 |
Garlic
is Heart Healthy
By Kathy Kastan, LCSW,
MA ED, and Suzanne Banfield, PhD, with Wendy Leonard and the
Members of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with
Heart Disease
|
Considered so sacred by the ancient
Egyptians, it was placed in the tombs of Pharaohs. Believed to
be so pow­erful by the Greeks and Romans, they ritually consumed
it prior to going to war. So loved by the Israelites, they pined
for it when wandering the desert. Of what are we speaking? Garlic…
of course.
Hippocrates and Pliny the Elder
strongly encouraged the consumption of garlic because of its
profound health virtues. Indeed, the "stinking rose"
(and a member of the lily family) has a long history of offering
a veritable cornucopia of heart healthy benefits--a reputation
that it absolutely deserves.
Thanks to garlic's rich antioxidant
content in the form of allicin, plus vitamins A and C, study
after study has shown that regularly eating garlic can lower
LDL and raise HDL cholesterol levels, as well as prevent, reduce,
and even reverse the development of atherosclerosis.
Garlic is also a terrific source
of salt-lowering potassium, which in turn reduces blood pressure.
And it's rich in folate, which lowers blood pressure and homocysteine
levels, relaxes blood vessels, and improves blood flow. Plus,
garlic has been shown to reduce blood sugar levels, help prevent
the formation of blood clots, and stave off heart disease--and
reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack.
Heart Helper Extraordinaire
A study investigated how garlic
might benefit 30 people with preexisting coronary heart disease.
Each day for 3 months, participants consumed 1 gram of peeled
and crushed raw garlic. The results showed a significant reduction
in total cholesterol and triglycerides and a significant increase
in HDL. The study also concluded that garlic successfully inhibits
the formation of blood clots.
Another study investigating whether
eating garlic might help reduce blood clots followed men ranging
in age from 40 to 50 who ate one clove of garlic (approximately
3 grams) each day for 16 weeks. Tested 6 months after their last
daily clove, the men, on average, reduced their cholesterol levels
by 20 percent and reduced their serum thromboxane--a lipid in
your blood that encourages clot formation--by a dramatic 80 percent!
| Continued
>>
|
