If you've been reading me for a while, you know I tend to get a little outspoken on poorly designed studies on botanical medicines. But a recent study being conducted by Stanford gets the Evo Terra seal of approval.
Volunteers are eating raw, natural garlic six times a week for six months. Wow! No, we're not talking some powdered up and encapsulated mass, nor a we talking about taking allicin as an isolate. Researchers are mashing up hundreds of pounds of raw garlic and spreading them on sandwiches! OK, so the whole double-blind thing is out the window...
Trouble is, the researchers are having trouble keeping participants for the full time:
Some volunteers will eat six different gourmet garlic sandwiches six days a week for six months. Some will be taking garlic herbal supplements. Some may find themselves sleeping on the sofa."We had one guy quit already because his wife was going to divorce him if he continued,'' said Christopher Gardner, a researcher at the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention. The $1.5 million study is being funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Volunteers must be healthy adults, from ages 30 through 65, with moderately elevated cholesterol (LDL of 130-190).
Researchers can accommodate only 10 participants a month, which explains why it will take several years before any findings will be published, Gardner said.
They're looking for 185 more folks to study. Interested? Call (650) 725-5018.