the effect of regular aerobic exercise and garlic supplementation on lipid profile and blood pressure in inactive subjects

Background: regular exercise and consuming garlic can independently improve blood pressure and lipid profile. however, combining these lifestyle modifications may be more effective than either intervention alone. objectives: we examined the combined effect of garlic supplementation and regular exercise on lipid profile and blood pressure in inactive young men. patients and methods: in this semi-experimental study, 36 young inactive men (20 - 30 years old) were randomly assigned to one of the following interventions: garlic (g), training and garlic (tg), placebo (p), and training and placebo (tp). subjects consumed 2 capsules per day which contained 500 mg of garlic powder or placebo. the training groups performed aerobic training including 30 - 45 minutes running at 60 - 75% of maximum heart rate. the exercise training program consisted of running on treadmill 4 times/week. prior to and after 4 weeks of interventions blood pressure was recorded and blood samples were taken in order to assess lipid profile. two-way repeated measures analysis and bonferroni post-hoc test were used to analyze the data. results: garlic consumption simultaneous with regular exercise lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure and there was significant difference between tg and p groups (p > 0.05). we observed no significant difference among groups in triglyceride, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (ldl-c) and high density lipoprotein (hdl-c) levels (p > 0.05). yet, hdl-c levels significantly increased in tg group compared to pre-test levels (p > 0.05). conclusions: we conclude that the combination of regular aerobic exercise and garlic supplementation might be more effective on blood pressure than either intervention alone.