more than half of the participants were unsure of their allocation
(58% garlic groups, 63% placebo), and 8% of participants in a
garlic group incorrectly thought they had taken placebo capsules.
A slightly greater proportion of participants in the garlic-4 group
had guessed correctly, albeit differences between the groups were
not statistically significant.
DISCUSSION
Our trial suggests aged garlic extract to be superior to placebo in
lowering SBP in patients with uncontrolled hypertension. A
dosage of two capsules daily containing 480mg of aged garlic
extract and 1.2mg of S-allylcysteine significantly lowered SBP by
mean SBP±s.e.ผ _11.8±5.4mmHg (Pผ0.006) compared with
placebo over 12 weeks, was well tolerated and highly acceptable.
The observed reduction in SBP is comparable to that achieved
with commonly prescribed antihypertensive medicines, and is of
clinical significance, whereby a reduction of about 10mmHg in
SBP is associated with a risk reduction in cardiovascular disease by
16–40%.22,23
The larger daily dosage of four capsules of aged garlic extract
also lowered SBP, albeit the mean difference of SBP±s.e.ผ
_7.4±4.1mmHg at 8 weeks compared with placebo was of
borderline significance (Pผ0.07). The smaller reduction in SBP in