Help Your Health with Vinegar

Vinegar has been touted as a cure all for everything from jellyfish stings to poison ivy. Let’s a take quick look at the scientific research results that exist regarding the potentially powerful healing benefits of vinegar. Blood pressure lowering effects Interestingly the claims that vinegar lowers blood pressure are based on animal studies by Kondo and colleagues who found that laboratory rats fed acetic acid or vinegar in their diets had a significantly lower blood pressure (20mmhg systolic) than rats who were fed standard chow. It is thought that the acetic acid acts on the renin- angiotensin system, part of the cycle that controls blood pressure, by down regulating it’s effect. The same research group speculated that there would be a similar effect in humans. The acetic acid increases calcium absorption which in turn down regulates the renin angiotensin system. Many blood pressure medications target this very system, the renin angiotensin system. However, there are no trials in humans, to evaluate the effect of acetic acid on blood pressure lowering. Certainly it may be worth changing over your salad dressing from creamy to oil and vinegar. Anti tumor activity Traditional Japanese vinegars known as Kibizu derived from sugar cane, and Kurosu derived from rice, have both demonstrated anti cancer activity in human cancer cells. In animal studies, rats which were inoculated with tumors, had smaller tumor burdens when fed vinegar in their water, versus standard water fed rats. We do know that vinegar is a source of polyphenols, an antioxidant which is protective against cancer. Blood glucose control Vinegar has a antiglycemic effect. In human studies, participants fed salad and bread had a 30% lower glycemic effect when their dressing contained acetic acid versus a salt solutions dressing.The varieties of vinegar range from culinary grade to conventional vinegar at a few dollars a gallon. Here’s a recipe from Holly with a little acetic snap, we hope you’ll enjoy taking a little vinegar a day. 1. Vinegar Medicinal Uses and Antiglycemic Effect, Carol Johnston: Department of Nutrition, Arizona State University, Mesa Arizona 2. Antihypertensive Effects of Acetic Acid and Vinegar on Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats Shino KONDOa , Kenji Tayama , Yoshinori Tsukamoto, Katsumi Ikeda & Yukio Yamori