Five Ways of Using Garlic to Treat High Blood Pressure
Do you suffer from high blood pressure? If so, you must remember to always follow your doctor’s advice. Only they can prescribe the appropriate treatment for your condition.
However, did you know that garlic is an excellent protector of heart health? This has been confirmed in a study conducted by the University of Valladolid (Spain). Nevertheless, further research is needed to validate these claims, particularly in the amount of garlic required to obtain said benefits.
Since this ingredient has been shown to be useful for heart health, here are five recipes using garlic to treat high blood pressure. To guarantee their effectiveness, you should incorporate them alongside a healthy lifestyle and any prescribed medications.
Pharmacological treatments for high blood pressure
Before discussing the ways of using garlic to treat high blood pressure, it’s worth learning about the pharmacological treatments for this condition. Currently, there are many drugs available. Among them are:
- Thiazide diuretics, such as hydrochlorothiazide.
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, such as captopril.
- Angiotensin II receptor blockers, such as losartan.
- Calcium channel blockers, such as amlodipine.
You should also be aware of the need to change any bad lifestyle habits. For example, to improve your diet, and restrict your consumption of salt, sugar, and saturated fats. This is confirmed in a study conducted by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.
Doing some daily exercise will be an excellent help in regulating your blood pressure. There’s also a home remedy that’s well worth considering: garlic.
1. Garlic salt for your meals
Allicin is a medicinal substance present in garlic, and it’s the one that offers the most benefits for your heart health. It’s also interesting to know that the Greeks and Romans used garlic as a daily medicine to fight diseases and strengthen the heart.
According to a study published in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, allicin inhibits angiotensin 2 receptors. This substance also has vasodilatory effects, so both properties together are responsible for lowering blood pressure figures.
Nor should you forget that garlic is one of the best natural antibiotics around and is also a staple food in what many people consider to be the best diet in the world: the Mediterranean diet. This diet is healthy basically because it restricts the use of salt and encourages the use of healthy fats like olive oil.
According to this study conducted by the Hospital of Jaén (Spain), garlic is recommended to look after the heart. Would you like to know how to eliminate salt completely from your dishes by replacing it with garlic salt? Here’s the recipe.
Ingredients for garlic salt
- 6 heads of garlic.
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (60 ml).
Method
- Remove the skin from the garlic cloves and fry them in the olive oil, making sure they don’t burn. Once they’re golden brown, turn off the heat.
- Remove the cloves and strain off the oil so they retain their crunchiness. Every time you want to season your meals, just grate on some of the garlic cloves. They’ll make your meals really tasty.
2. Taking garlic on an empty stomach
Despite what people often say, consuming garlic on an empty stomach doesn’t bring any extra benefits. Including it in your diet, though, is healthy and highly recommended.
Taking garlic to help reduce blood pressure
- Ideally, take two cloves of garlic with a glass of water.
- You may find this remedy a little strong, but if you stop and think about all the benefits, you’ll see it’ll be well worthwhile.
- If you’re worried about bad breath afterward, just drink some lemon juice or chew on a mint leaf and any bad odors will instantly disappear.
You might also like to read: What are the Health Benefits of Garlic?
3. Crushed garlic in oil
Eating crushed garlic in olive oil is an ancient remedy that’ll help you reduce your blood pressure in a really simple way. It’s also a really tasty and original recipe.
What you need
- 20 peeled garlic cloves.
- A liter of extra virgin olive oil.
- A glass jar.
Method
- Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in half. Fill the glass jar with the olive oil and put in the garlic cloves.
- Leave them for at least three weeks before eating. A good way to benefit from this remedy to help reduce blood pressure is to spread it on your bread or toast every day. Ideally, you should eat two of the cloves every day.
4. Garlic tea
This tea is delicious. In fact, garlic tea is another old remedy that’s suitable for taking care of your heart health.
If you choose to take two cloves of garlic in the morning as we suggested earlier, then you can opt for this delicious tea at noon. They’re two really effective ways of using garlic to treat high blood pressure. Here’s how to prepare the tea.
Ingredients
- 1 clove of garlic.
- 1 glass of water (200 ml).
- Grated ginger (3 g).
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (15 ml).
- 1 tablespoon of honey (25 g).
Method
- Heat the water. Once it’s started to boil, add the crushed garlic clove, the grated ginger, and the tablespoon of honey. Stir well and let it boil for 20 minutes. Strain and keep the liquid.
- Add the lemon juice and drink. It tastes delicious.
You might be interested in: How To Reduce Cholesterol with Garlic: 3 Home Remedies
5. Garlic capsules for high blood pressure
Another way to take advantage of garlic for treating high blood pressure is with garlic capsules. These help to avoid the unpleasant taste that garlic can leave in the mouth, as well as bad breath.
A recent study published in the journal, Phytomedicine showed that the compounds found in garlic are useful in reducing blood pressure. In addition, garlic generates few side effects in the body, so its consumption is really safe in most cases.
It’s generally recommended to take four capsules of the garlic supplement per day, two in the morning and two in the evening. However, you must always consult a specialist before taking any kind of medicinal supplement.
No substitute for medical advice
As you can see, there are many different ways to use garlic for treating high blood pressure. Nevertheless, although many studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of this ingredient, under no circumstances do garlic remedies ever replace drug treatment. In addition, you should always consult a specialist before including garlic regularly in your diet, in order to prevent any undesirable effects.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Kwak JS, Kim JY, Paek JE, Lee YJ et al. Garlic powder intake and cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. Nutr Res Pract. 2014 Dec;8(6):644-54.
- Rivlin RS. Historical perspective on the use of garlic. J Nutr. 2001 Mar;131(3s):951S-4S.
- Matsutomo T. Potential benefits of garlic and other dietary supplements for the management of hypertension. Exp Ther Med. 2020 Feb;19(2):1479-1484.
- Luis D, Aller R. Ajo y riesgo cardiovascular. An. Med. Interna (Madrid). 2008;25(5):237-240.
- Xiong XJ, Wang PQ, Li SJ, Li XK et al. Garlic for hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytomedicine. 2015 Mar 15;22(3):352-61.
