# Health benefits of apple cider vinegar - real or bunk? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834 "2010-01-21T13:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/21 "2010-01-22T16:53:19Z")
Since reading a previous post by elbows, I decided to give it a try. I figured at worst, some vinegar wouldn’t hurt. My sinuses do seem to be in better shape. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/22 "2010-01-22T17:16:31Z")
> [@Haunted](#): > > Believe the corporate shill all you want This is like responding to claims for ACV by dismissing them as coming from unreliable altie loons who are probably shills for supplement companies. It’s a form of ad hominem attack that ignores the actual evidence on the matter. And I can’t imagine what motive the Evil Corporate Overlords would have for trashing ACV. It’s not like they’re busy marketing a magical cure-all drug that does the same thing. As far as what the ACV advocates are claiming, I’m sure you’ve noticed all those easily Googled websites that proclaim the wondrous curative powers of ACV. [Here](http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html) are [examples\*](http://lacetoleather.com/wondrugpag3.html) that go over the myriad ailments that ACV is supposed to work on, and include the typical errors about adjusting body pH and false nutritional claims for ACV. By the way, any enzymes surviving the acidity of ACV would be destroyed by the low pH in your stomach, and so would not be available to do anything in the human body. I don’t use it specifically for sinus relief, but hot Chinese mustard really clears out the ol’ antrums. 😃 \*this is my fave site for promoting ACV magick. Note that it helps you _gain_ weight - or _lose_ weight - whatever you need, ACV provides! **Jackmannii** , M.D., P.S., C.S., D.S.E.B.M. (Pharma Shill, Corporate Shill and Dastardly Promoter of Evidence-Based Medicine) ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/23 "2010-01-22T17:41:22Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I read the WebMD article, and it isn’t really “sitting on the fence” about ACV. > > _“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.”_ I won’t make any claims as to whether vinegar affects lice or not, but it absolutely DOES work on warts. My two daughters’ hands were COVERED with warts and my sister (who treated her own warts this way) told me to dampen small pieces of cotton with ACV (just dampen, not soak), place over the wart, cover with an adhesive bandage and leave on overnight. Remove bandage(s) in the morning. Repeat nightly. Within two days, the warts started turning black and in less than two weeks were beginning to fall off. Worked like magic! ---
**Author:** ![Haunted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@Haunted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/24 "2010-01-22T18:19:23Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This is like responding to claims for ACV by dismissing them as coming from unreliable altie loons who are probably shills for supplement companies. It’s a form of ad hominem attack that ignores the actual evidence on the matter. And I can’t imagine what motive the Evil Corporate Overlords would have for trashing ACV. It’s not like they’re busy marketing a magical cure-all drug that does the same thing. > > As far as what the ACV advocates are claiming, I’m sure you’ve noticed all those easily Googled websites that proclaim the wondrous curative powers of ACV. [Here](http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html) are [examples\*](http://lacetoleather.com/wondrugpag3.html) that go over the myriad ailments that ACV is supposed to work on, and include the typical errors about adjusting body pH and false nutritional claims for ACV. > > By the way, any enzymes surviving the acidity of ACV would be destroyed by the low pH in your stomach, and so would not be available to do anything in the human body. > > I don’t use it specifically for sinus relief, but hot Chinese mustard really clears out the ol’ antrums. 😃 > > \*this is my fave site for promoting ACV magick. Note that it helps you _gain_ weight - or _lose_ weight - whatever you need, ACV provides! > > **Jackmannii** , M.D., P.S., C.S., D.S.E.B.M. (Pharma Shill, Corporate Shill and Dastardly Promoter of Evidence-Based Medicine) Dude, this is IMHO. I’m not engaging in a debate with you nor do I want to. I thought that was pretty clear. And I think we all get it - this crap “science” BLOG that people around here occasionally reference, giving it way more credibility than it deserves, is anti-woo and skeptic-approved. Color me so not impressed and have a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/25 "2010-01-22T19:10:11Z")
Whatever the forum, your points carry a lot more weight if they don’t entirely rely on ad hominems or suggestions that information posted on a “BLOG” is automatically worthless (the best Internet sources I’ve found for health information [include](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org) [blogs](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence). It’s what you report and how you document it that count.) From discussions elsewhere, it’s obvious that some people believe in ACV, readily accept testimonials for its use and occasionally get quite upset when claims for it are questioned. I regard ACV as a relatively mild form of quackery. It’s not likely to be harmful (unless you overdo it and torch your G.I. tract, for instance). It’s relatively cheap, even the “special” versions that include “the mother”. While there have been scams associated with sales of ACV products (including pills that don’t actually include any “active” ingredients) it’s hard to believe that many people are making huge fortunes off the stuff (except for operators [like the guy who made millions](http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps1609/www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/196_irs.html) selling “Jogging In A Jug” - scroll down in the link for the story). ACV’s popularity is testament to the powers of suggestion, sloppy thinking and shrewd testimonial-based marketing, but there are certainly much worse forms of quackery out there. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/26 "2010-01-22T19:29:22Z")
Wouldn’t you want to see peer-reviewed studies that show it _does_ work before demanding studies that show it doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/27 "2010-01-23T00:25:36Z")
> [@Haunted](#): > > One thing I found interesting about her BLOG about ACV was how thoroughly she crapped all over the science students and their experiment without actually discussing the experiment or the results… In fairness, I noticed this too while reading that entry. She mentions repeatedly how tragic it was that they chose the purported benefits of apple cider vinegar as the basis for their experiment, and how they must have been misled by the prevalent quackery on the intertubes. “So what?” I figured. If they really had good guidance and a sound methodology, a well-designed experiment would have disabused them of their notions, or at the least would fail to produce any support for the notion that ACV is a miracle cure. So I kept waiting to read about how their mentors let them down and allowed them to design a sloppy and bias-ridden experiment that gave them further misleading results. But she never even described the experiment, much less the results they got. So while I enjoyed the rest of the article, the impression I was left with was that she simply felt that it was somehow “wrong” for them to choose to investigate that topic, which doesn’t cast her in a very positive light, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/28 "2010-01-23T00:45:03Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Should you feel like experimenting, the next time you have congested sinuses, swallow half an ounce or so, and see for yourself. You will not be disappointed. It will clear your sinuses within a few minutes. I am confident, that for this one thing, it is indeed effective and you can easily test it yourself. FWIW, chalk up another anecdotal confirmation for clearing sinuses. Actually, I’d bought a jug of ACV last spring because I’d read on another board that soaking in it was good for easing the symptoms of eczema. I had a pretty nasty case on my fingers and I was willing to try anything to get rid of that infuriating itchy pain. Unfortunately, it had no effect except to dry out my skin. The topical benadryl cream the doctor recommended was much more effective. However, when I stumbled across this thread last night, I thought I’d try drinking the ACV, hot water and honey mix to see if it could help with my current head cold. Shockingly, it actually seemed to help. I was breathing much more easily within only a few minutes. It may not be any more effective than conventional decongestants but it’s a lot cheaper and I still have a ton of the stuff left. Placebo or not, it helped me sleep through the night. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/29 "2010-01-23T00:53:25Z")
[Related article - the Straight Dope - Is consuming vinegar to excess dangerous?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2659/is-consuming-vinegar-to-excess-dangerous) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834/30 "2010-01-23T01:03:15Z")
Perhaps Grandpa was right about that “Apple a day keeps the doctor away!”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar-real-or-bunk/525834.md?page=1)