Trials show that eating garlic can dramatically improve your health.

Cardiovascular disease and hypertension is the most common cause of death in Australia.

The number one killer is the result of high blood pressure, which is something that over three million Aussies suffer from, and many don't even know it.

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Prescribed medication is currently the most effective treatment, however all that could change with a humble plant that's more at home as a food ingredient.

Adelaide dad Rob Wynn had been battling hypertension for a decade. General Practitioner Oliver Frank prescribed him standard medication to try to keep it under control, but it didn't work as well as he hoped.

30-year-old Steve Bunce also suffers from elevated blood pressure "mainly caused by lifestyle factors, long hours, high stress and a family history of high blood pressure."

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Both Bunce and Wynn struggled to get their blood pressure down to safe levels and that made them perfect candidates for a three month trial using aged garlic extract.

Research director Dr Karin Ried has been studying the benefits of nutritional medicine in cardiovascular health for fifteen years, with a focus on garlic.

"Our study was looking at aged garlic extract in relation to blood pressure. We wanted to know whether it could reduce high blood pressure in hypertensive patients," Dr Ried said.

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"We had three groups of people taking garlic extract of different dosages and a group of placebo capsules," Dr Ried explained.

And the results have been stunning.

70 per cent of patients on the trial found their blood pressure feel after taking just two of the natural tablets a day.

According to Dr Ried aged garlic is the secret and raw or fresh versions of the bulb don't have the high potency needed to have the same effects.

• Aged garlic extract trial - www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov