Written by Hadi Jalali | Published on March 26, 2023 | Last revised on on March 26, 2023
How to Lose Fat with Apple Cider Vinegar
Vinegar can lower the glucose impact of food and improve insulin sensitivity, leading to fat loss over time. We discuss how to use it to improve the effects of an otherwise healthy diet.
📅 How often: once a day, 3-5 times a week
⌛ Time required: <1 minute
Benefits
- Lowers blood glucose after meals
- Improves insulin sensitivity
- Improves glucose absorption by muscles
- Improves fat loss and appetite control
- Possibly improves cholesterol levels
My take
In some circles, apple cider vinegar (ACV), is praised as a miracle cure. Sadly, the available evidence doesn’t seem to show that it is. It does offer a variety of benefits, but its range of effects is relatively average.
Vinegar is the perfect kitchen staple, though: it’s inexpensive, widely available, and simple to add to dishes or drinks. And consistent benefits over time, however small, add up like compound interest. For me, its ability to reduce blood sugar is particularly irresistible.
The habit: apple cider vinegar
Take 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) of ACV alongside meals.
It can be in any form you like: mixed into food, in a sauce, or diluted in water—it tastes great in sparkling water!
Like cinnamon, its glucose lowering effects will be most effective alongside meals, especially if they’re high in carbohydrates.
Key points
- Acetic acid, present in all vinegars at a concentration of 4% or more, seems to be the compound responsible for most of ACV’s health benefits.
- It’s likely that all vinegars will provide similar effects as what we’ve listed here. But unfiltered, low-sugar fruit vinegars may provide the most health benefits thanks to their fermentation byproducts, enzymes, polyphenols (plant compounds associated with a range of health benefits), and trace minerals.
- Limit your vinegar intake to once a day, a few times a week. Overuse of vinegar can damage tooth enamel and the tissues of your digestive tract.
- Don’t consume undiluted vinegar.
- For glucose-lowering effects, try alternating between vinegar and another effective, easy habit, such as cinnamon.
Tips
- Use vinegar every time you make a salad—most sauces benefit from an acidic component for flavor.
- Acetic acid is heat stable (boiling point of 118.1 °C or 244.5 °F), meaning that it doesn’t break down when exposed to heat. Many of vinegar’s benefits remain when it’s used in cooking, though probiotic bacteria and certain polyphenols may be lost.
- A murky appearance and the presence of “the mother” (a cloudy substance, found at the bottom of a bottle, that forms naturally during fermentation) in ACV is generally a sign of better quality, unfiltered vinegar—but check the product label to be sure.
Do I need this habit?
In discussing cinnamon, we outlined the importance of regulating blood glucose levels. The research is clear. In both people with and without type 2 diabetes, it’s been demonstrated that postprandial (after meals) blood glucose elevation is a predictor of developing cardiovascular disease and dying from it. Like cinnamon, vinegar can help with lowering blood glucose, and it’s too easy of a tool to ignore.
What are the effects?
Cinnamon has glucose-lowering, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, cardiovascular, cholesterol-lowering and immunomodulatory effects. It’s a Swiss Army Knife—a feature shared by many spices.
What’s the science?
Insulin and blood glucose
A 2021 meta-analysis concluded that in interventions lasting longer than 8 weeks, ACV lowers fasting plasma glucose (blood glucose levels before meals). It seems more effective in healthy (glucose tolerant) people than in people with impaired glucose tolerance, such as type 2 diabetics, but is helpful regardless.
Looking closer, vinegar seems to slow down the rate of glucose entering the blood by an impressive 31.4%-40%. This avoids peaks in glucose and insulin, and is beneficial for improving insulin sensitivity, even for people with type 2 diabetes.
Studies in rodents fed acetic acid have shown that it increases the expression of AMPK (a key enzyme for metabolism; it helps move glucose from the bloodstream into cells, to be used for energy) and GLUT4 (Glucose Transporter 4, an important protein for the uptake of glucose by cells). This points to a cellular glucose uptake mechanism that’s independent of insulin—which is normally responsible for telling cells to take in glucose. Another rat study confirms this hypothesis, observing that consuming vinegar increases the rate at which the liver and muscles replenish their storage of glycogen (the form of glucose stored by the body).
Increased AMPK activation leads to increased fatty acid oxidation (use of stored fat) and decreased hepatic gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose from non-carbohydrate food sources).
Another observed effect is the suppression of lipogenesis in the liver (making fatty acids from non-fat food sources), and reducing free fatty acids in circulation. This can also potentially lead to improved insulin sensitivity.
Treatment of rats with acetate (the main compound in vinegar) showed a higher rate of oxygen consumption and a smaller size of lipid droplets in white adipose and brown adipose tissues (white and brown fat). This points to functions that work against obesity and obesity-linked type 2 diabetes.
