Garlic supplements may lower blood pressure just as effectively as some drugs used to treat hypertension can, according to a new research review. To provide an updated perspective, the researchers, identifying 11 studies in which the patients were randomly assigned to garlic or placebo. In most studies, participants given garlic took it in powdered form, as a standardized supplement. Doses ranged from 600 mg to 900 mg daily, which study participants took for 12 to 23 weeks. When the researchers pooled the data from the trials, they found that garlic reduced systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) by 4.6 mm Hg, on average. An analysis limited to people with high blood pressure showed garlic reduced systolic blood pressure by 8.4 mm Hg, on average, and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by 7.3 mm Hg. The higher a person’s blood pressure -was at the beginning .of the study, the more it was reduced by taking garlic.

Cocoa butter lotion won’t prevent stretch marks
Applying cocoa butter lotion during pregnancy does not help prevent the stretch marks that many women develop, according to a new study.
In the study, the researchers studied the stretch marks that arose in 210 pregnant women who were randomly assigned to apply cocoa butter or inactive “placebo” to their abdomen, breasts, and thighs once daily starting during the first trimester of pregnancy. Eighty-three percent of women completed the study. Overall, 45 per cent of cocoa butter-treated women developed stretch marks compared with 49 per cent of women given placebo lotion. Although the percentage is slightly lower in the cocoa butter group, from a statistical standpoint, the difference was not considered significant, meaning that it may have simply arisen by chance. There was also no difference between the groups in the severity of their stretch marks.

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