International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | August 2015 | Vol 3 | Issue 8 Page 2053 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Kumar J et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2015 Aug;3(8):2053-2057 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Research Article To study the hypotensive and hypolipidemic effects of garlic in smokers in the North Indian population Jayballabh Kumar 1 , Gaurav Kumar 1 , Farhan Ahmad Khan 2 * INTRODUCTION Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is used as a spice and well known medicinal herb. Most recent research on garlic has used garlic in the form of tablets, flesh, raw, boiled, cooked and dried for certain therapeutic purposes, including lowering blood pressure and improving lipid profile. Garlic and its preparations have been applied earlier for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic disease like coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. 1 Smoking is an addiction as well as habit. The relationship between smoking and cardiovascular disease has been known and supported by worldwide studies. Tobacco smokes contain nicotine, the powerfully addictive drug and responsible for the inauspicious effects of smoking. It has been recognized that blood pressure and heart rate increase during smoking. This rise in blood pressure is due both to an increase in cardiac output and total peripheral vascular resistance. The blood pressure rise appears immediately and occurs before any increase in circulating catecholamines. 2 ABSTRACT Background: Garlic, latin name Allium Sativum, belongs to the onion family Alliaceae, have been widely recognized as agents for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases like atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, hypertension and diabetes. Methods: This prospective study conducted on male smokers (n=40) in the department of physiology of Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College & Research Centre. Selected smokers were further evaluated before and after giving raw fresh garlic weighing about 5-6gm daily for a month. Sample 1:- Before taking garlic parameters. Sample 2:- After taking garlic parameters. After one month all the parameters were analyzed and compared with the baseline parameters. Results: Garlic has a significant hypotensive effect by lowering DBP, SBP also lowered but it was not statistically significant. Also hypolipidemic effects of garlic were found to be statically significant in cases of triglyceride, HDL & LDL, but changes in cases of cholesterol and VLDL are not statically significant. Conclusions: Garlic being hypotensive and hypolipidemic in nature as shown in our study, therefore it can be concluded that garlic is beneficial for human beings. Its main beneficial effect for decreasing the lipid levels as well as the blood pressure in smokers. Keywords: Garlic, Lipid parameters, Hypolipidemic agents, Smokers 1 Department of Physiology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College & Research Centre, Moradabad, India 2 Department of Pharmacology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College & Research Centre, Moradabad, India Received: 12 June 2015 Accepted: 06 July 2015 *Correspondence: Dr. Farhan Ahmad Khan, E-mail: dr.farhan.k@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20150326