Here’s yet another excuse to spice up your meals with a sprinkle of garlic seasoning: Eating garlic powder could improve your blood pressure. However, there’s a bit of a catch that you’ll need to keep in mind to get the most health benefits from this spice rack favorite.
What’s so special about garlic in its powdery form? Garlic powder retains many of the nutrients that make fresh garlic a favored superfood. And that includes something called “allicin.”
Healthline explains that allicin is the compound that gives garlic its signature taste and smell. However, allicin doesn’t just give garlic flavor. It may give garlic the ability to help fight elevated blood pressure, too.
This means every time you eat foods made with raw garlic, allicin comes along for the ride. And since allicin remains in powdered garlic, your garlic powder can provide you with a little allicin in every dash, teaspoon, or tablespoon.
How garlic powder might influence blood pressure
How does allicin work? As noted by a 2019 study found in Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, allicin seems to make it hard for the body’s blood pressure-raising hormone to do its job. As a result, people with high blood pressure who add allicin to their diets may see up to an eight-point dip in their systolic blood pressure and a five-point drop in their diastolic blood pressure.
In addition to allicin, garlic contains other nutrients that can possibly assist in bringing down blood pressure readings. Kristina Petersen, a professor from Texas Tech University who was interviewed for an article published by the American Heart Association, said that thanks to garlic’s anti-inflammatory abilities, it may lower blood pressure. However, Peterson cautioned that eating a couple of garlic cloves won’t cut it if you’re trying to tame your high blood pressure. “Typically, those effects are observed when quite high supplemental doses of garlic powder are given,” she said. Still, she doesn’t suggest taking garlic supplements for most people.
Ashish Sarraju, M.D., a cardiologist who was interviewed by the Cleveland Clinic, had the same advice as Peterson. He explained that although garlic may bring down blood pressure, not enough studies have been done to recommend garlic supplements. That said, he feels garlic is still a good ingredient choice, particularly when it’s eaten as part of a heart-healthy diet since he feels that controlling blood pressure is 70% lifestyle-related and only 30% drug-related.
Realistic ways to get garlic’s blood pressure benefits
This doesn’t mean you can’t test garlic powder to see if it could help you get better blood pressure readings. However, you might have to take measures other than increasing your ingestion of garlic powder. After all, your body’s digestive system might get in the way of your best-laid plans.
What’s the issue? While garlic powder does appear to affect blood pressure according to WebMD, it’s not the most efficient way to get allicin and other nutrients into your body. This is because the powder is broken down quickly once it reaches your stomach. Therefore, the garlic powder might not get a chance to be absorbed before it degrades.
A better solution might be to try garlic pills covered in an enteric coating that can hold up under acidic conditions. A 2018 article in Nutrients found that tablets that were covered in enteric (delayed release) coatings didn’t degrade after two hours in an acid solution. However, tablets and capsules containing allicin that didn’t have enteric coatings disintegrated in the same timeframe, lowering the bioavailability of the allicin. But when the allicin supplement was in a protective coating, it retained nearly all of the allicin of raw garlic.
Therefore, look for a garlic supplement brand built to give you the biggest impact by not breaking down too fast. Even though you won’t be able to taste the garlic powder, you’ll be able to see if it serves as a cardiovascular-friendly ally.