Complementary, holistic, and integrative medicine: garlic.

1. Larissa Shamseer, BSc* 2. Theresa L. Charrois, BScPharm, MSc* 3. Sunita Vohra, MD, MSc* 1. *Complementary and Alternative Research and Education (CARE) Program, Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Canada, on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics Provisional Section on Complementary, Holistic, and Integrative Medicine Allium sativum , commonly known as garlic, is a perennial plant native to central Asia that now is farmed worldwide. It is a member of the Liliaceae family and also is called Russian penicillin and allium . Intact, the plant is odorless; its pungency arises when garlic is crushed, yielding the sulfur-containing, pharmacologically active component allicin. Garlic was one of the earliest cultivated plants and has been used in many cultures for its culinary and medicinal purposes. It has been used widely as a folk remedy to ward off the common cold and flu. In the first century, Ayurvedic medicine claimed a role for garlic in the prevention and treatment of heart disease (1) that has been studied by medical research since the 1920s with intriguing and often mixed results. (2)(3) In traditional Chinese medicine, garlic has been used as an antimicrobial and for fever prevention. Despite use in many cultures for its purported pharmacologic effects, there is a gap in the literature surrounding the pediatric use of garlic. The cardiovascular effects of garlic are purported to include the lowering of lipids and blood pressure and the reduction of platelet aggregation in adults. (4)(5)(6) McCrindle and associates (7) examined the effects of a commercial garlic extract on lipids in children (8 to 18 y of age) who had first-degree relatives afflicted with familial hypercholesterolemia or premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and a minimum fasting total cholesterol concentration higher than 185 mg/dL (4.8 mmol/L) in a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial (RCT). The extract was administered in 300-mg doses (containing 0.6 …