Various sources tout the wonders of ACV. If your stomach doesn’t have enough acid it’s great, if you stomach has too much acid, it’s great. Most importantly, they claim in improves insulin sensitivity. Unfortunately, unless I’m way out of date, they have no idea of the mechanism of insulin resistance. Also, a 2 carbon molecule with a carboxylic acid tacked to the end? 1 tablespoon, really?? How could it possibly make a difference after going through the stomach acid? I just don’t get it, but I’m willing to be convinced. I have started taking it but I hate the taste. I’m micromanaging my DM bacause I just got my first continuous glucose monitor. (BTW, the price of a single 2 week monitor was $260 at CVS and $60 at Costco online pharmacy.)
Apple Cider Vinegar, really?
These are great questions. Yankee Magazine did a hilarious article, fifty or sixty years ago, in which they chronicled the life of a Vermont doctor whose sovereign cure-all was a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Feeling poorly? Take some apple cider vinegar. Your cow has a uterine prolapse? Give her apple cider vinegar. Have a broken leg? Apple cider vinegar will heal it!
One of the things I learned from these forums is that acetic acid is the shortest possible fatty acid, being a monomer. That may be relevant to whatever effect it actually does have on the body.
Anyway, feel free to ask for the evidence on which people are basing their opinions. “Show me the science” was mentioned in a different thread as really meaning “Show me evidence that I can agree with,” but in reality it serves as a basis for discussion. Whether you agree or disagree with the study is irrelevant; if it is underpowered, poorly designed, shows a small effect size, p < 0.05, and all, it is useless, even if it says what we already believe. If N = several thousand, the effect size is over 2.0 and p < 0.0001, then we have to take it seriously, whether we like its results or not. As Feynman declared, we must not fool ourselves, and we are the easiest people to fool.
Unfortunately, in the field of human nutrition, the cost of a really good study is prohibitive. It is practically impossible to follow 50,000 people around for sixty or seventy years, continuously verify what they are eating, and derive conclusions from the diseases they develop. This is used as an excuse for doing faulty science, but it really should be used as a constant reminder that we know little and can draw only tentative conclusions.
There are some studies indicating benefits of apple cider intake to moderate morning blood sugar, to reduce postprandial insulin and glucose, and the like. (Though I often wonder if any vinegar does the same. Did not check what vinegar was used in the studies below.)
Morning blood sugar:
Postprandial:
I’d guess the amount of vinegar being used is in the 1+ tablespoon range.
These are most likely people eating high carb. Not sure what happens if you’re eating low carb/keto/carnivore. I tried 1 Tsp AC vinegar only once when I had my CGM, and couldn’t see much difference. But I didn’t test it enough to know whether that was a fluke or normal for me.
I take apple cider vinegar in water morning and night, it helps my digestive system. I have a blood sugar lab work level of 90 or a little lower every time I have my lab work down. I don’t eat processed carbs but I do eat a good bite of real carbs. Fruits and vegetables, and on special occasions I will eat bread and homemade desserts.
As compared to “regular” vinegar, AC vinegar is supposed to be a probiotic too. I wonder what effect the probiotic has? That could help digestion. I can’t find many studies looking at this aspect though.
My grandma and great grandma taught me this from a very young age. Both were Native American, I learned so much about natural supplements to heal the body. I am 76 almost 77 and I have never been hospitalized or had and illness worse that a mild flu. I am even controlling my mild blood pressure issue by meditation and eating only real food. We do our bodies harm by putting anything not natural grown or from the earth itself. Man made food and chemicals used for food or medicine is actually harmful.
@ctviggen
Thanks so much for all the studies! I haven’t gotten into the weeds of the studies yet, but it looks exactly what I was asking for. Very helpful.
I use 2T each serving. I put it in my water every morning that I add my electrolytes to. I do this to control acid reflux. It does control the reflux and is the only way I was finally able to get off the destructive omeprazole I depended on for 13 years.
I actually always made a “cocktail” with it by adding 1tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp freshly grated ginger, and 1T lemon juice. It sort of had a tart apple pie flavor and that allowed me to not be averse to the flavor. Now after almost 2 years I can handle the flavor with just the ACV.
The past two months I got away from adding anything but the ACV and lo-n-behold I have constant burning in my stomach now. No reflux, but all day burning. Maybe the other things in combination really did help and the lack thereof is why I’m suddenly having problems again? I’m going to add it all back and see how things go for the next month. I’ll report back. Lol
To keep it easy I made a batch up in a quart pitcher that gave me five servings so I didn’t have to make it every day I just add enough water to a serving each day to equal 24-30oz total and then add my electrolytes to it.
Anyway, there IS a benefit. I don’t have a gallbladder. I could not eat any kind of food at all no matter how healthy or whole without severe pain, and vomiting, which is why I needed omeprazole. ACV really did get me off that drug. It’s doing something. But I use a heck of a lot more than just 1Tsp. Even 1T wouldn’t be enough. I sometimes add another 2T to my water with my evening meal too depending.
