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. 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 superelevated cholesterol levels might still need 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 the 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 unapproved claims on drug labels or promotional materials.