Let’s talk about Apple Cider Vinegar and its multi-benefits

Written by Dr harold Gunatillake-Health writer

A bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar on your kitchen table kept ready at hand is one of the most vital items, as important as onions, spices and so on. It has many uses such as for cleaning, washing your hair, preserving food, to clean your skin of exfoliated skin and moles, in addition to being used as a health drink-just a few drops in your drinking water, daily.

Some use it as a salad dressing, or in soups, sauces, among others.

If you suffer from diabetes, it is a healthy idea to put a few drops of apple cider vinegar into the water you drink. Most people drink it at bed-time. It helps to lower your blood sugar. It has been used as a folk remedy for many diseases for centuries by primitive races.

“Scientific studies over the past 10 years show benefits from vinegar consumption,” says Carol Johnston, Ph.D., head of the nutrition department at Arizona State University, Tempe. Vinegar decreases both fasting and postprandial (after-meal) glucose levels, she says.

How does this vinegar lower the blood sugar? Noburnasa Ogawa, PhD., of Tokyo University, discovered that the acetic acid inhibits the activity of several carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, including amylase, sucrase, maltase and starches temporarily passing through without being digested and less sugar is absorbed into the blood stream.

According to Johnston, PhD. head of the nutrition department at Arizona State University, Tempe, and some people have far greater responses than others to vinegar. She further documented small but important average decreases in haemoglobin A1C in people with type 2 diabetes- over the course of 12 weeks, taking a couple teaspoons of apple-cider vinegar daily.
After a high carb diet like rice and curry, taking a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in your drinking water can improve insulin sensitivity and lower the blood sugar levels among type 2 diabetes.

You can lose weight
When a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar is consumed you tend to feel full in your tummy and eat less food, but long-term effects on weight loss are not clinically studied.

Preserve Food
Apple cider vinegar like all vinegars is effective in preserving food. This vinegar has been incorporated into pickles to preserve food for thousands of years. Recently it has been come to light that pickled foods are favoured by your microbes in your gut boosting immunity and having other health benefits.

Lower the Risk of Cancer
Apple cider vinegar has shown to kill cancer cells in test tube studies. It is observed that regular intake of apple cider vinegar lowers the risk of oesophageal cancer, but it seems to increase the risk of bladder cancer.

Used as a Marinade
Apple cider vinegar is popular ingredient in many steak marinades to give the meat a nice sweet and sour flavour.
Normally the vinegar is combined with wine, garlic, soy sauce, onions and cayenne pepper as a marinade. Please do try next time you cook meat.

All-Purpose Cleaner
Mixing 1 cup of water with half a cup of apple cider vinegar could be used as a cleaning agent. The anti-bacterial properties clean and kill bacteria. Your kitchen utensils can be cleaned this way.

Wash fruits and Vegetables
It is a good idea to wash fruits and vegetables in much diluted apple cider vinegar to clean and remove pesticides, chemical residues and bacteria and then wash thoroughly in running water.

You could use vinegar to clean your dentures.
When you poach eggs it is a good idea to add vinegar to the water you use to boil. The egg white gets firmer and speeds up the coagulation of the egg.

Dandruff remover
Mix one part of vinegar with one part water and pour the mixture over the hair, massage and leave for a while and wash your hair.
Relieves hiccups
When you have repeated bouts of hiccups a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in equal amount of water can stimulate the nerves that causes the diaphragm that goes into spasm and stop the hiccup. Never tried, may work.

Lowers cholesterol
A Japanese study found that half an ounce of apple cider vinegar a day lowered blood cholesterol level in people who participated in the panel.
When you purchase apple cider vinegar go for the organic one with muddy colour and cob webby appearance in the vinegar. Generally the processed clear liquid is available in the markets. The organic vinegar is not available in Sri Lanka.

There are many more minor health benefits described in the text, and taking a few drops in your drinking water you will feel the difference.