Md. Khairul Alam, Mohammad Abu Bin Nyeem and Md. Abdus Samad
Garlic is an important universal dietary and medicinal plant which is being used as food and herbal medicine since ancient times. Hyperlipidemia is considered one of the major risk factors causing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). CVDs accounts for one third of total deaths around the world, it is believed that CVDs will turn out to be the main cause of death and disability worldwide by the year 2020. The aim of the present literature review was to evaluate the effect of garlic on hyperlipidemia. The medicinal importance of garlic is attributed to its lipids lowering and antiatherogenic effects. Being important spice in human food, garlic can contribute its lipids lowering and anti-atherogenic effects. So it has been evaluated so far by several clinical trials in hyperlipidemia. Most of the studies on the effect of oral garlic on serum lipids have shown positive results within the low range of hyperlipidemia. The lipids lowering effect of garlic remains for a few months only. The conclusion of the literature review is need of further planned clinical trials to evaluate its qualitative and quantitative aspect of hypolipidemic effect in clinical practice.