Dear Cecil:
It’s all over the web alone. Vinegar is good for you. But is it really? What is the opinion of the real medical establishment? What can it do for you really? And can it do any harm?
Jim B.
[ Now I open the discussion for the rest of you:).]
What could possibly be bad about it? Its a dilute acidic solution, I guess if you drink it by the gallon it might slightly raise your bodies acidity.
I remember in 70s this lady who worked for us started to regularly drink vinegar for her figure/weight loss regimen (she heard about it on radio or something) then she stopped doing it because she was throwing up blood.
Vinegar is no more acidic than cola or fruit juice.
It can be.
5% is the standard household vinager acidity, I assumed thats what people are drinking and talking about.
I assume stupid people are doing that and will swallow anything labeled ‘Vinegar’.
Something like this German Vinegar. My mother always used several different types of vinegar (rice, wine, etc, and industrial) and that particular brand vinegar for some of her recipes.
I’m not aware of any such standard; the vinegar you can buy over here at supermarkets is available in a wide variety of concentrations. Does your jurisdiction’s food safety agency mandate 5%, or is this just a de facto standard used by the manufacturers?
I’ve never seen a label claim above 5% for grocery store bought white vinager, I’m guessing its just de facto.
I don’t know of a food safety standard for vinegar, but those vary by state. I can get rice wine vinegar at Asian markets that is much more than 5%. And 6% is available at the grocery store. Some acid solutions will concentrate from evaporation also. IANA chemist so I don’t know if that pertains to vinegar. Also acetic acid is stronger is than carbonic acid I think. But again, IANA chemist.
Aforementioned Surig Vinegar is 25% acid and I can buy that at my local grocery store.
I’m guessing you are in Germany, outside speciality import shops or gourmet specialty places you will not find that vineger in the USA.
I’ve never seen vinegar that strength sold in a plain old grocery store, it seems if you have the know how to find it you should wonder about consuming it as a beverage.
No, just outside of Chicago; I’ve seen it in quite a few stores though it is only recently I started to see them in regular grocery stores. That Surig vinegar is very popular stuff for many ethnic folks as they don’t quite “get” 5% vinegar. You could only find it in ethnic grocery stores such as Asian/Japanese or European stores before. Unfortunately grocery stores don’t list the product they sell so I can’t prove it to you. Maybe someone else would chime in.
The one who consumed it was our house cook and she knew how strong it was as she quite often used it for cooking. As far as having the intelligence to know that it would cause her to vomit blood, I suppose not.
Huh, I believe you but it seems then there is a bit of a disaster brewing if normal grocery stores are stocking 25% acidity vinegar and people are hearing to drink it for health benefits, yikes!
I don’t think any sane person would chug down ANY vinegar out of the bottle and if you get that 25% stuff anywhere near your nostril, you’d would know as your head will violently jerk back.
I checked. We have 2 bottles of vinegar in the house, cheap junk from Aldi’s and real Heinz apple cider vinegar. Many of those advocating drinking vinegar specify the apple cider vinegar. I have been advised to drink a glass every day just like my friend does.
Since I have had some bladder infections in the last 2 years, I have been wondering about lowering my urine pH. Rather than retype what I put in an answer elsewhere last night on a dog question, I will copy part of it. The asker is looking for an alternative to Royal Canin Urinary SO to control crystals in his dog’s bladder. I can give a better answer for looking into this my self having several urinary issues myself. I have joked about seeing if my vet will sell me Science Diet C/D for myself. In general, I don’t feel ingredients make that much difference. I did look at regular Science Diet and Science Diet C/D. the main difference I could see was the pH control formula had calcium sulfate in it. Makes good sense, it is the salt of a weak base and strong acid which means it would have a pH below 7, neutral. It is the job of the dog’s kidneys to send excess salts straight to the bladder. I bet if you check the ingredients for Urinary SO you will find the calcium sulfate or a similar salt. I am surprised the C/D uses a calcium salt since many of the stones are insoluble calcium salts. I eventually hope to steer my urologist to what I should be taking for my UTI’s. I have very little faith in the food kooks pushing apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice. They contain weak acids whose salts may raise the pH, and may never make it to the bladder. It is not like they subject their theories to testing.’’
By the way, I am a chemist; but haven’t done much with the pH of acids and salts for over 40 years.
So yes, I would like to see some straight dope on the health benefits of vinegar.
Note, both the concentration of an acid and the ionization constant contribute to pH. Acids in water break down into H3O+ ions. pH is the negative common log of the H3O+ ions concentration. Pure water has 10^-7 of both H3O+ and OH- ions, thus pH 7. Acids don’t ionize completely in water and some more than others. Sulfuric acid is highly ionized, but the acetic acid in vinegar isn’t as high.
I’m in Texas, and my local HEB (mega chain grocery store) sells 5% and 9%. They both are clearly labeled as such.
The article also claims that it assists diabetics with blood glucose control, and lab tests have shown that rats had lower blood pressure and cholesterol when fed vinegar, but there haven’t been any documented human trials.
Bottom line? you probably want to avoid chugging it straight out of the bottle - but go ahead and enjoy a nice tangy barbeque sauce on your chicken breast sandwich, and put plenty of malt vinegar on your fish and chips.