Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I have often made fun of apple cider vinegar because of it being touted as a virtual cure all. Are you constipated? Want to reduce your cholesterol? Fight inflammation? Burn fat? Lose weight? Just swallow some apple cider vinegar! That’s the advice given by numerous websites that peddle this fermented apple juice. As a general rule, the more benefits being claimed for a single substance, the less likely that any of them are backed by evidence. However, it seems that there may be something to the weight loss claim, at least based on a study published in the British Medical Journal by researchers in Lebanon.
The gold standard in science is the randomized, double-blind, clinical trial, which this actually was. One hundred and twenty overweight individuals were recruited for the trial and divided into four groups. Over a twelve-week period, one group drank 5 mL of apple cider vinegar diluted in 250 mL water every morning on an empty stomach, another did the same with 10 mL of apple cider vinegar and the third with 15 mL. The fourth group served as a control and consumed 250 mL water flavored with lactic acid to mimic the sour taste of vinegar. Blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat ratio, and waist to hip ratio were all measured.
The results are interesting. Importantly, there was no difference in the activity levels and diet between the groups so any difference noted can be assumed to be due to the apple cider vinegar. These differences are not huge but all trend in the same direction. The apple cider vinegar groups all showed improvement, whereas the placebo group did not. For example, BMI decreased on average from 30 to 27, roughly ten percent. All the other parameters also decreased by anywhere between 5 and 10 percent.
It is difficult to rationalize these differences in terms of physiology. The authors suggest that acetic acid may inhibit enzymes involved in the body’s formation of fats and glucose, and activate ones involved in the use of fat for energy. Another possibility, based on some cell culture and animal studies, is that acetate increases the secretion in the gut of the satiety hormones GLP-1 and PYY. GLP-1 is the hormone that is mimicked by semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. Unfortunately, the researchers did not include a group that took ordinary vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. That would have revealed whether the effect is due to the acetic acid in the vinegar or some other components, such as polyphenols found in the apples from which the apple cider vinegar is produced.
In any case, it seems that apple cider vinegar is not snake oil and may indeed have a positive effect when it comes to weight loss, fasting blood sugar, blood cholesterol and triglycerides. While the benefits are statistically significant, meaning they are not due to chance, their clinical significance has not been established. In other words, we don’t know if taking apple cider vinegar daily reduces the risk of disease. That would need a much longer period of study than 12 weeks. Still, I think I am now inclined to make less fun of some of the claims made on behalf of apple cider vinegar. Keeping in step with research as it marches on is the hallmark of science.
I have often made fun of apple cider vinegar because of it being touted as a virtual cure all. Are you constipated? Want to reduce your cholesterol? Fight inflammation? Burn fat? Lose weight? Just swallow some apple cider vinegar! That’s the advice given by numerous websites that peddle this fermented apple juice. As a general rule, the more benefits being claimed for a single substance, the less likely that any of them are backed by evidence. However, it seems that there may be something to the weight loss claim, at least based on a study published in the British Medical Journal by researchers in Lebanon.
The gold standard in science is the randomized, double-blind, clinical trial, which this actually was. One hundred and twenty overweight individuals were recruited for the trial and divided into four groups. Over a twelve-week period, one group drank 5 mL of apple cider vinegar diluted in 250 mL water every morning on an empty stomach, another did the same with 10 mL of apple cider vinegar and the third with 15 mL. The fourth group served as a control and consumed 250 mL water flavored with lactic acid to mimic the sour taste of vinegar. Blood glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat ratio, and waist to hip ratio were all measured.
The results are interesting. Importantly, there was no difference in the activity levels and diet between the groups so any difference noted can be assumed to be due to the apple cider vinegar. These differences are not huge but all trend in the same direction. The apple cider vinegar groups all showed improvement, whereas the placebo group did not. For example, BMI decreased on average from 30 to 27, roughly ten percent. All the other parameters also decreased by anywhere between 5 and 10 percent.
It is difficult to rationalize these differences in terms of physiology. The authors suggest that acetic acid may inhibit enzymes involved in the body’s formation of fats and glucose, and activate ones involved in the use of fat for energy. Another possibility, based on some cell culture and animal studies, is that acetate increases the secretion in the gut of the satiety hormones GLP-1 and PYY. GLP-1 is the hormone that is mimicked by semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. Unfortunately, the researchers did not include a group that took ordinary vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. That would have revealed whether the effect is due to the acetic acid in the vinegar or some other components, such as polyphenols found in the apples from which the apple cider vinegar is produced.
In any case, it seems that apple cider vinegar is not snake oil and may indeed have a positive effect when it comes to weight loss, fasting blood sugar, blood cholesterol and triglycerides. While the benefits are statistically significant, meaning they are not due to chance, their clinical significance has not been established. In other words, we don’t know if taking apple cider vinegar daily reduces the risk of disease. That would need a much longer period of study than 12 weeks. Still, I think I am now inclined to make less fun of some of the claims made on behalf of apple cider vinegar. Keeping in step with research as it marches on is the hallmark of science.
