Apple Cider Vinegar anyone?

I take about a tablespoon once in a while mixed into my water-bottle with a squirt of MISO water flavoring. I know a lot of people add honey and my coworker swears it is what helped her drop 50 lbs (over a long period). Usually I take it because it helps calm stomach acid issues rather than for weight loss. I really don't think it has a significant effect aside from that of the placebo in helping weight loss. It does have other more medicinal system balancing purpose, though!

That is why it was recommended for me. For acid reflux issues and it can also be helpful if you have high blood pressure. Some people believe in it and some don't so I want to give it a try to form my own opinion and see if it helps me. I'm not really doing it for weight loss although some people swear it helps with that too...

If you have acid reflux I would not recommend treating it by drinking acid.

Actually if I remember correctly, reflux comes from a lack of acid. Taking a spoonful of Apple Cider Vinegar takes care of the problem. I had to take it during my first pregnancy for reflux and it worked wonders. I had to chug a lot of water afterwards though.

Oh does it? If that is true I'll admit I didn't know that. Okay then well if acid reflux is in fact caused by low stomach acid then it would make sense that drinking something acidic like vinegar or lemon juice would potentially alleviate the symptoms. That I believe because there is a plausible mechanistic explanation to explain causation of the perceived correlation. I'll have to look that up about acid reflux later, I had assumed it was due to acid rising up into the esophageal lining.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD) is often caused by a weak lower esophageal sphincter (that normally closes between the esophagus and stomach after a meal to prevent food and other stomach contents from traveling retrogradely from the stomach to the esophagus). So it's not from a lack of acid. The acid that your stomach produces (stomach pH is something ridiculously low like 4) thus goes into your esophagus and this is called "heartburn" (because it is near your heart in the esophagus).

Not a human doctor, but a veterinarian, and I have learned enough about gastrointestinal physiology to understand the mechanism.

I took it for about a week when I got a bad cold and cough. What it seemed to do for me is knock down the phlegm and clear my throat.

Then, I googled it because I thought it was stupid, and I wound up on the mayo clinics site that suggested it as a remedy for helping relieve the symptoms I was having. That was enough for me.

I mix it with honey and warm water. I think it's about 3 tablespoons of ACV, 1 tablespoon of honey, and fill the glass with warm to hot water, mix well and drink.

I'm not promoting it. Lol. I still think it's silly. But, it "seemed" like it kind of worked. At least it cleared the crap out of my throat.

Check the mayo clinic site, the list a ton of benefits of drinking ACV. I'm skeptical, but whateves. I'm never one to buy into silly things like this, even if I do it a little.

That's cool. I don't think being skeptical means you are against everything :-) just means you look into things before you approach them. I could believe that acetic acid would break down phlegm, it is a bit of an organic solvent. Acetic acid is really good at stripping paint off walls for example.

Although I understand GI physiology, I am not arguing for or against apple cider vinegar for GERD; just that theoretically it doesn't make much sense to me. Personally I have always been a big proponent for Western medicine and thus think that proton pump inhibitors such as Omeprazole, which are fairly inexpensive and work fantastic, would do one better than apple cider vinegar to treat reflux.

Wow, forum threads like this reveal how many sheep there are in the nutrition world who will just do something just because someone told them it is a good idea without any sort of legitimate scientific explanation as to why . Always be skeptical about everything you hear, always ask questions, do your own research, don't take anything at face value, read scientific studies and always be willing to change what you believe based on new information.

I take about a tablespoon once in a while mixed into my water-bottle with a squirt of MISO water flavoring. I know a lot of people add honey and my coworker swears it is what helped her drop 50 lbs (over a long period). Usually I take it because it helps calm stomach acid issues rather than for weight loss. I really don't think it has a significant effect aside from that of the placebo in helping weight loss. It does have other more medicinal system balancing purpose, though!

That is why it was recommended for me. For acid reflux issues and it can also be helpful if you have high blood pressure. Some people believe in it and some don't so I want to give it a try to form my own opinion and see if it helps me. I'm not really doing it for weight loss although some people swear it helps with that too...

