Everyone's Health

Vinegar may help slow rise in blood sugar from foods

Common vinegar is a dilute solution of acetic acid, about 3 percent by weight. Acetic acid is produced naturally when alcohol is oxidized, which helps explain how wine is said to turn to vinegar when it is either kept too long or exposed to air for an extended period.

A study in the March 2000 issue of the Journal of Nutrition reported that acetic acid had an ability to suppress the activity of a carbohydrate-digesting enzyme (disaccharidase).

This ability may explain why vinegar has an ability to blunt the normally expected rise in blood sugar after carbohydrates are eaten. All the digestible carbohydrate calories eventually get absorbed, but with vinegar, they appear to do so at a more gradual pace. This is a good thing.

A rapid rise in blood sugar, such as that typically experienced after a sugary snack or high-carbohydrate meal, triggers the release of insulin. This causes glucose to be removed from the blood and turned into fat, our storage form of dietary energy.

The larger the dose of sugar that hits the system at one time, the greater the amount of fat that will be formed. The conversion is a one-way street, and once the fat is made, it is shuttled through the bloodstream in lipoproteins, special fat carriers that contain cholesterol.

Although studies have failed to make a connection between sugar consumption and heart disease, a sugary diet is not wise for those at high risk for heart disease.

Diabetes occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce sufficient insulin to do the job. Diabetics, as a result, have to keep sugar consumption to an absolute minimum, as their inability to control a rising blood-sugar level can have disastrous consequences. Although excess sugar does not cause diabetes, sugar, insulin and diabetes are closely connected. Thus, those at risk for developing diabetes are advised to limit their sugar intake.

A slower rate of carbohydrate absorption effectively lessens the need for insulin.

The phenomenon was affirmed most recently in the December 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. In this study, researchers gave subjects a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, which was mixed into cranberry juice to make it a bit more palatable.

The treatment was followed by a meal of orange juice, a bagel and butter. Those receiving the vinegar cocktail had improvements in their glycemic response to the meal, and those who were pre-diabetic had the best results.

As an interesting aside, the people using the vinegar also lost a couple of pounds over the four-week study period.

The acetic acid in the vinegar is believed to be responsible for the effects noted in this study. Any type of vinegar will do. No need to drink it, though; it will work when eaten as part of a vinegar-based salad dressing as well. Interestingly, a study in the July 2001 American Journal of Nutrition observed that pickled cucumbers also had this effect.

These findings can be helpful to those who have diabetes or are at risk for developing this disease. This situation can turn into a real win-win if the studies encourage people to shift away from sugary foods and eat more salad greens with vinegar-based dressings.

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