SS 170 – Does Apple Cider Vinegar Actually Do Anything?

In this episode, Grant and Heavey investigate whether apple cider vinegar really does have health benefits. So many good things have been said about apple cider vinegar, but are these claims backed by science?  Tune in to find out!

First off, thanks to Health IQ for sponsoring the show today.

[01:00] Alcohol Consumption to Prevent Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s: True?

Grant talks about this study mentioned in an article, where they found a method that flushes some of the metabolic byproducts in our brain including the protein plaques associated with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

What’s even more interesting is that the research found that approximately two and a half drinks a day boosts the productivity of the brain’s lymphatic system. Drinking flushes away these proteins that have gotten “stuck and tangled.” This study was actually done on mice, injecting them with amounts of ethanol like  you would get from drinking. Eventually, they’d have to test this in humans.

Forty-five minutes after receiving alcohol, mice showed an average of 40% increase in their lymphatic flow compared to mice given a non-alcohol control liquid. And even at higher dosages, they’re still seeing the benefits though as not as good as the lower dose does.

Heavey points out that it’s really pretty early to tell considering it’s a rodent research, which is a far cry from validating in humans.

[04:00] Apple Cider Vinegar: The Elixir of Life?

Heavey mentions this idea going on in the alternative community that apple cider vinegar is a magic elixir. You’ve probably come across social media posts or new feeds about apple cider vinegar and its health benefits. Outside of cooking, people will drink it diluted with water. So the boys want to investigate into how true these health claims are.

Consequently, Heavey found this review that looked at a ton of studies. It was actually attacking the purported benefits of apple cider vinegar. That being said, there are other things that it’s beneficial for.

It’s a funded research so whether there’s a bias on their side, it could be but it’s not that necessarily bad. Just be a little more skeptical when review things like this. So Heavey found this earlier study in rats showing that ingestion of vinegar lead to fat loss. Last year, a group of Japanese researchers studied a population of obese Japanese men. They were fed apple cider vinegar under a randomized controlled trial.

[07:18] The Study on Obese Japanese Men

It was a 12-week duration study done on 175 participants split into three different groups. Each group drank half a liter beverage everyday. One group was given a placebo. One one group had 15 ml of apple cider vinegar and then the third group had 30 ml. of vinegar. They went ahead and had the participants collect personal diet logs and measure their activity levels with pedometers so they can control for those compounders to make sure their data weren’t being skewed by some factors.

The results? The BMI, triglycerides, visceral fat area, and waist circumference were all lower in the vinegar groups. Although not statistically significant, it was a little bit higher for the group that had 30 ml. over the 15 ml.

Both groups ended up losing about a couple kg. over the 12-week period. Nothing seemed to change in their diet or in their activity level. So that contributed to the consumption of vinegar.

[09:20] Its Effect on Fat Loss

They also looked at their weight circumference and found that the lower dosed group lost about 1 cm. off their waist while the higher dosed group lost about 2 cm. Although we can’t say apple cider vinegar truly is this magical substance, over this 12-week period, it does look like it has a very real effect on fat loss. As to the long term effect, we don’t really know. Based on the study, Heavey stresses there seems to be a short term impact.

In fact, Heavey has actually been adding apple cider vinegar in his shake and this has been a part of his daily routine for a very long time. All this being said, he doesn’t really tell his clients to do this since he believes there are bigger underlying things they need to be working on. Specifically, he’s trying to set up habits in their life that would set them up for the long terms. We don’t know if just adding apple cider vinegar is in the long term. In short, Heavey doesn’t want people to use it as an excuse to do whatever they want since they’re taking it anyway.

[11:28] Is This Accurate?

A couple caveats on the research, they used bioelectric impedance to measure body composition. In that single frequency, it’s not necessarily the most accurate method, but they took multiple measures to come up with the outcome. So they weren’t just looking at the body fat percentage, but also at the weight circumference, body weight, and all those sort of things. In summary, they all experienced real fat loss. Additionally, another thing to keep in mind is that this was done to an obese population so this may not hold true for leaner individuals.

[12:22] Other Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

Another study Heavey found that proved the effect of apple cider vinegar is the improvement in glycemic control. Because of this, this compound is very helpful for diabetics. It’s shown that it can lead to 30%-40% lower glucose response so it tampers the spike. Looking at an hour out, the levels are the same. But it dampens the initial spike which can be very helpful for diabetics.

Hence, the body fat loss and the glucose response are the two main things that seem to be supported by science.

Additionally, the study not only found the effect in fat loss but also, the triglyceride levels were decreasing too. So it could be that it’s helping reduce the effect of metabolic syndrome on them.

Heavey explains that while we don’t really understand the mechanism of what’s going on, it’s cool to see how research validates it. The way science works is they find something interesting in rodents and then they do it on humans. Then you need to replicate it to make sure it wasn’t some anomaly that didn’t register in the study. This said, Heavey thinks there still needs to be built a ore solid based research behind it.

[14:45] How Is Vinegar Made?

Grant explains that vinegar actually starts its life as alcohol. As with apple cider vinegar, they start it with hard cider. Almost all vinegars, if not all, have to have some alcohol in it. The alcohol fermentation happens when bacteria in yeast are added and ferments to produce alcohol. Then there’s a second fermentation process that turns alcohol into vinegar.

[16:30] Red Wine Vinegar versus Balsamic Vinegar

Grant adds that nearly all balsamic vinegar is just red wine vinegar with flavorings added. Real balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy has to go through a slightly different process with certain yeasts to do the fermentation so it has to be aged for a little while, before it could be called balsamic vinegar.

This kind of goes in parallel with olive oil. Some may say they’re selling olive oil but a lot of that is being oxidized and spoiled. And getting olive oil in good shape is highly expensive.

[18:10] Time for Alcohol Talk!

For today’s show, Grant pulls out a bottle of Glenlivet, which is produced just outside the Speyside River but towards the north of Scotland. It’s actually one of the best selling whiskeys in the world, in fact, some people refer to it as the Budweiser of whiskey since it’s everywhere and it’s so consistent. It’s very light and easy to drink.

Glenlivet is a single malt scotch, each batch depending on the master distillery, number of barrels, and how much cask. Recently though, is their line called Nadurra.

There are three things they boast in this line: no color added, non chill-filtered, and cask strength. Heavey guesses that the alcohol percent is 40%, but the bottle says it’s 61.5%. And that’s heavy!

Moreover, this drink is finished in peated whiskey cask. So when you drink an Islay of real peated whisky, the way you make malt is you take barley. Add some water to it and make it sprout. It makes easier for you to ferment it to get the sugars. Then stopping it with heat. This said, peated whiskey has peat, smoke-added during that peating time.

At the end of its aging, it goes into barrels that heavily peated whiskeys. It’s actually the first time since the 1800s, that the Glenlivet released any peated whiskey. They both found it to be a good bottle. Now, if you want to try something more unique, this is the right pick.

Links:

www.HealthIQ.com/scotch