From French words meaning "sour wine," vinegar is a millennia-old health tonic. It's usage goes far beyond household cleaner and salad topper. Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, wrote of its many curative powers, and in the 21st century new science has revealed that vinegar may help with blood pressure and that it acts as well as some diabetes medications in controlling blood sugar. Despite its promise, however, caution is advised. Vinegar is not a medicine, and you shouldn't use it to self-medicate. Always see your doctor before attempting to use vinegar or any substance to treat a health condition.
Vinegar and Blood Pressure
In an experiment with "spontaneously hypertensive" rats, which was published in 2001 in the journal "Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry," Japanese researchers determined that vinegar significantly reduced systolic blood pressure by about 20 millimeters Hg in their sample. The spontaneously hypertensive rat strain is one of the most widely used animal models of human hypertension, according to the ScienceDaily website. Systolic pressure is the top number in your blood pressure reading. It refers to the pressure in your arteries when the heart muscle contracts. The study found that acetic acid, vinegar's main component, was responsible for the beneficial blood pressure result. They speculated that acetic acid promotes calcium absorption and down-regulates parts of the hormone system involved in blood pressure and fluid balance.
An Indirect Route to Lower Your Blood Pressure
There's scant research of testing the effects of vinegar on blood pressure in humans. As a therapy for lowering blood pressure, the advice to take vinegar appears nowhere in public health documents such as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's "Your Guide Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH," as of the time of publication. However, the institute and others like Harvard's School of Public Health advise using vinegar as a salt replacement where appropriate, as a way of getting the seasoning without the spike in pressure from sodium.
Vinegar and Diabetes
Acetic acid also is known to curb insulin resistance, making it a useful substance for diabetics. In the January 2004 "Diabetes Care" journal, Arizona State researchers declared that vinegar worked as well as medications, such as acarbose or metformin, in improving insulin sensitivity following a meal. Acetic acid suppresses the activity of certain carbohydrate molecules and it raises the uptake of glucose in muscles. They also think vinegar gets involved with the process of building and breaking down blood sugar in the liver.
Savings and Weight-Loss Bonus
The diabetics in the aforementioned study took a preparation mixed with 20 grams of apple cider vinegar, 40 grams water and a teaspoon of saccharine. The authors reported these ingredients would cost you about $20 per year in steep contrast to the $800 to $1,800 range of antiglycemic medications. Besides that, the study demonstrated that participants who drank the vinegar solution before eating also lost weight. Losing a moderate amount of weight, between 5 and 7 percent of your body weight, can prevent Type 2 diabetes, according to the National Diabetes Education Program.
References
- "Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry"; Antihypertensive Effects of Ascetic Acid and Vinegar on Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats; Shino Kondo, et al.; December 2001
- "Diabetes Care"; Vinegar Improves Insulin Sensitivity to a High-Carbohydrate Meal in Subjects With Insulin Resistance or Type 2 Diabetes; Carol S. Johnston, et al.; January 2004
- "Research Matters"; A Spoonful of Vinegar Helps the Sugar Go Down; Diane Boudreau
- ASU "Research Matters"; Vinegar Helps Lower Blood Glucose in Diabetics; Christine Lambrakis; January 2008
- "The Genuine Works of Hippocrates"; Hippocrates