If you have acid reflux I would not recommend treating it by drinking acid.

Actually if I remember correctly, reflux comes from a lack of acid. Taking a spoonful of Apple Cider Vinegar takes care of the problem. I had to take it during my first pregnancy for reflux and it worked wonders. I had to chug a lot of water afterwards though.

Oh does it? If that is true I'll admit I didn't know that. Okay then well if acid reflux is in fact caused by low stomach acid then it would make sense that drinking something acidic like vinegar or lemon juice would potentially alleviate the symptoms. That I believe because there is a plausible mechanistic explanation to explain causation of the perceived correlation. I'll have to look that up about acid reflux later, I had assumed it was due to acid rising up into the esophageal lining.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD) is often caused by a weak lower esophageal sphincter (that normally closes between the esophagus and stomach after a meal to prevent food and other stomach contents from traveling retrogradely from the stomach to the esophagus). So it's not from a lack of acid. The acid that your stomach produces (stomach pH is something ridiculously low like 4) thus goes into your esophagus and this is called "heartburn" (because it is near your heart in the esophagus).

Not a human doctor, but a veterinarian, and I have learned enough about gastrointestinal physiology to understand the mechanism.

This is exactly it. I only know because my son had it as a baby until about 2 or 3 years old. It's fairly common in kids because the little flap doesn't grow fast enough and there's a gap where the acid travels up. Especially because babies can only lay down, it sucks *kitten* because you have to hold them upright for 3 years until the goddamn flap grows and keeps the acid here it belongs.

lol nice. Although to be fair there can be multiple causes of the same symptoms so although this is a cause it does not rule out other potential causes having the same effect. I am NOT saying that low stomach acidity is a cause of this but only that this being true doesn't really rule it out as a possibility. GERD is more a collection of symptoms than something with one cause I think.

I don't think there's any lack of acid at all. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying it's the full fierce acid leaking out where it shouldn't. It burns the crap out of people. My understanding is GERD is not low stomach acid, it's full acid going straight up the esophagus.

No I understood you and I believe what you are saying is true. All I meant is both can be true at the same time, there can be multiple causes of the same symptoms.

I am NOT saying low stomach acid IS a cause, someone brought that up...I'll admit I don't know and I haven't had the chance to look into it. Thats all. I am skeptical of it because it seems countintuitive where as your causation seems more plausible but right now I just don't know because all I know is what people have said to me and I haven't looked up the studies yet.

In general terms to demonstrate cause you have to have two things:

1) Correlation. That when A happens B also happens.
2) Mechanism. A model for why A causes B that is testable.
3) Hypothesis driven testing of the mechanistic model.

So in the low stomach acid example here is what I would look for.

1) Are there any studies demonstrating correlation between drinking an acidic solution like vinegar and alleviation of symptoms of GERD?
2) Is there a mechanistic explantion for this that could be tested to demonstrate cause. One poster suggested low stomach acid.
3) If its low stomach acid has this been tested? You can come up with a couple hypothesis if it is. First if its because of low stomach acid and drinking acetic acid helps then you would assume drinking any acid would help. Citric acid for example. Has this been demonstrated? If the active ingredient of vinegar for the treatment of GERD is its acidity then is it still effective in treatment if you pH neutrilize it with a base like sodium bicarbonate?

These are testable things. If they haven't been tested I'd be suspicious and if they have been tested but the results don't show what you would expect given the mechanism then its likely not the cause.

Takes a while to look into this stuff.

I took it for about a week when I got a bad cold and cough. What it seemed to do for me is knock down the phlegm and clear my throat.

Then, I googled it because I thought it was stupid, and I wound up on the mayo clinics site that suggested it as a remedy for helping relieve the symptoms I was having. That was enough for me.

I mix it with honey and warm water. I think it's about 3 tablespoons of ACV, 1 tablespoon of honey, and fill the glass with warm to hot water, mix well and drink.