Glucose uptake by muscle tissue
Vinegar seems to improve vasodilation (the widening of blood vessels, an important component of glucose uptake via insulin), increase blood flow to peripheral tissues, enhance their uptake of glucose.
- A study in people with type 2 diabetes found that vinegar significantly increased blood glucose uptake into the skeletal muscle of the forearm, while decreasing plasma glucose, insulin, and triglycerides.
- In healthy postmenopausal women, vinegar consumption stimulated vasodilation by increasing the expression of nitric oxide synthase.
- Vinegar-stimulated increases in blood flow have also been observed in individuals with impaired glucose tolerance.
Fat loss and appetite
First, vinegar seems to be mildly appetite-suppressing by increasing feelings of fullness. This has been observed in a short study using acetic acid when eating white bread. Such appetite-suppression may happen by slowing gastric emptying (the rate at which food leaves the stomach). Food stays in the stomach longer, so the person feels fuller for longer. Studies using an indirect tracer in healthy participants and ultrasonography in people with type 1 diabetes have observed a slowing gastric emptying, and have suggested that this slowing also affects blood glucose levels after meals.
Second, acetic acid may also activate certain genes and enzymes that promote fat burning and decrease fat storage in the body.
- Acetate has also been found to have an inhibitory effect on the activity of carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (a transcription factor that regulates several genes required for the conversion of glucose to fatty acids in the liver) in a cell study (of cultured hepatocytes).
- A 12-week double-blind trial of obese subjects saw a 1.2-1.9 kg reduction in body weight, BMI, visceral fat area, waist circumference, and serum triglyceride levels in subjects taking 15-30 ml (1-2 tablespoons) of vinegar with food compared to control.
Cholesterol
In a meta-analysis of 9 randomized controlled trials, ACV decreased total cholesterol (−6.06 mg/dL), triglycerides (−33.66 mg/dL), and fasting plasma glucose (−7.97 mg/dL).
In a study with normal rats that were fed vinegar, significant reduction of low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) and significant increase of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) levels were observed. ACV also reduced serum triglyceride (TG) levels and increased HDL-c in diabetic animals.
In a study with rats fed a high cholesterol diet, ACV decreased triglyceride and VLDL levels (very low-density lipoprotein, a type of lipoprotein that transports triglycerides from the liver to other tissues in the body) in all groups when compared to animals on high-cholesterol diets who weren’t fed vinegar.
What’s the optimal dose of vinegar?
Based on a meta-analysis of clinical trials where blood glucose was measured after meals with and without vinegar, 15-30 ml (1-2 tablespoons), seems like a safe, effective dose when vinegar is taken with food.
What’s the best type of vinegar?
ACV’s health benefits are mainly attributed to acetic acid, which is present at a concentration of 4% or more in all vinegars. ACV is an ideal choice because as a fruit vinegar, it contains many other beneficial organic acids and bioactive compounds, and is low in sugar (0.06 g per tablespoon)—while balsamic vinegar, for example, has about 2.4 g of sugar in one tablespoon.
If ACV is not your thing, or if you get bored of it, you can also try other fruit vinegars. A double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial using pomegranate vinegar in 77 overweight women saw a 10% reduction in visceral fat mass compared to 2% the placebo group (who took lactic acid).
Is vinegar safe to consume?
Highly acidic foods, like vinegar or pickles, can damage various tissues (including the digestive tract) and tooth enamel if they’re consumed in excess. So while they’re not unsafe, they should be cycled (with days off) and consumed in moderation.
Research citations
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- Yamashita H, Fujisawa K, Ito E, Idei S, Kawaguchi N, Kimoto M, Hiemori M, Tsuji H. Improvement of obesity and glucose tolerance by acetate in Type 2 diabetic Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2007 May;71(5):1236-43. doi: 10.1271/bbb.60668. Epub 2007 May 7. PMID: 17485860.
- Kondo T, Kishi M, Fushimi T, Ugajin S, Kaga T. Vinegar intake reduces body weight, body fat mass, and serum triglyceride levels in obese Japanese subjects. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2009 Aug;73(8):1837-43. doi: 10.1271/bbb.90231. Epub 2009 Aug 7. PMID: 19661687.
- Budak NH, Aykin E, Seydim AC, Greene AK, Guzel-Seydim ZB. Functional properties of vinegar. J Food Sci. 2014 May;79(5):R757-64. doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.12434. PMID: 24811350.
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- Ji Eun Park, Ji Yeon Kim, Joohee Kim, You Jin Kim, Mun Jong Kim, Sung Won Kwon, Oran Kwon. Pomegranate vinegar beverage reduces visceral fat accumulation in association with AMPK activation in overweight women: A double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial. Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 8, 2014, Pages 274-281, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2014.03.028.
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