Garlic Oil In Mild And Moderate Hypertension

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Garlic is the compound bulb of allium sativum linn (Fam. Liliaceae). Because of extensive healing and restorative properties attributed to it, it has been raised for hundreds of years by cultural peoples. Chopra et 1 reported the beneficial effect of garlic in a variety of ailments such as gastritis, hypertension, typhoid and cholera. The objective of this study was to investigate the hypotensive effect of garlic in human subjects. METHODOLOGY: The criteria used for inclusion in the trial was a recumbent diastolic blood pressure of 95415 mmHg at three consecutive visits. Suitable study candidates included patients who were newly diagnosed as having essential hypertension and who had not been treated previously. RESULTS: Sixteen patients required 500mg garlic oil capsules thrice a day. 4 patients were adequately controlled on 250 mg oil capsules thrice a day. 5(20%) patients failed to respond to treatment. D ISCUSSION: The results of this study indicate that Garlic oil when administered0 orally has a mild hypotensive effect on mild and moderate hypertensive’s suffering from essential hypertension. The mechanism of the hypotensive effect is probably due to a diuretic effect. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I wish to acknowledge the help received from Dr. Ariyarani Ariyaratne registrar Professial Medical Unit, Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in the conduct of this study.