Garlic breath? Who cares? Recent research has now shown that including garlic in your daily diet can reduce everybody's blood pressure. This is great news for the 73 million people in the US alone who suffer from this ailment. Keep reading, you could be in the 24 million who are not aware that they even have this potentially deadly problem.

We will save you the maths. One in three people have high blood pressure. Of those, one third don't know, and two thirds that do know, do not have it under good control.* Untreated high blood pressure leads to serious health problems including heart disease and stroke. (Not to mention a short fuse at the end of a long day.)

Have you ever wondered why those folk who live around the Mediterranean regions and follow the traditional Mediterranean Diet suffer less from stroke and heart disease than the Western world? Ever wondered how the French get away with all those croissants? Same answer. Lots and lots of garlic in their daily diet.

Recent research from the University of Adelaide, in Australia, has shown that a daily serve of half to one small clove of garlic could reduce your blood pressure by 5 points. The great news is that those who have high blood pressure showed even more dramatic results, with systolic rates (the top number) dropping by as much as 8 points and diastolic rates (the bottom number) by about 7.

The patients were given garlic powder for time intervals between 3 and 6 months approximately. The garlic supplements had an allicin level equivalent to that of half to one whole small clove. (Allicin being one of the active ingredients in garlic.)

Researchers noted that the garlic was as successful for reducing high blood pressure as some commonly prescribed blood pressure medications. For the patients with normal blood pressure initially, it was noted that their reductions in points was enough to lower heart disease risks by about 20%. The vote is still out on the long term implications of heart disease and stroke for those folk with high blood pressure who are now adding the garlic to their daily regime.

It is important to note for those sufferers that it is not recommended to change or stop any of your blood pressure medications without first consulting your doctor.

However, the many benefits of garlic would now seem to additionally include lowering it significantly. Garlic is an easy, natural and healthy dietary supplement to aid in the treatment of high blood pressure.

Bad breath is always a better alternative than a stroke or heart disease. Pass the garlic bread, and possibly a mint.

* Statistics provided by the American Heart Organization.