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Apple cider vinegar weight loss properties

Apple Cider Vinegar Weight Loss Properties

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Drinking any type of vinegar or acetic acid, helps to reduce weight and factors related with metabolic syndrome. It may sound contradictory to what some health sites or stores claim. Some promote organic apple cider vinegar weight loss drinks and home-made beverages. Research conclusions are often different to what commercial interest dictates. It is more profitable to sell an expensive vinegar drink than telling readers any type of vinegar will do.

First, as a precaution it may be dangerous drinking it in large quantities without preventive measures. It can cause heartburn, teeth enamel erosion, interact with diuretic drugs or increase the effect of insulin control meds. [1] With proper care and common sense in its administration vinegars can assist in the healthy promotion of weight loss. Combine them with other methods to lose weight like soft exercise, healthy diet foods, avoiding sugars and junk food and you’ll see a synergistic effect with wonderful results on your figure in as short as two months.

Traditionally people used apple cider vinegar for weight loss because of their better taste and ease of production. Commercial vinegars are commonly pasteurized, losing their microbial and phenolic properties. We will explain them at the end of the article. Organic apple vinegars containing the mother are an option for effective weight loss although many choose to produce their own.

A Japanese research published in 2009 associated vinegar consumption with lower body weight, BMI, waist circumference and glucose, serum triglycerides and cholesterol. [2] The study analyzed two dosages of vinegar; 15ml, approx. 1 tbs per day for the low dosage group and 30ml, 2 tbs daily for the high dosage group taken after lunch and supper.

The differences between the low and high dose patients weren’t significant enough to recommend drinking two tablespoons as the total fat reduction at the end of 12th week was approximately 5% which may not seem much but it was without any other type of weight reduction measure.

Vinegar intake also had positive effects on parameters that contribute to metabolic syndrome, a precursor of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It reduced visceral fat, lowered glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol levels in blood. In addition the high dosage group started to experience a lowering of their systolic blood pressure from week eight and by week twelve they had a significant lower pressure than the placebo group. If you have high blood pressure taking two tbs of vinegar instead of one may help you.

How Do Vinegars Make You Lose Weight?

It is still uncertain the exact metabolic effects vinegars have to produce weight and fat loss but research has a list of some contributors to this effect: [3]

  • Decrease in hepatic glucose production.
  • Increase glucose utilization in skeletal muscle.
  • Upregulation of flow-mediated vasodilation. Which may explain the lowering of diastolic blood pressure seen in the study.
  • Facilitation of insulin secretion.
  • Slowdown of the gastric emptying. This is because vinegars help regulate stomach acidity which is often negatively altered by western diet and medication. This helps a healthier digestion and a tighter closure of the stomach sphincters, reducing ailments such as acid reflux and poor digestion.
    • In case you have gastroparesis, a common ailment associated with diabetes that slowdowns stomach emptying, drinking vinegar will worsen it.
  • Suppression of disaccharidase activity.
    • This is important as this enzyme breaks complex sugars into simpler ones.
    • Simple sugars or mono-saccharides, send our liver a signal to store any fat ingested with food because the energy our body burns is provided by these sugars.
    • If no simple sugar is present in the food, the liver must resort to break complex sugars, like the starch present in cereals or tubers.
    • In case of a suppressed disaccharidase activity the body burns the fats ingested with food or stored in the body instead.
  • Improve lipid profile. Mentioned earlier as lower cholesterol and triglycerides levels in blood.

Are Apple Cider Vinegar Weight Loss Drinks Recommended?

The Japanese study used beverages of 300 and 500ml, approx. 10 and 17oz respectively with one and two tablespoons of vinegar diluted. The time to take it were after lunch and supper. Other studies have experienced similar results taking it before meals. Our recommendation is to take one tablespoon with the heartiest meal of the day, better sprinkled over a salad or with the food. This is because drinking too much fluid with meals hinders digestion as it lowers stomach acidity. Any vinegar with a 5% acidity will promote weight loss but mother vinegars have additional properties. These may act in synergy with the weight loss properties . People brew mother vinegars from any fruit, not just apples. Our advice is to stay away from expensive apple cider vinegar weight loss drinks. It is easy and affordable to brew your own or buy an organic mother vinegar.

Take two tablespoons in case you want to lower your blood pressure and tolerate vinegars well. In this case apple cider vinegar shines because is better tasting and is easier to take for some people. Also do not take it raw as it can cause burns to your throat and soften the tooth enamel. At least do not brush your teeth after an hour or more of ingesting the vinegar. Rinsing your mouth with water may reduce this softening effect. In case you must take it diluted in water as done in the studies sip it with a straw to avoid problems with the teeth. Here you can mix it with a low calorie sweetener like stevia extract to make it more palatable.

Why Tradition Recommends Organic Mother Vinegars?

The mother is extracellular cellulose and is a thick, hard layer formed by the acetic acid bacteria on the surface of vinegar. This layer contain several bioactive components that have beneficial effects. Usually brewers use organically cultivated fruit for these vinegars to avoid any toxic effect by chemical fertilizers, pesticides, phyto-hormones or GMOs.

Among these healthy compounds found in apple mother vinegar is gallic acid which is a weak carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. Medicine use drugs with this inhibitory effect as anti-glaucoma agents, diuretics, anti-epileptics. Also in the management of mountain sickness, gastric and duodenal ulcers, neurological disorders, or osteoporosis. [4] In addition gallic acid extracted from grape seeds inhibits the formation of amyloid fibrils. These are one of the potential causes of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. [5][6] One study indicated that gallic acid has this effect on amyloid protein formation by modifying the properties of alpha-synuclein. This is a protein associated with the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. [7] Toxicologists denominate Gallic acid as a mutagen and a teratogen. These effects appear only in large quantities impossible to ingest through mother vinegars.[8]

Another component mentioned in a research study by Elif Aykin et al published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition [9] is chlorogenic acid which has a modest blood pressure lowering effect [10]. Also scientists report chlorogenic acid to be sometimes a sensitizer producing respiratory allergies to certain plant materials. Again, to produce this is not possible as the quantities aren’t available through normal mother vinegar ingestion. [11] Also the study reported a high content of iron and antioxidant activity in these types of vinegars.

Mother vinegar’s bacterial properties may help in the weight loss. This is because some studies hint this but scientists need more research to prove these claims. They found a link between intestinal microflora health and increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. [12a][12b] Mother vinegars may be a contributing factor to recover a healthy microflora balance but these are only theories for now.

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