Effect of essential oil of garlic on serum fibrinolytic activity in patients with coronary artery disease

Journal/Book: Atheroscler. 1977; 28: 155-159.

Abstract: The effect of essential oil of garlic on serum fibrinolytic activity has been studied in 10 healthy individuals (group I); 10 patients with old myocardial infarction (group II) and in 20 patients with acute myocardial infarction (group III). Garlic was- administered at the dosage equivalent to the essential oil extracted from 1tg of raw garlic per kg body weight.Groups I and II were administered garlic for a period of three months. Blood samples were collected initially, then monthly for the next 5 months. Group III was followed for 40 days and were allocated to two sub-groups, one receiv-ing garlic and the other a placebo during the first 20 days only.Garlic increased fibrinolytic activity by 130% in group I and by 83% in group II at the end of 3 months. In group III the increase was by 63 and 95.5% above the post-infarction value after 10 and 20 days respectively. In the place-bo-treated acute myocardial infarction subgroup the increase was only 24% at the end of 20 days. Thus, garlic is of value in effectively increasing fibrinolytic activity, both during long term use in chronic infarction cases as well as during the critical acute post-infarction period. The possible therapeutic role of essen-tial oil of garlic in coronary artery disease has been discussed.

Keyword(s): Knoblauch

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