Garlic is natural medicine for treating high blood pressure

Thursday, October 08, 2009 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: garlic, high blood pressure, health news

(NaturalNews) Garlic is one of the most amazing medicinal herbs on the planet. It has been among my top-recommended healing foods and medicines for years. Most people know garlic as being anti-cancer. Others recognize its ability to naturally lower high cholesterol. But did you know that garlic also helps normalize high blood pressure?

Here, we present a collection of powerful quotes about garlic and high blood pressure, documented in some of the best health books ever written. Enjoy this collection of knowledge!

Garlic vs. high blood pressure

Onions have similar characteristics and are often used in combination with garlic. To preserve the beneficial effects of garlic it should not be boiled. The fresh juice is the most effective preparation. For nervous spasms, cramps and seizures, crush one clove of garlic in a glass of hot milk. For high blood pressure, take one clove of garlic each morning. Prepare oil of garlic by placing eight ounces of peeled minced garlic in a wide-mouthed jar with enough olive oil to cover. Close tightly and shake a few times each day; allow to stand in a warm place for three days.
- The Way of Herbs by Michael Tierra

Garlic has achieved a legendary reputation as an antihypertensive medication. It's been used in China for centuries for that purpose, and the Japanese government officially recognizes garlic as a blood-pressure depressor. American scientists first tried garlic against high blood pressure in 1921. Garlic consistently lowers blood pressure in laboratory animals.
- The Food Pharmacy: Dramatic New Evidence That Food Is Your Best Medicine by Jean Carper

Eat more garlic. It is another legendary folk remedy for high blood pressure, and it is effective, according to recent studies. Long used in China and widely used today in Germany as a blood pressure medication, garlic can have a striking impact. In a recent double blind German test of Kwai, an over-the-counter garlic preparation, doses comparable to a couple of daily garlic cloves pushed diastolic blood pressure down in patients with mild high blood pressure.
- Food Your Miracle Medicine by Jean Carper

I heard a lot about garlic being a good remedy for colds, but I was hesitant to try it because I also heard it lowers high blood pressure. Since my blood pressure is normal, I thought the garlic might cause it to drop. Fortunately, I read where a medical doctor said that garlic normalizes high or low blood pressure, but does not disturb normal blood pressure. With this assurance, I tried Kyolic garlic tablets the next time I felt I was starting to come down with a cold. Within a few days, I felt fine.
- Secrets of the Chinese Herbalists by Richard Lucas

The confidence the Egyptians had in garlic is demonstrated by the fact that they reportedly used it to strengthen the workers who built the pyramids. Pliny recommended garlic for 61 maladies in his Historia Naturalis; Hippocrates recommended it as a laxative, diuretic, and cure for tumors of the uterus. Garlic has been used to treat high blood pressure for centuries in China and Japan. In first-century India, garlic and onion were thought to prevent heart disease and rheumatism. Garlic even had a reputation as an aphrodisiac in Shakespearean England.
- Get Healthy Now with Gary Null: A Complete Guide to Prevention, Treatment and Healthy living by Gary Null

A number of scientific studies suggest another reason that garlic is your heart's friend: Its ability to bring down high blood pressure. Exactly how much can garlic reduce your blood pressure? It's not as fast-acting as high blood pressure medication, says Dr. Mowrey. But over time, he says, garlic can be almost as effective as lifestyle changes like weight loss, regular exercise and cutting back on salt intake.
- The Complete Book of Alternative Nutrition by Selene Y. Craig, Jennifer Haigh, Sari Harrar and the Editors of PREVENTION Magazine Health Books

According to David Hoffmann, B.Sc, M.N.I.M.H., of Sebastopol, California, eating a clove of raw garlic daily will help considerably in preventing or reversing the effects of high blood pressure. While garlic has been used for centuries in traditional cultures throughout the world as a multipurpose medicinal food, in recent decades more than 2,000 clinical studies have validated many of the folk-healing claims for "the stinking rose," as garlic was once called.
- Alternative Medicine the Definitive Guide, Second Edition by Larry Trivieri, Jr.

