A non-therapeutic intervention study is described. The Aged Garlic Extract (AGE) supplement (and placebo) intervention occurs over a total of 90 days between mid-January to March. The CDC indicates that this is the cold and flu season (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm ). Blood is taken at baseline and at 45 days, 2 hours after they have taken their capsule. Capsule consumption will continue for a total of 90 days in order to continue monitoring cold and flu symptoms. Subjects will be given a diary to keep a record of their cold and flu symptoms. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells are isolated from the blood draw and used fresh, cultured in autologous serum for 24 hours or cultured in autologous serum for 10 days. Freshly isolated cells will be used for glutathione analysis, for protection against induced DNA strand breaks, and for γδ T cell and NK cell numbers. The supernatant of 24 hour cultures will be used for cytokine determination, specifically, interferon-g, tumor necrosis factor-a and IL-12. Cells cultured for 10 days will be used to determine the rate of proliferation. If cells have been primed by AGE, we expect the AGE cells to proliferate to a greater extent and have greater cytokine secretion compared to placebo.~If AGE enhances the function of one or both of these cell types (NK or γδ T cell), then it is possible that there will be fewer cold and flu symptoms in the group consuming the supplement.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether consuming capsules of aged garlic extract is effective in enhancing function of NK and/or γδ T cell resulting in fewer cold and flu symptoms.