Q. I read a short magazine article that claims that taking vinegar regularly is a good treatment for diabetes and heart disease. Is this true?

Mely E., Mandaluyong City

A. Vinegar, whose main component is acetic or ethanoic acid, comes from the fermentation of a variety of natural sources such as malt, rice and fruit juices.  In the Philippines, the more common sources of raw materials for vinegar are sugar cane (sukang iloko), coconut water (suka ng niyog) and sap of palm tree (sukang paombong). Vinegar varies in taste depending on the raw material from which it is produced. Incidentally, vinegar can also be produced synthetically from natural gas and petroleum derivatives.

Vinegar’s main use — as I’m sure everyone knows — is in the kitchen. It is widely used in food preservation and preparation, and is extensively employed as a condiment.

Aside from its culinary functions, however, a host of remedies and cures have indeed been attributed to vinegar. It has been trumpeted as a treatment not only for diabetes and heart disease as mentioned in the magazine article you read, but also for cancer, osteoporosis, infections, and many other diseases. It purportedly has anti-aging properties, too. But what is the real score in so far as the health benefits of vinegar are concerned?

The little evidence that exist at the moment indicates that the health benefits attributed to vinegar are greatly exaggerated. Just about the only scientifically proven treatment that vinegar offers is in alleviating the symptoms of jellyfish stings. Evidently, applying vinegar to jellyfish stings deactivates the nematocysts. But even for this condition there is a better alternative — immersing the affected areas in hot water (45°C) for at least four minutes.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the hype behind its health benefits is clearly overblown, evidence indicate that vinegar may help in promoting overall health by a variety of ways.

A number of scientific studies show that two tablespoons of vinegar (apple cider vinegar is most often used in these studies) added to food, or taken along with a meal either by drinking or as a condiment slows the digestion of carbohydrates and absorption of sugar that the meal contains. This gives the cells of the body more time to take up sugar from blood and prevent the blood sugar level from rising very high. Results of limited clinical trials involving type 2 diabetes patients indeed suggest that vinegar has a controlling effect on the amount of sugar the body absorbs. But all these findings do not mean that vinegar is a cure for diabetes. What it does is help in a small way.

Another area where vinegar might be of some help is with regard to controlling blood cholesterol — and this could be the reason why it is mentioned as a treatment for heart disease. A study on rats fed with acetic acid has shown that vinegar significantly lowers serum total cholesterol, but no such study on human subjects have been conducted yet.

Animal researches likewise point to the possibility that vinegar may help a little in preventing osteoporosis because it enhances intestinal absorption of calcium.

People with weight problems may also benefit from vinegar. Several trials prove that taking vinegar with food increases satiety (i.e., the feeling of fullness).

The anti-cancer and anti-aging properties being attributed to vinegar are unsubstantiated. Perhaps the basis for these assertions is the fact that vinegar contains antioxidants — in the form of phytochemicals — that comes from the natural raw materials (e.g., fruits) from which it is produced. 

With regard to its role in treating infections, vinegar is evidently an effective antibacterial cleaning agent on hard surfaces such as floors and walls, but studies show that whether taken internally or applied topically, it is not effective against infections.

Vinegar is not the panacea that some people proclaim it to be, but it will not hurt if you take a tablespoon or two with every meal. I do not however recommend heavy consumption of the stuff because long-term heavy vinegar ingestion may result in hypokalemia (low blood potassium). 

(Email inquiries on health matters to: medical_notes@yahoo.com)