Three to ten cloves of garlic a day are needed to induce the beneficial effects for the cardiovascular system. However, the garlic cloves must be crushed, chopped, bruised, or chewed to release the full effect. You might want to try some of the popular garlic-rich Italian and Asian dishes. If you're worried about the famous odoriferous side effect of consuming garlic, do as the Europeans do and take your garlic in concentrated odor-free capsules.
- Intelligent Medicine: A Guide to Optimizing Health and Preventing Illness for the Baby-Boomer Generation by Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.

Studies show that garlic has antibiotic properties as well as the ability to fight fungal infections, and at least twenty-eight studies have found garlic effective for lowering cholesterol levels. In one German experiment, volunteers taking an 800-mg garlic tablet saw their cholesterol levels drop an average of 12 percent over four months. Compounds in garlic dilate the blood vessels and may help high blood pressure, congenital heart disease, and lung conditions. Can garlic also prevent cancer? Some scientists are finding out.
- Medicines From Nature by Peggy Thomas

Another group of researchers proposed that garlic's antiplatelet activity and other cardiovascular effects may be due to activation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and subsequent production of nitric oxide. The correlation between low levels of nitric oxide and high blood pressure has been known since 1991, and this research correlated the effect of garlic extract on NOS and platelet aggregation. Raw, dried, aged, and macerated garlic as well as garlic oil have all demonstrated antiplatelet effects. Ajoene may be one of the most potent antiplatelet compounds in garlic.
- The Encyclopedia of Popular Herbs by Robert S. McCaleb, Evelyn Leigh, and Krista Morien

In the eighteenth century, Esteyneffer recommended both garlic and onion for a wide variety of illnesses, uses that continue today. The Mountain Pima insert a clove of garlic into the anus to treat fever. The Mayo use garlic in capsules for arthritis and cancer and to reduce fat. Mexican Americans insert the clove to treat susto, fright disease. Both respect garlic for its magical properties. Garlic is used for high blood pressure and against fright; onion has been used for fever.
- Healing with Plants in the American and Mexican West by Margarita Artschwager Kay

As an antithrombotic agent, ajoene is at least as potent as aspirin and its activity is enhanced by other breakdown products of the garlic. Allicin is found to lower serum cholesterol by blocking its biosynthesis. Fresh garlic, garlic juice, aged garlic extracts or the volatile oil - all lowered cholesterol and plasma lipids, lipid metabolism, and atherogensis both in vitro and in vivo. Methyl-allyl trisulfide of the garlic helps expand constricted blood vessels, thereby preventing high blood pressure.
- Indian Herbal Remedies: Rational Western Therapy, Ayurvedic and Other Traditional Usage, Botany by C. P. Khare

The typical study compares diets high in fat with and without Garlic. Garlic diets consistently produce the lowest cholesterol levels. In the 1940s, one investigator found that 40 of 100 patients with high blood pressure experienced a reduction of 20 mmHg or more after about a week of garlic treatment. In another study, a water extract of garlic was given to hypercholesterolemic patients for two months during which time the patients experienced a 28.5% reduction in cholesterol - the dose was equivalent to about 10 grams of garlic per day.
- The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine: How to Remedy and Prevent Disease with Herbs, Vitamins, Minerals and Other Nutrients by Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D.

One study looked at 41,000 American women and found that one or more servings a week of garlic was associated with a 35 percent decrease in the risk of colon cancer. It is thought that garlic's sulfur compounds are key in preventing these types of cancers by helping to control carcinogens (cancer-causing substances). High blood pressure is recognized as one of the leading causes of heart disease, and garlic has been shown to have mild blood-pressure-lowering effects. Clinically, I would not rely on garlic alone to lower blood pressure.
- The Natural Physician's Healing Therapies by Mark Stengler, N.D.