The Science of Vinegar

Hello angels and welcome to the glucose goddess show I'm Jessie Inchauspé. I'm a biochemist obsessed with helping you feel better and today we're covering the incredible, the magical, the awesome vinegar hack. So let's get to it.

Let's be honest it might seem a little bit strange that vinegar, an ingredient that most of us have in our kitchen, actually has a really good positive impact on our glucose levels. And when I first discovered it I also thought it was a bit strange. I thought it was maybe like some Instagram fat or something that didn't have any scientific backing but in fact when I looked at the studies and all the clinical trials that had been done on vinegar, I was super pleasantly surprised.

So over the course of the past decade, scientific teams across the world have studied the impact of vinegar on our health  and to run the studies they do something like this : they recruit a bunch of participants and they put  them into two groups. Both groups follow a similar diet with similar calories, similar composition for  several weeks but in one group, the participants also add to their day a tall drink of water. So you know, a big glass of water like this with a tablespoon of vinegar in it, once a day. While the other group also takes a drink of something that tastes like vinegar but isn't actually vinegar so they are drinking a placebo drink. Then the scientists follow both groups and monitor their health, markers their glucose levels, their triglycerides, their weight and they just wait and see what happens. And this is the remarkable thing that they observed. The researchers found that by adding just one vinegar drink before meals for 3 months the participants reduced their visceral fat, that's the fat that's really damaging and dangerous and is between our organs and reduces their triglyceride levels. And if they had diabetes, they started to see improvements in their diabetes markers just by adding this one tablespoon of vinegar a day.

So what the heck is going on and how is this working exactly. Well the researchers identified a molecule in vinegar called acetic acid. It's all in here, this is about 4% acetic acid. This is an example with apple cider vinegar and the researchers found that this acetic acid was the reason that the meals the participants were eating were seeing on average a 30% reduction in the glucose spike of the meal and up to 20% reduction in the insulin spike of the meal. So as they were having a vinegar drink before a meal, the vinegar and the acetic acid was leading to a much smaller glucose spike even though they were eating the same food as the control group that was getting the bigger spike. So what was going on, it was very intriguing. And then there's also a study that found that in women with PCOS – so that's a hormonal imbalance that leads to infertility mis periods etc –  just adding one vinegar drink a day also started putting the PCOS into remission.

Why? probably because the vinegar was acting on the insulin resistance of these participants. So in terms of the mechanisms of action of acetic acid, scientists discovered two main things : the acetic acid in vinegar temporarily inactivates this enzyme that we have in our digestive system called alpha-amylase and the job of alpha amylase is to break down carbs into individual glucose molecules as we eat the carbs.

So for example if you have a   big bowl of pasta or a cookie, that pasta or that cookie break breaks down into individual glucose molecules and then those glucose molecules make their way to your bloodstream which leads to the glucose Spike. But apparently, the acetic acid was slowing down that process by slowing down alpha-amylase, the enzyme responsible for the breakdown. So what does that mean for us it means that we eat the carbs that we like but if we have a vinegar drink before there's less of a glucose bike from  them. So fewer consequences of that big rush of glucose on our body. We get all the pleasure and  the dopamine from the carbs and the enjoyment with less impact on our body just with that one tablespoon of vinegar. So that's the first mechanism of action.

The scientist also found that acetic acid in vinegar tells our muscles to soak up more glucose than usual. So why do muscles even soak up glucose in the first place ? Because glucose is your body's favorite source of energy and your muscles like all other parts of your body are looking for glucose constantly to fuel themselves to create energy and in the case of muscles to contract. And so apparently acetic acid was telling our muscles to soak up more glucose than usual to store away for later use for energy instead of letting it float around in the bloodstream and creating a big glucose spike.

This is quite an incredible result that just one tablespoon of vinegar before a meal can reduce the consequences of carbs on our glucose levels. It'll reduce the glucose spike by up to 30% and  the insulin release by up to 20%. And most of us have this in our kitchen. It's a safe ingredient, it's actually been around for a super long time and it's had a reputation for health benefits for Millennia but only today with modern science do we actually understand why it works.

So you might  be wondering what kind of vinegar I can use ? Well most vinegar is totally work. This is apple cider vinegar just because it's kind of the trendy hot one but you don't have to have apple cider vinegar. Acetic acid is found in white vinegar, red wine vinegar, in Cherry vinegar, in rice vinegar, in whatever vinegar you want. But do not use cleaning vinegar, if it's next to the mops and the toilet paper at the supermarket, that is not drinkable vinegar. And one more note as well : try to avoid the very syrupy balsamic vinegar, that one that looks kind of like a glaze because that one has a lot of sugar in it. So you can have it at other times but if you're trying to make a vinegar drink that's not going to be the right one for you to use. So you want to have this vinegar drink about 10 to 20 minutes before eating your meal that contains carbs. And if just a tablespoon of vinegar in water doesn't sound very delicious, and I totally don't blame you, if you click the link in the description of this episode I have a bunch of free recipes for you with tasty drink recipes. You can make some teas and mocktails that'll help you enjoy the  taste more. And another tip for you : white wine vinegar can actually have a more subtle and easy taste than apple cider vinegar if the apple cider vinegar thing in water doesn't work for you.

