Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Raw garlic consumption is inversely associated with prehypertension in a large-scale adult population

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 34, pages 59–67 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that allicin can lower blood pressure (BP) by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. However, the association between habitual raw garlic intake (as allicin source) and prehypertension are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate how raw garlic consumption is associated with prehypertension in an adult population. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 22,812 adults (mean [standard deviation] age: 39.4 [10.7] years; males, 47.7%) in Tianjin, China. Raw garlic consumption was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. BP was measured at least twice by trained nurses using an automatic device. Prehypertension was defined as systolic BP of 120–139 mmHg and/or diastolic BP of 80–89 mmHg without taking antihypertensive medication. Multiple logistic regression models were used to assess the association between raw garlic consumption and prehypertension. The prevalence of prehypertension was 49.9%. After fully adjusting for potential confounders, the ORs (95% confidence intervals) of having prehypertension by increasing frequency of raw garlic consumption were 1.00 (reference) for ≤3 times/week, 0.96 (0.87, 1.06) for 4 times/week to 1 time/day, and 0.69 (0.52, 0.90) for ≥2 times/day (p for trend = 0.06). In contrast, no associations were observed between other kinds of allium vegetables consumption and prehypertension. In conclusion, our results suggested that a more frequent consumption of raw garlic was inversely associated with prehypertension. This is the first large-scale study on the association between raw garlic consumption and prehypertension in the general population.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, Cushman WC, Green LA, Izzo JL Jr., et al. The seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure: the JNC 7 report. JAMA. 2003;289:2560–72.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Egan BM, Stevens-Fabry S. Prehypertension–prevalence, health risks, and management strategies. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2015;12:289–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Xu T, Liu JT, Zhu GJ, Liu JX, Han SM. Prevalence of prehypertension and associated risk factors among Chinese adults from a large-scale multi-ethnic population survey. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:775.

  4. Huang Y, Wang S, Cai X, Mai W, Hu Y, Tang H, et al. Prehypertension and incidence of cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis. BMC Med. 2013;11:177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Celik T, Yuksel UC, Fici F, Celik M, Yaman H, Kilic S, et al. Vascular inflammation and aortic stiffness relate to early left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in prehypertension. Blood Press. 2013;22:94–100.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bajpai JK, PS A, KA A, KD A, Garg B, Goel A. Impact of prehypertension on left ventricular structure, function and geometry. J Clin Diagn Res. 2014;8:BC07–10.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Myneni AA, Chang SC, Niu R, Liu L, Swanson MK, Li J, et al. Raw garlic consumption and lung cancer in a Chinese population. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev. 2016;25:624–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Chan JY, Yuen AC, Chan RY, Chan SW. A review of the cardiovascular benefits and antioxidant properties of allicin. Phytother Res. 2013;27:637–46.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Shouk R, Abdou A, Shetty K, Sarkar D, Eid AH. Mechanisms underlying the antihypertensive effects of garlic bioactives. Nutr Res. 2014;34:106–15.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bisen PS, Emerald M. Nutritional and therapeutic potential of garlic and onion (Allium Sp.). Curr Nutr Food Sci. 2016;12:190–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Quintero-Fabian S, Ortuno-Sahagun D, Vazquez-Carrera M, Lopez-Roa RI. Alliin, a garlic (Allium sativum) compound, prevents LPS-induced inflammation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Mediators Inflamm. 2013;2013:381815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Shi L, Lin Q, Li X, Nie Y, Sun S, Deng X, et al. Alliin, a garlic organosulfur compound, ameliorates gut inflammation through MAPK-NF-kappaB/AP-1/STAT-1 inactivation and PPAR-gamma activation. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.201601013. [Epub ahead of print].

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Cai H, Harrison DG. Endothelial dysfunction in cardiovascular diseases: the role of oxidant stress. Circ Res. 2000;87:840–4.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Rodrigo R, Gonzalez J, Paoletto F. The role of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of hypertension. Hypertens Res. 2011;34:431–40.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Montezano AC, Touyz RM. Oxidative stress, Noxs, and hypertension: experimental evidence and clinical controversies. Ann Med. 2012;44 Suppl 1:S2–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Virdis A, Dell’Agnello U, Taddei S. Impact of inflammation on vascular disease in hypertension. Maturitas. 2014;78:179–83.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dinh QN, Drummond GR, Sobey CG, Chrissobolis S. Roles of inflammation, oxidative stress, and vascular dysfunction in hypertension. Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:406960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ried K. Garlic lowers blood pressure in hypertensive individuals, regulates serum cholesterol, and stimulates immunity: an updated meta-analysis and review. J Nutr. 2016;146:389S–96S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Xiong XJ, Wang PQ, Li SJ, Li XK, Zhang YQ, Wang J. Garlic for hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytomedicine. 2015;22:352–61.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Bahadoran Z, Mirmiran P, Momenan AA, Azizi F. Allium vegetable intakes and the incidence of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and type 2 diabetes in adults: a longitudinal follow-up study. J Hypertens. 2017;35:1909–16.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Gu YQ, Li HH, Bao X, Zhang Q, Liu L, Meng G, et al. The relationship between thyroid function and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in euthyroid subjects. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2017;102:434–42.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Kobalava ZD, Kotovskaya YV, Babaeva LA, Moiseev VS. Validation of TM-2655 oscillometric device for blood pressure measurement. Blood Press Monit. 2006;11:87–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mancia G, De Backer G, Dominiczak A, Cifkova R, Fagard R, Germano G, et al. 2007 guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension: the task force for the management of arterial hypertension of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). J Hypertens. 2007;25:1105–87.

