
Garlic has been called a natural hypolipidemic substance. That is, it interfered with the production of lipids, or cholesterol, in the same way that hypolipidemic medications prescribed by a doctor do. In fact, garlic may actually be more effective than medications.
Garlic doesn't just lower overall blood cholesterol levels. It lowers bad LDL cholesterol levels while at the same time raising good HDL cholesterol levels that clogs up your blood vessels and raises the kind that sweeps fat out.
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