Q. Should I take hormones after menopause to prevent heart disease?

A. No, you should not take hormone therapy (HT) for this reason.

Although some early observational studies suggested that hormone therapy (HT) might decrease a woman's risk of heart attack and stroke, more recent studies have shown no evidence that HT protects healthy women wishing to prevent heart disease or women who have already had a heart attack or stroke.

In fact, some studies suggest that HT can increase a woman's risk of cardiovascular complications, including heart attacks, strokes and blood clots in the lungs or legs. (A woman’s risk depends on her health history, lifestyle and other risk factors as well as how long she takes it for.)

Q. I've heard that garlic extract in pill form reduces high blood pressure. Has this been tested? If so, how much should I take, and how often? Is aged garlic better than regular garlic extract?

A. Garlic has been much studied in recent years to see if the reports of its health benefits are true. Large-scale clinical trial results involving thousands of patients from Europe and the United States have shown that taking garlic has clear, beneficial effects in managing:

• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• peripheral vascular disease

Garlic's main ingredient, allin, is converted to an active agent called allicin by crushing the clove. Studies show that allicin slows down or prevents cholesterol from forming in the blood. It also decreases the oxidation of some lipoproteins. This results in fewer free radicals – unstable oxygen molecules that damage cell DNA. By keeping cholesterol and free radicals in check, garlic helps to prevent atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.

Garlic also thins the blood by improving the clotting and clearing mechanisms in the bloodstream.

When garlic powder tablets are taken at an average dose of 1,200 mg daily for an extended time, blood pressure goes down modestly and cholesterol levels fall by about 12 percent.

Fresh garlic cloves vary in the amount of active allicin they contain. For this reason, it is better to take garlic powder tablets, in doses of 300 to 600 mg, three times daily. Women who prefer to eat fresh garlic should eat at least 2.7 grams of garlic cloves a day (or about 1 clove per day).

Fresh garlic or tablets contain more reliable amounts of the active agent. Aging garlic may cause it to lose some of its active agents.

There are no serious side effects to taking garlic. Some people do not like the smell of fresh garlic, but the tablets are odourless.

Talk to your doctor before beginning a course of self-treatment.