Garlic, Onion Reduced Cholesterol Gallstones

MYSORE, India—Garlic and onion exerted anti-lithogenic influence by decreasing the cholesterol hyper-secretion into bile and increasing the bile acid output therefore decreasing the formation of lithogenic bile in experimental mice, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Clinical Nutrition (DOI:10.1017/S0007114508118748). Researchers examined dietary hypocholesterolaemic spices, garlic and onion (both raw or heat-processed) for their antilithogenic potential by including at 0.6 and 2.0 percent level, respectively, along with lithogenic (LG) diet for 10 weeks. Dietary garlic and onion reduced the cholesterol gallstones (CGS) incidence by 15 to 39 percent, the effect being maximum in the heat-processed onion group. Dietary garlic and onion markedly reduced biliary cholesterol. Hepatic hydroxymethyl glutaryl-CoA reductase activity was lowered in the LG diet-fed group, while dietary garlic or onion countered this alteration and also increased the activities of hepatic cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase and sterol 27-hydroxylase. Serum and liver cholesterol were decreased by feeding garlic or onion compared to the LG diet.