Garlic and its effects on heart disease risk factors
What it found
Garlic may help lower mildly high blood pressure, reduce high cholesterol, and slow artery hardening.
These findings come from a mix of human and lab research.
What they found
Studies in people
Mildly high blood pressure
The gathered evidence suggests garlic has the potential to treat mild high blood pressure in people.
Studies in people and animals
High cholesterol levels
Research indicates garlic may bring down high cholesterol levels.
Hardened arteries
Evidence points to garlic possibly helping prevent arteries from hardening and narrowing.
Other findings
How garlic works
The authors examined the specific chemical processes that explain how garlic affects the heart and blood vessels.
What the authors conclude
- They believe garlic shows promise for treating mild high blood pressure, lowering high cholesterol, and preventing hardened arteries.
- They advise that more clinical trials in people are needed to clearly understand how garlic treats or prevents these heart conditions.
How it was done
Heart disease causes the most deaths worldwide, and those numbers are expected to rise over the next ten years. Many people take dietary supplements hoping to lower their heart risks.
The authors gathered and examined existing research on garlic for treating or preventing heart conditions. They looked at studies on hardened arteries, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. They also explored how garlic works inside the body at a molecular level.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This work gathers past research rather than running a new trial.
- It cannot prove on its own that garlic directly causes improvements in heart health.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Qatar University, P.O. Box . Qatar; Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid . Jordan; Qatar University, Doha. Qatar
The paper
- Title
- Garlic for Cardiovascular Disease: Prevention or Treatment?
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Alali FQ, El-Elimat T, Khalid L, Hudaib R, Al-Shehabi TS, Eid AH (2017). Garlic for Cardiovascular Disease: Prevention or Treatment?. Current pharmaceutical design. doi:10.2174/1381612822666161010124530PubMed 27748188DOI
Summary written 1 Oct 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error