Can Vinegar Help Diabetes?

February 26th, 2012

If you have type 2 diabetes, you may have heard that a spoonful of vinegar before or after a high-carb meal will prevent a blood sugar spike. Like most doctors you probably dismiss the claim as an old-wive’s tale, or a folk remedy with no scientific basis.

True, medicinal benefits of apple cider vinegar have been claimed for everything from arthritis to weight loss, asthma, colitis and food poisoning, in addition to claims for lowering blood sugar after high carbohydrate meal. (Published site)


Turns out some researchers have been looking into the sour remedy for evidence that it may affect blood sugar levels. The early results are surprising even skeptical doctors. As reported in a review by MedScape, all of the studies have been small and results can only be termed preliminary. Still, the studies have shown plausible biological mechanisms that can be studied further.

In a 2004 Arizona State University study published in Diabetes Care,  29 people were given either a medicinal dose of vinegar (2800 mg/day), an acetic acid pill considered to be a placebo, or a pickle a day for 12 weeks. Of these, 10 patients had well-controlled type 2 diabetes, 11 were insulin resistant and 8 people had no diabetes.

The results showed that when vinegar was given just before a high-carbohydrate meal blood sugar measured 60 minutes after the meal spiked in both the insulin resistant and the type 2 diabetes groups but not as much as those with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes who had been given placebo.
They also found a significant reduction the acid level, or PH, in the urine of the vinegar groups compared to the placebo groups. This suggests that the vinegar affects liver and metabolism. The study authors suggested that taking vinegar at mealtimes, with a minimum dose of 2800 mg acetic acid dailymay improve blood sugar control in people with well-controlled type 2 diabetes.

In a 2010 Greek study of 16 people published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found lower blood sugar levels after a meal among patients with type 2 diabetes when vinegar was added to a high-glycemic-index meal of mashed potatoes and low-fat milk but not when given with a low-gylcemic-index meal of whole grain bread, lettuce, and low-fat cheese.

A small 2007 Arizona State University study examined the effect of taking 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar at bedtime in obese patients (body mass index greater than 29) with well-controlled type 2 diabetes (A1c of 6.7 percent). This group of patients, who had diabetes for an average of 5 years, had a reduction in next-morning fasting glucose of 4 percent to 6 percent.The effect of vinegar on fasting glucose was similar for participants with A1c less than 6.3 percent, as was seen in those with levels between 6.8 percent and 7.0 percent.

Various possible biological mechanisms of action for the effect of vinegar on fasting blood sugar levels have been suggested. Some say it has the effect of slowing the emptying of the stomach, while other suggest the vinegar may somehow slow or block the action of digestive enzymes. Still others suggest that vinegar may slow or block the uptake of blood sugar by muscle tissue. Each of those mechanisms can be studied in future research studies.

The MedScape reviewers added that while these studies warrant further larger studies, the small benefits in lowering blood sugar outweigh the potential for adverse side effects. They conclude that taking 2 tablespoons of vinegar with water 3 times daily seems to be safe and has not been associated with reports of toxicity.