Apple cider vinegar can help in weight loss: Study – Dainik Savera Times

Sydney: Made by fermenting apples and naturally high in acetic acid, apple cider vinegar has been popular in recent years for its purported health benefits, from antibacterial properties to antioxidant effects and the ability to help manage blood sugar. Its origin as a health tonic goes back a long time. Hippocrates used it to treat injuries, fevers, and skin wounds.

An experimental study released today looks at whether apple cider vinegar can be effective for weight loss, lowering blood sugar levels, and reducing blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides). The results show that it can reduce all three but it is not that easy. A group of scientists in Lebanon conducted a double-blind, randomized, clinical trial on a group of overweight and obese youth aged 12-25.

The researchers randomly placed 30 participants into one of four groups. Participants were instructed to drink 5, 10 or 15 ml of apple cider vinegar mixed with 250 ml of water every morning before eating anything for 12 weeks. Another group consumed an inert drink (placebo) that looked similar and tasted similar (from lactic acid mixed with water). Usually this type of study provides high quality evidence because it can show cause and effect.

That is, the intervention (in this case apple cider vinegar) leads to a certain outcome. The study was also double-blind, meaning that none of the participants or the scientists involved in collecting the data knew who was in which group. Apple cider vinegar consumption was associated with significant declines in body weight and body mass index (BMI) after a three-month period. On average, those who drank apple cider vinegar lost 6–8 kg of weight during that period and their BMI decreased by 2.7–3 points, depending on the dose.