Interesting. How do you take the ACV? Through a straw? Or just swig it?
I see people advocating drinking the ACV so it doesn’t get on the teeth, but that seems like a challenge. I drink a carbonated water every night and have been using a straw, to try to avoid getting that much on my teeth, but I’m not sure how well this does.
Typical cocktail, one serving:
16oz water
2T ACV
1T lemon juice
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp fresh grated ginger
Dash of sea salt
Alternative (not as tasty, possibly not as effective…?):
12-14oz water
2T ACV
Haven’t done a straw yet. Maybe I should start rinsing out my mouth afterwards?
@Just_Juju I’m glad to hear that ACV helps you so much. Definitely go back to the cocktail! I’m going to keep taking it. I don’t have any gut problems, but perhaps it does help with insulin sensitivity like they say. Certainly 1. it does no harm (esp if you rinse your mouth after swigging it, and 2. it just might help. However, I HATE the taste. It tastes to me like something has gone off. I’ll keep working on it. Thanks for the information.
Yeah try it with the cinnamon, ginger, and lemon juice sometime. It’s kinda tasty that way. Like I said, sort of like a tart apple pie flavoring. Lol
I’ve made it my go-to drink with dinner, maybe 1T in a 20 oz mug of water. I got used to the taste eventually. I’d really like to hear that lemon juice does the same thing, as it’s much tastier, but it’s not the same acid (acetic v. ascorbic) so I really don’t know. I also don’t know if the vinegar is actually doing anything, just going on hearsay about it reducing glucose spikes, and I figure with ‘the mother’ in it, it’s probably got some probiotic properties. It doesn’t seem to hurt anything, at any rate.
@kib1 I don’t drink anything with my dinner or right after in the hopes that the food will stay in my stomach as long as possible. I don’t want to wash anything out. I guess I’ll drink it just before dinner.
Unfortunately, acetic and ascorbic acids are completely different. Acetic acid has 2 carbons and 2 oxygens. Ascorbic has 6 carbons and 6 oxygens and a ring structure in it. It’s vitamin C, so good to get in your diet anyway, but nothing like vinegar. I think I’ll try adding some to my vinegar water and see if it helps the taste. I don’t like ginger, so I’ll leave that out.
Right now, the bottom line for me is the same as you.
Wellllll…
I thought I was going to make a correction, but have corrected myslf… it is the shortest short chain fatty acid, but by definition fatty acids have a carbon chain, and not all carbolic acids are fatty acids. What I’m getting at is there is formic acid with only one carbon atom. I was thinking it is a fatty acid, when it is not… it is a carbolic acid. If you’ve ever run into stinging nettle, you have felt the power of formic acid.
Anyways, people attribute all kinds of magical powers to ACV… acetic acid is actually a very strong acid, which is diluted to no more than about 5% in vinegar… otherwise it would do rather nasty things to about everything it touches. Agricultural vinegar has about 20% acetic acid, and it will kill just about any plant sprayed with it.
I am totally dubious of most of the health claims made for ACV, but am open to science on it. It does have beneficial uses. I am just posting as a precaution to people drinking ACV. It is powerful stuff, and can absolutley demineralize your teeth. If your teeth have incorporated flouride, they will be especially prone to demineralization from ACV, so my suggestion is use a straw. And then I would follow it with some water.
I just purchased some 75% (industrial) vinegar. It’s amazing what changing the concentration of something can do. I use it somewhat diluted as a cleaning product, appliance de-calcifier, dishwasher rinse aid, laundry product, fly spray and weed killer, and undiluted it will burn skin / take off skin tags. And then, I drink 5% (acv, food grade), diluted to probably .1% in a large glass of water, and it supposedly helps my body. Remarkable.
I wonder the same thing about most things but consider that I take a 50 mcg synthroid pill and without it I feel exhausted.
I periodically take ACV. You can mix it in food instead of regular vinegar as a way to get it down. I take the pills. I buy different brands. Sometimes I feel they work and other times I wonder. To me it is the Windex of supplements (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Periodically I get a feeling that I may have gout in one of my toes, when I feel that I start taking ACV. No idea if it works or it just went away on its own.
After I started Keto a number of years ago I would get all these weird symptoms (no idea what it was but it may have been a detox reaction) and would add natural supplements including vinegar. Again, everything went away but I have no idea why
I don’t know. I only know people warn about it, but I don’t know if you’re chugging it down and not swishing it around, how much problem there really would be.
It was the main ingredient in an eco-friendly rust remover that we used one place I worked. Did a good job, too!
As far as rust remover, nothing beats cola. We called for warranty service on a commercial fridge because rust was starting to accumulate around some bolts. They told us to take cola on a cloth and clean it