Garlic has long been used as a home remedy to lower blood pressure; but does it work? A team of doctors recently conducted a meta-analysis of 11 scientific studies with the goal of uncovering the scientific truth about garlic’s effect on hypertension and blood pressure.

The studies reviewed used mainly garlic powder in their patients, although one used aged garlic extract and another used distilled garlic oil. Depending on the study, patients received between 600 and 900 mg per day for 12 to 23 weeks. Patients’ results were compared to control groups that received everything from placebos to a drug and a drug plus placebos.

The results indicate that in hypertensives garlic has a mean effect of lowering systolic blood pressure by 8.38 mm Hg compared to a placebo, while it had no significant effect on non-hypertensives. A sub-group analysis revealed that garlic lowered diastolic blood pressure in hypertensives by 7.27 mm Hg compared to a placebo. There was no significant diastolic change in non-hypertensives.

The bottom line is that garlic seems to lower blood pressure in hypertensives, and while a drop of about 8/7 is fantastic, it is may not be enough to get many hypertensives into the normal range.

SOURCES:

Karin Ried, Oliver R Frank, Nigel P Stocks, Peter Fakler and Thomas Sullivan (2008). Effect of garlic on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 2008, 8:13doi:10.1186/1471-2261-8-13. Retrieved on 9/19/2008 from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2261/8/13.