Apple Cider Vinegar

Last weekend, I went to my hometown to visit my mom. One of the seasoning in my kitchen which I’ve never seen is “Apple Cider Vinegar”. My mother told me that there are many healthy benefits, do you know these ???

As I’ve searched the healthy benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar, let’s share with me… (To easy to read, it will be separated to 2 parts.)

Apple cider vinegar, otherwise known simply as cider vinegar, is made from cider or apple must and has a brownish-yellow color. It often is sold unfiltered and unpasteurized with the mother of vinegar present, as a natural product. It is very popular, partly due to supposed beneficial health and beauty properties. Due to its acidity, apple cider vinegar may be very harsh, even burning, to the throat. If taken straight, (as opposed to used in cooking), it can be diluted (e.g. with fruit juice or water) before drinking. It is also sometimes sweetened with sugar or honey. There have been reports of acid chemical burns of the throat.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Over the centuries, vinegar has been used for countless purposes: making pickles, killing weeds, cleaning coffee makers, polishing armor, and dressing salads. It's also an ancient folk remedy, touted to relieve just about any ailment you can think of.

In recent years, apple cider vinegar has been singled out as an especially helpful health tonic. So it's now sold in both the condiment and the health supplement aisles of your grocery store. While many of the folk medicine uses of vinegar are unproven (or were disproved), a few do have a medical research backing them up. Some small studies have hinted that apple cider vinegar could help with several conditions, such as diabetes and obesity.

So does consuming apple cider vinegar make sense for your health? Or is vinegar best used for cleaning stains and dyeing Easter eggs? Here's a rundown of the facts.

What Is Apple Cider Vinegar?
Vinegar is a product of fermentation. This is a process in which sugars in a food are broken down by bacteria and yeast. In the first stage of fermentation, the sugars are turned into alcohol. Then, if the alcohol ferments further, you get vinegar. The word comes from the French, meaning "sour wine." While vinegar can be made from all sorts of things -- like many fruits, vegetables, and grains -- apple cider vinegar comes from pulverized apples.

The main ingredient of apple cider vinegar, or any vinegar, is acetic acid. However, vinegars also have other acids, vitamins, mineral salts, and amino acids.

Apple Cider Vinegar : Cure for Everything?
While long used as a folk remedy, apple cider vinegar became well known in the U.S. in the late 1950s, when it was promoted in the best-selling book Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health by D. C. Jarvis. During the alternative medicine boom of recent years, apple cider vinegar pills have become a popular dietary supplement.

Look on the back of a box of supplements -- or on the Internet or in the pages of any one of the many books on vinegar and health -- and you'll find some amazing claims. Apple cider vinegar is purported to treat numerous diseases, health conditions, and annoyances. To name a few, it's supposed to kill head lice, reverse aging, ease digestion, and wash "toxins" from the body.

Most of these claims have no evidence backing them up. Some -- like vinegar's supposed ability to treat lice or warts -- have actually been studied, and researchers turned up nothing to support their use. Other claims have been backed up by studies, but with a catch: vinegar may work, but not as well as other treatments. For instance, while vinegar is a disinfectant, it doesn't kill as many germs as common cleaners. And while vinegar does seem to help with jelly fish stings -- an old folk remedy -- hot water works better.

Scientific Evidence of Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits
But there are some medical uses of vinegar that do have promise, at least according to a few studies. Here's a rundown of some more recent ones.

• Diabetes : The effect of vinegar on blood sugar levels is perhaps the best-researched and the most promising of apple cider vinegar's possible health benefits. Several studies have found that vinegar may help lower glucose levels. For instance, one 2007 study of 11 people with type 2 diabetes found that taking two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before bed lowered glucose levels in the morning by 4%-6%.

• High cholesterol : A 2006 study showed evidence that vinegar could lower cholesterol. However, the study was done in rats, so it's too early to know how it might work in people.

• Blood pressure and heart health : Another study in rats found that vinegar could lower high blood pressure. A large observational study also found that people who ate oil and vinegar dressing on salads five to six times a week had lower rates of heart disease than people who didn't. However, it's far from clear that the vinegar was the reason.

• Cancer : A few laboratory studies have found that vinegar may be able to kill cancer cells or slow their growth. Observational studies of people have been confusing. One found that eating vinegar was associated with a decreased risk of esophageal cancer. Another associated it with an increased risk of bladder cancer.

• Weight Loss : For thousands of years, vinegar has been used for weight loss. White vinegar (and perhaps other types) might help people feel full. A 2005 study of 12 people found that those who ate a piece of bread along with small amounts of white vinegar felt fuller and more satisfied than those who just ate the bread.

While the results of these studies are promising, they are all preliminary. Many were done on animals or on cells in a lab. The human studies have been small. Before we will truly know whether vinegar has any health benefits, much larger studies are needed.

Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org and http://www.webmd.com