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February 26, 2007

Garlic is Out for Cholesterol Control

You know those garlic pills you've been taken to lower your choesterol? Well, a new study has concluded that garlic does not lower LDL, the bad-boy of cholesterol:

Although garlic and garlic supplements are widely promoted as cholesterol-lowering agents, a randomized study published Monday has found no evidence that garlic works any better than a placebo in reducing blood lipid concentrations.

The six-month study of 192 adults with mildly elevated cholesterol levels tested raw garlic and garlic supplements, and the authors documented the chemical characteristics of all the test products. The study appears in The Archives of Internal Medicine.

Could the results be any clearer? "No," says the investigative team:

"We did a bigger and better trial than has ever been done before and with NIH (National Institutes of Health) funding, not with supplement-manufacturer funding. And as far as lowering cholesterol, garlic didn't work," said Christopher D. Gardner, study lead author and nutrition scientist and assistant professor with the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Stanford, Calif.

This despite a barage of published reports... consider this one:

Well-designed studies published around the world confirm garlic in several forms can reduce cholesterol and it is an excellent addition to meal-time preparation for women going through pregnancy.

The big story is the one that is rarely reported: most clinical studies will be contradicted by subsequent investigations.

Posted by Diabetologica at February 26, 2007 10:45 PM