Drinking apple cider vinegar may help with weight loss but its health benefits are overstated
One day, she explained that she adds apple cider vinegar to improve my health.
- One day, she explained that she adds apple cider vinegar to improve my health.
- Apple cider vinegar is a natural product made of fermented apple juice that has gone sour.
- I decided to turn medical sleuth and investigate whether apple cider vinegar is as good for health as it sounds.
Claim: disinfectant properties
- But does apple cider vinegar’s decontaminant qualities translate to the human gut?
- Our stomachs produce acid, which acts as a natural barrier to infection, so how can adding more acid help?
Claim: weight loss and management of type 2 diabetes
- There are plenty of anecdotal claims that apple cider vinegar can aid weight loss, supported by limited evidence from several small studies.
- Apple cider vinegar is thought to cause weight loss through its effect on delay of gastric emptying.
- Reduced calorific intake will lead to weight loss – but how are the metabolic effects on blood glucose and lipids mediated?
- In type 2 diabetes there is a reduction in sensitivity to insulin which in turn leads to a reduced uptake of glucose by cells.
Claim: reduces risk of heart disease
- Raised blood lipids are a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke.
- Well, I’m afraid there’s no scientific evidence that vinegar consumption of any kind reduces cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in those with or without diabetes.
Claim: cancer treatment and prevention
- One of the more outrageous claims of benefits of daily apple cider vinegar consumption is that it may prevent or treat cancer.
- A frequently quoted case-control study from China found that an increased consumption of vinegar was associated with a reduced incidence of oesophageal cancer.
Stephen Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.