Does Vinegar Lower Blood Sugar?

I love vinegar. I think it’s because I was born in England, where we slather vinegar on our fish and chips. It’s also in Heinz Salad Cream, my favorite salad dressing, a delicacy from the other side of the pond that also contains sugar. Seeing as I’ve cut sugar completely out of my diet, I feel guilty whenever I squeeze this salad dressing out onto the plate. But I’ve tried just about every other salad dressing in the book, and none comes close to my childhood favorite.

According to some pretty recent research, I don’t need to feel so guilty any more.

The Benefits of Vinegar on Blood Sugar

Research into the glycemic benefits of vinegar started in the 1980s with some positive results; the research dwindled–most probably as reactive hypoglycemia fell out of “fashion.” More recently, an Arizona state researcher discovered that consuming vinegar flattened some of the spikes in blood sugar seen in pre-diabetic (insulin resistant) patients. There’s been a significant amount of similar research, some of which can be found here and here.

The biochemical action of the vinegar not only helps insulin resistant (pre-diabetic) patients, it also helps those with just the opposite problem: insulin sensitive reactive hypoglycemics.

How Does Vinegar Stabilize Blood Sugar?

The part of the vinegar that gives it that mouth puckering flavor is called acetic acid. A Tokyo University research team discovered that the acetic acid interferes with some carbohydrate-digesting enzymes’ ability to function properly (including sucrase, maltase, trehalase and lactase). In other words, the vinegar inhibits the body’s ability to fully digest carbs. What that means in practice to a person with reactive hypoglycemia is that acetic acid lowers a food’s ability to affect blood levels.

I tried an uncontrolled experiment last night. I ate a “naked” burrito (beans, tofu, veggies, rice) and some corn chips last night at 8 o’clock. That’s kind of a no-no: normally, if I ate carbs that late at night, I could count on waking up very early in the morning (4-5 a.m.) hungry (because of a blood sugar drop). I slathered my rice and chips with about 1/8 cup red wine vinegar (like I said, I love vinegar!).

I slept like a baby last night, for 10 hours (hey, it was Saturday…I allowed myself to sleep in).

A Natural Way for me to Lower My Blood Sugar Spikes?

Of course, one piece of anecdotal evidence doesn’t mean that I’m going to consume carbs that late at night again. But it does mean that I’m going to consume more vinegar during the course of my day. I’ll let you know if I stop waking up too early–the one symptom of reactive hypoglycemia that seems to not want to go away…

Related posts:

1. Blood Sugar Support Supplements Part One
2. Blood Sugar Support Supplements Part Two
3. The Truth About Cinnamon and Blood Sugar Control
4. Aspirin Lowers Blood Sugar?
5. Control Your Blood Sugar With…Coffee?

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