The weight loss process is often difficult for many people. Healthy superfoods or foods advertised as weight loss aids are therefore welcome.
Apple cider vinegar is one of these foods. In addition to helping you lose weight, it is also said to have other positive effects on the body and promote health.
“There are many, often unproven, claims about apple cider vinegar. For example, that it helps you lose weight,” explains obesity treatment researcher Dr. Scott Kahan, opposite ‘SELF’.
However, there is no real scientific evidence that apple cider vinegar actually stimulates a metabolic process that leads to weight loss.
“There is hardly any scientific literature to support this assumption. Or it is a matter of tiny, poorly conducted studies in obscure journals,” says the expert.
However, these are “basically meaningless” when it comes to supporting the weight loss benefits of apple cider vinegar.
However, one study actually showed that subjects who consumed two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar daily ate an average of 250 calories less than usual.
“I’ve heard a lot about how apple cider vinegar is supposed to detoxify the body,” reports nutritionist Abby Langer in an interview with the online portal SELF. “However, that is not the case.”
In fact, the body cleans itself. The body detoxifies itself all by itself – the liver, kidneys and intestines are responsible for this.
They work together to expel toxins and waste products from the body in the form of urine and feces and to help the organism absorb beneficial nutrients from food.
“Despite what you may read somewhere, apple cider vinegar is not something magical that detoxifies the body,” Langer summarizes.
Apple cider vinegar is often praised as an appetite suppressant. However, it has not yet been reliably confirmed that it actually suppresses appetite.
More importantly, cutting calories too much is not a sustainable weight loss strategy in the long term – it will just leave you feeling hungry.
This limitation also leads to people forgetting how to eat food intuitively. Suppressing your appetite when you’re hungry is ultimately just depriving your body of the nutrition it needs.
“Psychologically speaking, such behavior is very unhealthy,” warns Langer. “If you feel hungry between meals, an appetite suppressant is not the solution.”
Instead, you should take a close look at your meals to determine whether the amount of calories and portion size are sufficient. “The macronutrients also play an important role,” emphasizes the expert.
A 2013 study published in the ‘Journal of Functional Foods’ suggests that taking apple cider vinegar can lower blood sugar levels.
Within the study, all subjects who took apple cider vinegar daily for twelve weeks had lower blood sugar.
The problem, however, is that the study was only conducted on 14 people, all of whom were susceptible to type 2 diabetes.
“Since studies are usually carried out for specific groups of people, only very specific conclusions can be drawn,” explains Dr. Kahan.
In other words, studies are an excellent way to examine different subpopulations. But if the research is not comprehensive and based on different groups, it does not automatically inform the general public.
So it is possible that apple cider vinegar can help lower blood sugar levels – at least in the group studied.
“Until something has been thoroughly studied, no one should base their health advice on the results of a very small study,” warns Dr. Kahan.
Even if some of the health claims are questionable, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t drink apple cider vinegar.
“Lack of scientific evidence doesn’t mean it’s dangerous or that you can’t still feel healthier by consuming it,” explains Langer.
If you want to incorporate apple cider vinegar into your diet, it’s all about how you do it.
Langer recommends consuming no more than two tablespoons per day. Excessive consumption could have negative health effects.
“The acidic vinegar can irritate the stomach,” explains Dr. Kahan. “Too much acid also damages tooth enamel and can even damage the esophagus.”
He also recommends always eating something before taking apple cider vinegar to reduce the likelihood of stomach irritation.
“Vinegar is a strong acid,” he emphasizes. “As with many other drinks and foods, you should be careful about consuming too much of it.”
“Drinking water with diluted apple cider vinegar can have unpleasant effects for some people,” warns Tamara Duker Freuman, author of “The Bloated Belly Whisperer.”
If you have a sensitive stomach or suffer from gastrointestinal problems, it is better to avoid apple cider vinegar.
A 2014 study published in the Journal of Obesity showed that subjects experienced less appetite after taking apple cider vinegar.
However, this feeling of appetite suppression was due to the nausea that the subjects experienced after taking it.
Under such circumstances, the calories saved are unlikely to be worth it.
The original for this article “Experts explain why apple cider vinegar is not good for losing weight” comes from FitForFun.