  24. YY Y. China food composition. 2nd ed. Beijing, China: Peking University Medical Press; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Tan M, He FJ, Wang C, MacGregor GA. Twenty-four-hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019;8:e012923.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Craig CL, Marshall AL, Sjostrom M, Bauman AE, Booth ML, Ainsworth BE, et al. International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003;35:1381–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Booth JN 3rd, Li J, Zhang L, Chen L, Muntner P, Egan B. Trends in prehypertension and hypertension risk factors in US adults: 1999-2012. Hypertension. 2017;70:275–84.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Ried K, Travica N, Sali A. The effect of aged garlic extract on blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors in uncontrolled hypertensives: the AGE at Heart trial. Integr Blood Press Control. 2016;9:9–21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Prasad K, Laxdal VA, Yu M, Raney BL. Antioxidant activity of allicin, an active principle in garlic. Mol Cell Biochem. 1995;148:183–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Al-Qattan KK, Thomson M, Al-Mutawa’a S, Al-Hajeri D, Drobiova H, Ali M. Nitric oxide mediates the blood-pressure lowering effect of garlic in the rat two-kidney, one-clip model of hypertension. J Nutr. 2006;136:774S–6S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Benavides GA, Squadrito GL, Mills RW, Patel HD, Isbell TS, Patel RP, et al. Hydrogen sulfide mediates the vasoactivity of garlic. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007;104:17977–82.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Coletta C, Papapetropoulos A, Erdelyi K, Olah G, Modis K, Panopoulos P, et al. Hydrogen sulfide and nitric oxide are mutually dependent in the regulation of angiogenesis and endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2012;109:9161–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Chung LY. The antioxidant properties of garlic compounds: allyl cysteine, alliin, allicin, and allyl disulfide. J Med Food. 2006;9:205–13.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Lanzotti V. The analysis of onion and garlic. J Chromatogr A. 2006;1112:3–22.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang HP, Yang J, Qin LQ, Yang XJ. Effect of garlic on blood pressure: a meta-analysis. J Clin Hypertens. 2015;17:223–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge all the people that have made this study. This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81673166, 81372118, 81372467, and 81302422). The authors responsibilities were as follows: S.Z. and M.L. analyzed and interpreted data and wrote the paper. YW, QZ, LL, GM, ZY, HW, YX, XB, YG, HW, HS, SS, XW, MZ, QJ, and KS collected data, contributed to the discussion and edited the paper. KN and ZY designed the study, contributed to the discussion, reviewed and edited the paper. KN is the guarantor of this work and, as such, has full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Shunming Zhang, Mingyue Liu

  2. These authors contributed equally: Zhanxin Yao, Kaijun Niu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutritional Epidemiology Institute and School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China

    Shunming Zhang, Mingyue Liu, Yanyan Wang, Ge Meng, Zhanxin Yao, Hongmei Wu, Yang Xia, Xue Bao, Yeqing Gu, Honglei Wang & Kaijun Niu

  2. Health Management Centre, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Qing Zhang, Li Liu, Hongbin Shi, Shaomei Sun, Xing Wang, Ming Zhou, Qiyu Jia, Kun Song & Kaijun Niu

  3. Institute of Environmental and Operational Medicine, Tianjin, China

    Zhanxin Yao

Authors
  1. Shunming Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mingyue Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yanyan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Qing Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Li Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ge Meng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Zhanxin Yao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Hongmei Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Yang Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Xue Bao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Yeqing Gu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Honglei Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Hongbin Shi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Shaomei Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Xing Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Ming Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Qiyu Jia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Kun Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Kaijun Niu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaijun Niu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, S., Liu, M., Wang, Y. et al. Raw garlic consumption is inversely associated with prehypertension in a large-scale adult population. J Hum Hypertens 34, 59–67 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-019-0257-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-019-0257-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links