Antihypertensive activities of processed garlic on spontaneously hypertensive rats and hypertensive humans

This study evaluated the effects of processed garlic (PG) on the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and on the BP of hypertensive humans. The color of raw garlic changed to black through enzymatic browning over two-week processing periods, and the active compound S-allyl-L-cysteine was analyzed and calculated as 75.3 mg/100 g in PG. PG was found to effectively reduce the blood pressure of SHR after 4, 6, and 8 weeks with a single daily dose of 30 and 50 mg/kg. We conducted a placebo-controlled trial to test the efficacy of PG on lowering SBP and DBP of 44 hypertensive subjects over a period of 8 weeks. PG significantly lowered SBP after only 2 weeks (p<0.01), while a significant reduction in DBP (p<0.05) took 8 weeks. This significant DBP reduction was also found in the placebo group (p<0.05), which might be attributed to a placebo effect. After 8 weeks, PG lowered SBP by 8.05 mmHg. In conclusion, taking two 500 mg capsules of PG for 8 weeks can significantly lower blood pressure in hypertensive subjects.