With swimsuit season on the way, millions of Americans are trying to make sure they’re at their “beach bod” best.
Is apple cider vinegar a good holistic health hack?
6 Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar, Backed by Science
Drinking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before consuming food helped overweight people shed up to 18 pounds in just three months, a new study out of Lebanon has found.
“Apple cider vinegar could be a promising antiobesity supplement that does not produce any side effects,” study author Dr. Rony Abou-Khalil, of Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, declared in a statement to SWNS.
Apple cider vinegar, the fermented juice from crushed apples, has been shown in research to lower blood glucose levels after meals and reduce appetite. Now, the Lebanon study published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, finds that the popular salad dressing ingredient also reduces the body mass index (BMI), triglycerides (a type of fat in blood), and cholesterol of overweight people.
The study included 46 males and 74 females — at an average age of 17 — who were overweight or obese, with a BMI between 27 and 34.
The researchers found that each of the three quantities of apple cider vinegar made a difference in waist and hip measurements and body fat ratio.
Those drinking the highest dose of 15 milliliters, about a tablespoon, experienced the largest decrease in weight loss and BMI after 12 weeks, dropping from an average of 170 pounds to around 155 pounds.
At 10 milliliters, about 2 teaspoons, the participants’ average weight went from 174 pounds to 159 pounds, and at 5 milliliters, about 1 teaspoon, they dropped from 174 pounds to 163 pounds.
“The study sample was small, so potentially limiting the generalizability of the findings, and a period of 12 weeks isn’t long enough to gauge the possible long-term side effects of apple cider vinegar,” Abou-Khalil acknowledged about the findings.
But Abou-Khalil hopes that the results of the study “might contribute to evidence-based recommendations for the use of apple cider vinegar as a dietary intervention in the management of obesity.”
