By Jimmy Downs

Dec 1, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Hypercholesterolemia or high serum cholesterol promotes cardiac cell apoptosis or death.  But a new study in Food Chemistry suggests that garlic oil may help reduce the negative effect of high cholesterol.

Y. C. Cheng of Hung Kuang University in Taichung, Taiwan tested garlic oil for its effect on cardiac cell apoptosis induced by a hypercholesterol diet and found supplementation of 1% garlic oil in a high cholesterol diet significantly reduced apoptotic proteins and TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells.

In the study, hamsters aged 3 months were randomly assigned three diets, control, a diet supplemented with 2% cholesterol and a diet with both 2% cholesterol and 1% garlic oil for eight weeks.

The high cholesterol diet inhibited the IGFI receptor dependent survival pathway while the high cholesterol and garlic oil diet reversed the inhibition.

The researchers concluded  "Our results suggest that administration of garlic oil shows protective effects on cardiac apoptosis in rats with high cholesterol intake."