A similar review of other studies last year in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that eating just one clove of garlic a day reduced cholesterol levels an average of 9 percent. Few Americans understand garlic's value, but they should. A high cholesterol level is a significant risk factor for heart attack, the nation's leading killer. Heart attacks now hit 1.5 million Americans a year. And garlic costs only pennies per clove.
Doctors increasingly recommend a low-fat diet for cholesterol control.
In addition, animal research hints that Cholestyramine might accelerate tumor growth. Some people with super-elevated cholesterol levels might still need a synthetic drug like Cholestyramine, but everyone with high cholesterol should be encouraged to eat at least one clove of garlic a day. Unfortunately, if growers or marketers attached this information to bags of their aromatic bulbs, the FDA could confiscate their garlic. Ditto if they reprinted it in a pamphlet and mailed it to consumers or supermarket produce buyers. The FDA has never approved this claim, and it is a violation of FDA regulations to make un-approved claims on drug labels or promotional materials.