Does Apple Cider Vinegar Help With Weight Loss?

by Anand Thakkar, MD ~

The global apple cider market size could reach $1.1 billion by 2025. Why? Namely, more people are turning to apple cider vinegar to lose weight.

Could it help you shed a few extra pounds? How else can it benefit your health?

Keep reading to find out! In this guide, we’ll review everything you need to know before adding cider to your shopping cart.

Discover the potential health benefits you could experience by using this fermented tonic today!

What is Apple Cider Vinegar?

Before we discuss the potential health benefits of using apple cider vinegar, it helps to know a little more about the product.

Apple cider vinegar is created by crushing apples and combining them with yeast. The yeast helps convert the sugar in apples into alcohol.

Then, bacteria is added, allowing the alcohol to ferment into acetic acid.

The fermentation and manufacturing process usually takes about a month. Recently, manufacturers have accelerated the process to only take a day.

Acetic Acid

What is acetic acid, exactly?

Acetic acid is sometimes referred to as ethanoic acid. It’s the main active component found in apple cider vinegar. Acetic acid causes apple cider vinegar’s strong odor and sour taste.

Acetic acid accounts for about 5 or 6% of the apple cider vinegar.

When consumed, this short-chain fatty acid dissolves into hydrogen and acetate.

The acetic acid found in apple cider vinegar could promote weight loss. It offers a list of other health benefits, too.

Lower Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels

For starters, acetic acid could lower your blood sugar levels. It could improve your muscles and liver’s ability to take sugar from the blood. High blood sugar is associated with diabetes.

High blood sugar levels can also cause:

• Heart attacks and stroke
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Damage to the nervous system
• Foot ulcers, infections, and amputations
• Vision impairment and blindness
• Kidney failure and dialysis

Acetic acid could decrease your ratio of insulin to glucagon, too. Decreasing your insulin levels could help your body burn fat.

Your pancreas is responsible for producing insulin, which allows the body to use glucose for energy. Glucose is a sugar found in many carbohydrates.

The bloodstream absorbs glucose after meals. Then, insulin causes cells to absorb the sugar and use it for energy. If there’s too much glucose in the bloodstream, insulin can signal the body to store excess levels in your liver.

If your body doesn’t take insulin properly, you could develop diabetes.

Lowering insulin levels with apple cider vinegar could benefit patients with diabetes or metabolic syndrome. It could also help patients with high blood pressure, elevated blood lipids, and obesity.

These are all risk factors that are associated with cardiovascular disease.

Boost Metabolism

Acetic acid could increase the enzyme AMPK. This enzyme boosts fat burning. It also decreases the liver’s fat and sugar production.

You could improve your metabolism as a result.

A faster metabolism allows your body to burn more calories within a given time. Different factors can impact your metabolism, including:

• Age
• Muscle mass
• Body size
• Environmental temperature
• Physical activity
• Hormone disorders

Drinking apple cider vinegar could boost your metabolism. It might help patients with hypothyroidism or Cushing’s syndrome, who have slower metabolic rates.

Reduce Fat Storage

Acetic acid could reduce belly fat storage and liver fat, too.

In one study, scientists treated obese, diabetic rats with acetic acid. Acetic acid protected the rats from weight gain and boosted the expression of genes that reduce belly fat storage.

Meanwhile, mice that consumed a high-fat diet supplemented with acetic acid experienced an increase in genes responsible for fat burning. Increased fat burning led to less body fat buildup.

Appetite Suppression

Consuming apple cider vinegar and acetic acid might help suppress centers in the brain that control appetite. Suppressing your appetite can lead to reduced food intake, which could help you lose weight.

Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight Loss

One of the reasons people turn to apple cider vinegar for weight loss is because it can promote fullness. Remember, acetic acid can suppress your appetite. Decreasing your calorie intake could help you lose weight.

In one study, people who took vinegar with a high-carb meal had a 55% lower blood sugar response after eating. They ended up eating 200-275 fewer calories for the rest of the day, too.

It might also slow the rate at which food leaves your stomach. You could experience feelings of fullness. Meanwhile, your blood pressure and insulin levels will decrease.

Make sure to speak with a doctor before using apple cider vinegar for weight loss. For some people, this effect could have harmful consequences.

Gastroparesis is a complication of type 1 diabetes. It’s also known as delayed stomach emptying.

Taking it with meals could worsen gastroparesis.

Apple cider vinegar has shown promise in helping people reduce weight and body fat. In one study, people who consumed 1 tablespoon of vinegar a day experienced 2.6 pounds of weight loss in 12 weeks.

Participants who consumed 2 tablespoons of vinegar each day experienced 3.7 pounds of weight loss in the same time.

In the same study, participants also experienced a decrease in:

• Body fat percentage
• Weight circumference
• Triglycerides

The placebo group gained 0.9 lbs. Their weight circumference slightly increased, too.

The results are promising, but more research is still needed. Here are a few other food options for weight loss you can try.

Other Potential Benefits

How else can apple cider vinegar benefit your health?

For starters, it might improve PCOS symptoms. it could improve insulin sensitivity for people with PCOS.

It could help decrease cholesterol levels, too.

Vinegar fights bacteria as well. It could fight the bacteria that cause food poisoning, such as E. coli.

Other potential benefits include:

• Lower blood sugar and insulin
• Improved insulin sensitivity
• Lower fasting blood sugar
• Lower blood pressure

Adding a moderate amount of apple cider vinegar to your routine could help you accomplish your health goals.

Apple Cider Vinegar: Your Guide to a Thinner Waistline

To recap, can apple cider vinegar help you lose weight? Yes! Weight loss is only one of the benefits it can offer.

Add a little vinegar to your routine to experience these potential benefits for yourself!

Ready for a transformation? We can help. Explore our medical weight loss services today to get started.

About Anand Thakkar, MD

Dr. Anand Thakkar is a licensed Internal Medicine physician. He is Board Certified in Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine. He has been a member of the teaching faculty for students at Chicago Medical School and has been featured on ABC, FOX, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes as a recognized authority in wellness, fitness & nutrition, weight loss, anti-aging, hormones & metabolic medicine, holistic medicine, lifestyle coaching and women’s & men’s health. His mission is to help people become the healthiest versions of themselves using movement, nutrition, and a whole-body approach to medical care.

This blog is for informational purposes only. Do not make any major changes to your lifestyle, diet, or exercise without the supervision of a licensed medical professional.