I'm not promoting it. Lol. I still think it's silly. But, it "seemed" like it kind of worked. At least it cleared the crap out of my throat.

Check the mayo clinic site, the list a ton of benefits of drinking ACV. I'm skeptical, but whateves. I'm never one to buy into silly things like this, even if I do it a little.

That's cool. I don't think being skeptical means you are against everything :-) just means you look into things before you approach them. I could believe that acetic acid would break down phlegm, it is a bit of an organic solvent. Acetic acid is really good at stripping paint off walls for example.

I agree with you that intuitively it doesn't make sense shoving some solvent down your throat, but remember commercial vinegar is at most 5% acetic acid.

Acetone is a ketone and is produced in states of alcoholism or in states of low carb diets/a diabetic crisis ("ketoacidosis"). It is used commercially as a cleaner so I would assume it would feel like dumping some bleach down your throat except maybe not as corrosive. *shudder* lol

Ah yeah, actually acetone is one of the biproducts in ketogenic diets, I remember that now. Yeah I know that vinegar is just dilute acetic acid...I jokingly linked to some glacial acetic acid and suggested that that stuff must be really healthy but made sure to make clear I was joking just incase someone decided to go drink some glacial acetic acid.

Oh boy...that reminds me of one encounter with the stuff I heard about. Had a labmate with a coworker that attempted to open a 4 liter glass bottle of glacial acetic acid by shoving the neck of the glass bottle into a door jam, closing the door to get a good grip on it then wrenching the bottle to try to open it. Managed to snap the top of the bottle off, gouge the sharded glass top through his forearm as the glacial acetic acid proceeded to gush out all over the newly opened wound.

Needless to say the guy immediately passed out and dropped to the floor. Don't do that kids.

I took it for about a week when I got a bad cold and cough. What it seemed to do for me is knock down the phlegm and clear my throat.

Then, I googled it because I thought it was stupid, and I wound up on the mayo clinics site that suggested it as a remedy for helping relieve the symptoms I was having. That was enough for me.

I mix it with honey and warm water. I think it's about 3 tablespoons of ACV, 1 tablespoon of honey, and fill the glass with warm to hot water, mix well and drink.

I'm not promoting it. Lol. I still think it's silly. But, it "seemed" like it kind of worked. At least it cleared the crap out of my throat.

Check the mayo clinic site, the list a ton of benefits of drinking ACV. I'm skeptical, but whateves. I'm never one to buy into silly things like this, even if I do it a little.

That's cool. I don't think being skeptical means you are against everything :-) just means you look into things before you approach them. I could believe that acetic acid would break down phlegm, it is a bit of an organic solvent. Acetic acid is really good at stripping paint off walls for example.

I agree with you that intuitively it doesn't make sense shoving some solvent down your throat, but remember commercial vinegar is at most 5% acetic acid.

Acetone is a ketone and is produced in states of alcoholism or in states of low carb diets/a diabetic crisis ("ketoacidosis"). It is used commercially as a cleaner so I would assume it would feel like dumping some bleach down your throat except maybe not as corrosive. *shudder* lol

Ah yeah, actually acetone is one of the biproducts in ketogenic diets, I remember that now. Yeah I know that vinegar is just dilute acetic acid...I jokingly linked to some glacial acetic acid and suggested that that stuff must be really healthy but made sure to make clear I was joking just incase someone decided to go drink some glacial acetic acid.

Oh boy...that reminds me of one encounter with the stuff I heard about. Had a labmate with a coworker that attempted to open a 4 liter glass bottle of glacial acetic acid by shoving the neck of the glass bottle into a door jam, closing the door to get a good grip on it then wrenching the bottle to try to open it. Managed to snap the top of the bottle off, gouge the sharded glass top through his forearm as the glacial acetic acid proceeded to gush out all over the newly opened wound.

Needless to say the guy immediately passed out and dropped to the floor. Don't do that kids.