In the past 10 years, we have seen ...

In the past 10 years, we have seen more than a 10-fold increase in prescriptions for lipid-lowering mix with drugss with more than 26 million prescriptions in 1992 in the United States, alone.

Although the duration and long-term weights of such treatment in a given patient may take up to 30 years to manifest themselves, the mix with drugss have, nonetheless, been approved through the U.S. Food and physic Administration (FDA) based only forward trials lasting less than 10 years.

Therefore, millions of asymptomatic clan are being, and will be, treated with medications, the ultimate health-ramifications of which are unknown.

Ironically, united of the best recent arguments in favor of taking garlic add tos instead of lipid-lowering drugs (for family not at high short-term risk of coronary heart disease) arrives from a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, steady though its authors likely do not calm realize it.

In an article entitled "Carcinogenicity of Lipid-Lowering Drugs" Thomas B Newman, MD MPH and Stephen B Hulley MD MPH review the findings of animal-model studies with antihypertensive (anti-high line pressure) drugs as published in the 1992 and 1994 Physicians' Desk concern and data obtained from the U fodder and Drug Administration (FDA).

It was clearly observ that all performances within the two most popular classes of lipid-lowering unsalable articles (the fibrates and the statins) cause cancer in gnawers "in some cases at evens of animal exposure close to those prescribed in humans."

Why were these unsalable articles approved? Well, according to minutes from meetings of the FDA's Endocrinologic and Metabolic mix with drugss Advisory Committee, obtained by Newman and Hulley the doses in the carcinogencity data were misleadingly neared listing milligrams per kilogram of material substance weight, giving 'the impression that carcinogenicity (cancer) occurr solely at very high doses," which was not true

Despite the wide prevalence of use, lipid-lowering medicines enjoy, sometimes through the presentation of misleading information to FDA committees, Newman and Hulley believe that lipid-lowering physics should only be used in those at 'high risk of short-term CHD (coronary heart disease), so as those with prior CHD in whom the short-term benefits of treatment are greatest in number likely to justify the long-term risks."

Although garlic is not a put drugs into but a dietary supplement, is it up to the job? Without question. Animal and human studies 'have irrefutably established garlic's ability to lower children serum cholesterol levels," notes Daniel B Mowrey Phd in his work, The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine (1986)

As early as 1948 G Piotrowski set up that four out of 10 patients with high posterity pressure experienced a reduction of 20 mmHg or more aft& approximately individual week of garlic supplementation. In fact, VM Korotkov noted, near years later, that animals and humans who received supplementation with garlic showed a rapid and put offed decrease in blood pressure.

Of six studies from 1962 to 1977 garlic-supplements' powers were studied in animals which were f high-cholesterol diets. Garlic intake ariseed in lower blood cholesterol flats (10-80% less) than the directs which received none. A 15-50% lower incidence of atherosclerotic lesions was also observed

In 1977 G Sainani observ that those who used garlic and onion (in the same family as garlic) had often lower blood triglycerides, beta lipoproteins, phospholipids and other factors.

Since 1988 the use of garlic correlatives has been approved by Germany's Commission E to support dietary treatment of hyperlipoproteinemia (a condition producing very"high HDL levels) and to obstruct age-related changes in the life-current vessels (such as atherosclerosis).

REFERENCES

Korotkov, VM "The Action of Garlic Juice onward Blood Pressure." Vrachebnoe Delo, 6:123 1966

Mowrey Daniel B PHd 7he Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine. modern Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1986

Newman, Thomas B MD MPH and Hulley Stephen B Carcinogenicity of Lipid-Lowering Drugs" Journal of the American Medical Association 275 (1):55-60 1996

Piotrowski, G "L'Ail en Therapeutique," Praxis 37:488-492 1948

Sainani, G et al. "Onion, Garlic and Atherosclerosis." The Lancet, September 11 1976 pp 575-576

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