The Number on the Cuff Keeps Creeping Up: What Garlic, Honey and a Sardinian Mountain Village Have in Common

Walter, 67, checks his blood pressure every morning before coffee. "It was 128 five years ago," he says. "Then 135. Then my doctor added a second pill. Now we're talking about a third."

He does what he is told. "I just want to know if there's anything I can do besides wait for the next number."

According to the CDC, nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure, and most of them are not at their goal. If that is you, you are far from alone.

Your arteries are like garden hoses

Young arteries are soft and stretchy, like a new garden hose. Every heartbeat pushes blood through, and the walls give a little to absorb the pressure.

With age, the walls get stiffer. The same push meets more resistance, and the number on the cuff goes up. Part of what keeps arteries relaxed is nitric oxide, a natural molecule the lining of the vessels makes to help them open.

Diet, movement, salt, sleep and weight all play a part. So, it turns out, do a few foods.

What the research on garlic shows

Garlic contains allicin and related compounds that help the body make more nitric oxide and relax the blood vessels.

Researchers have tested this in people. A 2008 review in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders pooled the placebo-controlled trials and found that garlic preparations lowered blood pressure modestly in people with high readings, with little effect in people whose pressure was already normal. Later trials, mostly with aged garlic extract, found similar modest drops.

Modest is the honest word. Garlic is not a replacement for blood pressure medication, and the studies did not test any one product. But for people looking for something to add to their routine, it is one of the better-studied foods.

And why Sardinian honey?

In the mountains of central Sardinia, an Italian island, researchers documented one of the highest rates of people living to 100 anywhere in the world. It was the first place to be called a "Blue Zone". Honey and garlic are part of the everyday table there.

To be clear, nobody has shown that honey is the reason Sardinians live long; scientists point to diet, daily walking, family and genes. Raw honey is rich in natural plant compounds called polyphenols, and here it also makes a garlic extract much easier to take.

Putting it together: a few drops a day

There is a liquid formula that combines raw honey with a concentrated garlic extract, taken by the drop each day as the label directs. No pills to swallow, nothing to cook.

It is not a treatment and it will not replace your medication. Never stop or change a blood pressure medicine on your own. The garlic studies ran for weeks to months, so this only makes sense if you give it time, and keep checking your numbers with your doctor. Results vary from person to person.