Improve Your Health with Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar has gained superstar status as an elixir to enhance overall health, but what exactly is it and what does it do? Here’s what you need to know before taking another swig—or gummy bite—of this health-food staple.

- VERA TWEED

Drinking apple cider vinegar (ACV)— often one tablespoon mixed in 8 ounces of water—has been a popular natural remedy for many years. Then along came capsules, which brought the benefits of ACV to people who weren’t thrilled with even its diluted taste. But this trendy supplement didn’t really become a phenomenon until the recent advent of ACV gummies. One popular brand has nearly a quarter-million online reviews, with three-quarters of reviewers awarding it five stars.

What Is Apple Cider Vinegar?

ACV is made with a two-step process. First, apples are crushed and fermented with a yeast, which produces alcohol— apple cider. Second, that mixture is fermented further with an acetic acid bacterium (Acetobacter)—a specific type of probiotic that produces acetic acid, which is believed to the active ingredient responsible for vinegar’s benefits.

All vinegars are made this way, but fermentation of other, commercial vinegars may be speeded up with oxygen, agitation, or other processing methods. ACV is usually naturally fermented.

Unfiltered apple cider vinegar contains a cloudy substance: the “mother,” which develops during fermentation and contains a combination of yeast, probiotic bacteria, and enzymes. The mother is believed to provide additional benefits from the probiotics.

Science-Backed Benefits of ACV

In addition to its long history of use, modern clinical trials have identified specific benefits of apple cider vinegar.

Blood Sugar Control