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Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works,

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Hey, brain Stuff Lauren vogelbamb here. Apple

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cider vinegar has been making these social media

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rounds as the weight loss cure to jure. Maybe

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you've seen videos of dr Oz touting the

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health benefits of apple cider vinegar, or of

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YouTubers claiming to have shed ten pounds

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of belly fat in just seven days by drinking apple

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cider vinegar cocktails before meals. Even

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if we know, the health claim sound too good

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to be true. For anyone who struggles

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with their health and body image as it relates to

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their body weight, it can be tempting to try

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any weight loss regimen that's so cheap, all

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natural, and seemingly effortless.

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So what's the deal? Can apple cider

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vinegar really help you lose weight? First?

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A quick explainer on apple cider vinegar

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versus other types of vinegar. The active

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ingredient in all vinegar is acetic acid.

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Most of the vinegars we commonly eat or cook

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with a white vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic,

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and apple cider contain between five

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and six percent acetic acid, though

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mild rice vinegar can be as low as two

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to four percent. When people talk

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about the health benefits of apple cider vinegar,

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they're really talking about the health benefits

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of having more acetic acid in your diet.

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You could consume any vinegar to get the same

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effect, but the relatively mild and

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sweet flavor of apple cider vinegar is

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more palatable barely when mixed

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into a beverage, which has boosted its

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popularity. Plus, there are

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several brands of raw, organic, unfiltered,

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and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar that

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have achieved a cult following for their purported

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health benefits. But what

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does the research say. We spoke

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with Deborah Murphy, a registered dietitian

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in Chicago, who says the current scientific

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research on the weight loss benefits of apple cider

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vinegar is limited, although

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there have been a handful of small studies that make

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a case for this health remedy. Several

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animal studies showed that doses of acetic

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acid seemed to suppress the accumulation

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of body fat in mice that were fed

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high fat diets. The biggest

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human study to date from fourteen followed

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the progress of a hundred and seventy five obese

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adults in Japan. Some of whom were

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given a beverage containing one or two tablespoons

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that's fifteen or thirty million liters of apple

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cider vinegar every day with their meals,

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and some who were not. After

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twelve weeks, the folks who drank a little vinegar

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every day lost two to four pounds that's

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one to two kilograms, compared to no statistical

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improvements in the group who did not drink the

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vinegar. Low and slow decreases

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in weight are definitely the safest and healthiest

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way to lose weight, but only losing

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two to four pounds over three months that's a third

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of a pound a week hardly qualifies as

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a secret weight loss cure, as some claim

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apple cider vinegar to be. Other

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much smaller studies have linked apple cider

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vinegar to slowing down gastric emptying,

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which is the time it takes for food to move

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from the stomach to these small intestine. In

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an experiment involving just ten people

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with type one diabetes, the folks who drank

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a little apple cider vinegar each day kept

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food in their stomach longer, and their stomach

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size also swelled more after eating a

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meal. Both of these findings support

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the idea that apple cider vinegar could help you feel

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fuller and stay fuller longer, although

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the scientific proof there is still modest,

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Murphy said, Unfortunately, there is

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still no single food that holds the secret

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to weight loss. Despite what many on the Internet

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may say about apple cider vinegar, the

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only way to achieve and sustain weight

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loss is the same thing you've likely heard a hundred

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times before. Eat healthy and move

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your body. Even if apple

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cider vinegar isn't the cure all it's sometimes

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cracked up to be, it can still be part of a healthy

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diet and lifestyle. There's even promising

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research underway about apple cider vinegar

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and insulin response. A small study

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did show that vinegar can significantly improve

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insulin sensitivity in diabetic

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and pre diabetic patients after a high

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carb meal. We

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also spoke with Cynthia Sass, a performance

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nutritionist based in New York and Los Angeles,

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who warns against drinking apple cider vinegar

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straight because the acetic acid can wear

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away tooth, enamel, and even burn the esophic

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guess. If you want to give apple

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cider vinegar beverages a try, Sauce

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recommends swirling two teaspoons. That's

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about nine millilaters of apple cider vinegar,

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plus a teaspoon about four point five

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millilaters of honey, and a cup of warm

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water once a day, but she

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says don't go overboard on the quantity or

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frequency. There's

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also no reason that apple cider vinegar has

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to be imbibed in order to access any

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potential health benefits. Murphy

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suggests working it into your existing recipes,

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making a vinegrette for your salads at Tanging

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cole Slaw, a marinade for chicken or fish,

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or adding some to sauteed greens to give them

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a punch. Today's

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episode was written by Dave Ruse and produced by

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Tyler Clay. For more on this and lots

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of other healthy topics, visit our home planet,

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how Stuff works dot com