Natural Health News — A daily dose of garlic and lemon juice could be just what the doctor ordered to keep cholesterol in check.

Scientists from the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran recruited 112 people with elevated blood lipid levels (hyperlipidemia) to participate in their trial. The participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups.

The first group received a combination of 20g of fresh garlic and 1 tbl of lemon juice daily; the second group received just the fresh garlic; the third group received just the lemon juice per day; and the final group did not receive any intervention.

After eight weeks results showed that the combination of garlic and lemon juice produced significantly greater reductions in total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and fibrinogen compared to garlic alone, lemon juice alone, or control.

The combination was also associated with significant reductions in blood pressure, but only compared to the lemon juice only and control groups. The Iranian researchers also detected a greater reduction in BMI in the mixed group compared with the lemon juice and control groups.

For BMI, systolic and diastolic blood garlic on its own performed as well as the garlic/lemon combination – a finding that supports the cardiovascular benefits of garlic. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis of 7 randomised controlled trials concluded that garlic supplements could reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure by an average of 6.71 mmHg and 4.79 mmHg, respectively.

Writing in the in the  International Journal of Preventive Medicine the Iranian researchers summarise:

“A combination of garlic and lemon juice resulted in an improvement in lipid levels and blood pressure of people with hyperlipidemia. Further studies to determine the appropriate doses of garlic and lemon juice for these patients are warranted.”

· For more on the benefits of garlic see our article Garlic – one of our most valuable medicinal herbs