As a personal trainer in London, I get a lot of questions from clients about nutrition. Recently a client asked me if she should buy some apple cider vinegar, as she had heard good things about it.
The number one benefit of apple cider vinegar is that it boosts digestion and absorption of food, particularly protein, for people whose digestion is less than optimal. The acetic acid in the vinegar helps increase the acidity of your stomach, which enables you to break down protein more effectively. The best time to take it is during meals, 1 tablespoon-full (15ml) diluted in a glass of water. Alternatively you can mix it with olive oil as part of a salad dressing.
Protein is the most challenging food group to digest, particularly red meat. It needs to be broken down into peptides (chains of amino acids) and then further broken down into individual amino acids which are then absorbed into the bloodstream via the walls of the small intestine. Stomach acid and digestive enzymes work together to enable digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Why does the stomach need more acid from apple cider vinegar if the stomach automatically produces very strong hydrochloric acid as part of the digestion process? The answer is that some people do not produce sufficient hydrochloric acid for optimum digestion. If you drink lots of alcohol, or if you’re deficient in vitamin B1 or zinc, or if you suffer from hypothyroidism or high levels of stress, your production of hydrochloric acid is inhibited. Apple cider vinegar is one way to ‘top-up’ the acidity of your stomach. However, drinking less alcohol and reducing stress levels is a higher priority.
One of the best brands of apple cider vinegar is Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, which is raw, unpasturised, unfiltered, and contains ‘the Mother.’ What is ‘the Mother’? It is not some strange creature lurking at the bottom of the bottle, it is actually billions of ‘good bacteria’ which converts the alcohol produced by the fermentation of apples into acetic acid. This cloudy substance at the bottom of the bottle also contains prebiotics (ideal food for good bacteria in the gut), enzymes (which stimulate digestion), minerals and polyphenols (plant-derived antioxidants, which reduce cell damage). To get the full benefit of the Mother, shake the bottle before use, until the whole contents is cloudy.
How should you consume apple cider vinegar? Warning: don’t drink it neat or it will strip the enamel from your teeth and burn your oesophagus. As mentioned above (but it’s worth repeating) drink it diluted in a glass of water. Drink it when you’re eating a protein-rich meal, to boost digestion. You can drink it using a straw to bypass your teeth entirely.
Ironically, people who suffer from GERD (acid reflux) will benefit from consuming apple cider vinegar. GERD results from having insufficient stomach acid, which causes the lower sphincter of the oesophagus to stay open and allows acid reflux to pass up into the oesphagus. Over time persistent acid reflux can burn the oesopagus and increase the risk of cancer. High levels of stomach acid triggers the automatic closing of this sphincter, which prevents acid reflux. Low stomach acid slows digestion, which results in food sitting in the stomach too long, and this increases the risk of acid reflux, also known as heartburn.
Apple cider vinegar also boosts insulin sensitivity, which is good news from sufferers of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The more sensitive your muscle cells are to insulin, the more effectively they can take up glucose from the bloodstream, lowering your blood-sugar levels.
Because of its strong acidity, apple cider vinegar has an anti-microbial effect, helping to destroy any pathogens in food. Apple cider vinegar also stimulates the gallbladder to release bile, which is needed for fat digestion in the small intestines. In addition, apple cider vinegar stimulates the pancreas to release digestive enzymes.
Warning: don’t consume apple cider vinegar if you have a stomach or duodenal ulcer. Allow the ulcer to heal up first, or you’ll irritate it with the extra acidity and cause stomach pain.
(Dominic Londesborough is a personal trainer in London and an online nutrition coach)
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