Effects of Garlic Consumption on Plasma and Erythrocyte Antioxidant Parameters in Elderly Subjects

Aim: Effects of ingesting garlic on plasma and erythrocyte antioxidant parameters of elderly subjects were investigated in this study.

Methods: Thirteen subjects (mean age 70.69±4.23) participated in the study. They ingested garlic at the daily dose of 0.1g/kg body weight for 1 month. Before and after this period, fasting blood samples were obtained, and oxidant (malondialdehyde, MDA and xanthine oxidase, XO) and antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, SOD and glutathione peroxidase, GSH-Px and catalase, CAT) parameters were studied in erythrocytes, and MDA levels were studied in plasma samples obtained from the subjects. Results: In the plasma fraction and erythrocyte hemolysate, MDA levels significantly were found to be lower, but erythrocyte GSH-Px and SOD activities significantly higher in the second samples relative to the first ones. Xanthine oxidase activity was found to be lower in the second samples, but this decrease was not statistically meaningful. Our results show that ingestion of garlic consumption leads to significantly lowered plasma and erythrocyte MDA levels, and to increased activities of some antioxidant enzymes, which indicate that consumption of garlic decreases oxidation reactions. It is quite possible that reduced peroxidation processes due to garlic consumption may play a part in some of the beneficial effects of garlic in elderly subjects.

Table 1: Oxidant and antioxidant parameters in erythrocytes (RBC) and plasma from elderly subjects who consumed garlic (Mean±SD; n=13).

* p<0.05; Paired t-test
Groups	G SH-Px (RBC)IU/mL	CAT (RBC)IU/mL	SOD (RBC)U/mL	MDA (RB)nmol/mL	XO (RBC)IU/mL	MDA (Plasma) nmol/mL
Before garlic	8.34±1.07	57462±17533	1668±495	381.7±39.8	2.21±0.86	2.2±1.4
After garlic	9.32±0.78*	565787±17904	2065±298*	352.2±38.4*	1.76±0.93	1.2±0.8*