And I often get the question : can I use lemon juice instead ? Well the situation with lemon juice is that lemon juice contains citric acid while vinegar contains acetic acid so lemon juice is not as powerful and doesn't work in the same way but if vinegar is really not your thing you can totally switch to having some lemon juice and water. Just know that the power is not the same to get as much power on your glucose levels as one tablespoon of vinegar gets you. You need the juice of three lemons so if the lemon juice thing is your thing just keep at it, don't worry too much about it.

And also know that you can actually put your vinegar in some dressings. You can make salad dressings and put the vinegar directly in your food if that feels a little less gross to you.

So how many times a day can you do this? Listen, in the studies they already found that once a day is really powerful and helps you get a lot of benefits. Some people love the taste of vinegar and if that's you, you can have it two or three times a day. It's a safe ingredient so unless your doctor has told you you have a stomach issue and you shouldn't drink vinegar, really do whatever floats your boat. Really quickly, if you want to study your glucose levels and feel better than you currently do, but you don't really know where to start and you don't want it to be complicated because you're very busy, well my Recipe Club has got your back. Monthly super easy recipes to keep your glucose level steady, to keep your cravings low and to keep your motivation super high. Because it's fun and new every month, check out the link in the description.

Back to the episode. So super easy tip: the vinegar hack once a day before a meal that contains carbs is going to help you reduce your glucose spike without too much effort. Now let's talk about vinegar pills. You guys have  for a long time asked me about alternatives to vinegar that would be in a pill form. You've told me that sometimes, it's really hard to find vinegar or sometimes you forget to take the vinegar or maybe you have a parent who really wants to study their glucose levels but having a vinegar drink just feels like way too much for them and I totally understand.So I'm excited to announce that over the past two years I've been researching all of the science on the topic and unfortunately I found that a lot of vinegar supplements, vinegar gummies, vinegar pills etc at best are ineffective. And at worse, actually contain sugar and make the glucose spike of a meal even even worse and when I say this, I'm looking at you, the vinegar gummies with the sugar in it. Those are not a good option. Avoid at all cost but as I was doing the research and speaking to many scientific teams across the world, I actually identified four molecules that are brand new, that if you put them together in a capsule and you take the capsule before the meal, the capsule will reduce the glucose spike of your your meal by up to 40%. That's even more powerful than vinegar, pretty exciting, I know ! The four molecules are mulberry leaf extract, lemon peel extract, cinnamon and a whole bunch of antioxidants from green vegetables. So where can you find this capsule? Well I have made it, it's called Anti-Spike. You can click the link in the description of this episode to read more about it. But essentially the way it works is that the molecules and anti-spike grab 40% of the carbs that you just ate and instead of letting them pass through to your bloodstream where they're going to create a glucose spike and then lead to inflammation, cravings, aging, type two diabetes etc, those carbs are brought down to your microbiome where your microbiome feeds on them and becomes healthier. So if you're into having a little pill before your meal to reduce the spike, this is the supplement that you need. Forget all the other ones, this is the one that is scientifically backed by over 25 clinical trials that I have assembled for you. Now, totally cool if you prefer doing the vinegar, it's also a very cheap alternative but for those who have been asking me for a supplement, this is the one I recommend.

So in conclusion, the vinegar hack: 1tb spoon of vinegar in a tall glass of water before a meal that contains carbs can cut the glucose spike of that meal by up to 30% with very minimal effort on your part. You just have to get used to the taste of vinegar and again I have recipes in the description of this episode if you want to make something that doesn't taste too gross. So vinegar is an easy way to start : you can have it as a drink, you can have it as a dressing, you can make a nice little tea, you can have it once a day or more if you feel like it it's an easy place to start but I also want to mention this is not the only hack. I know it sounds like the easiest hack because it sounds a little bit like a magic bullet but it's really important that you also do the other hacks that are around food. And changing how and what you're eating because the vinegar hack is not going to magically erase everything else that you're doing. It's one of the tools in your tool belt, it's very interesting, it's very easy and I use it every day and I recommend you do as well but it's not the only one.

So if you want a list of my 10 glucose hacks to make sure you're doing them all, there's also a free pdf in the description of this episode. That's all we have time for today. I will see you next time !