Several years ago, when I first started becoming interested in health and nutrition, I stumbled across a little booklet in the natural foods section of my local grocery store. It was called, “Apple Cider Vinegar, the Miracle Health System” by Paul and Patricia Bragg. I was intrigued and took it home with me that night and read all 106 pages in one sitting.
Here are just a few of the many claims this book makes about Apple Cider Vinegar:
- It’s “Nature’s Healing Miracle.”
- It apparently cures everything from sore throats to arthritis.
- It helps remove artery plaque.
- It slows down aging and helps maintain a youthful vibrant body – a veritable fountain of youth.
- It even helps control weight!
Much of what the book said made sense to me. Besides just drinking 1-2 teaspoons of ACV in a cup of warm water each day, the Braggs also encouraged a healthy lifestyle with a diet of raw fruits and vegetables, which I found to make sense but was not ready to explore at the time. But adding Apple Cider Vinegar to my diet? That was easy! I could do that! So the next time I was at the store I bought a couple of bottles of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar.
And for almost two years (!) I drank the stuff regularly. Not daily, but fairly often. I used it whenever I thought I was coming down with something. I made my kids drink it (oh, they hated the stuff – even diluted and sweetened, it tasted nasty!), thinking I was helping their vitality.
I can’t say that I really noticed it making a huge difference in my health. What I did notice was that it was difficult to want to drink it because it smelled and tasted so bad. It also seemed to burn my throat going down. Over time, I got used to it and tolerated it fairly well. If anything, it seemed to stimulate my senses – much like when you take caffeine or some really strong sweet juice.
Eventually, I moved from a mostly cooked, grain based vegan diet to one that was increasingly filled with raw foods. And one day, as I perused the FAQs on one of my favorite raw websites, I found this little paragraph about vinegar which almost stopped my heart:
Vinegar is diluted acetic acid, commonly known to be a poison in its pure form. Acetic acid stimulates the thyroid gland to pull phosphorous from the adrenal glands to negate the effects of acetic acid in the system. Depleted phosphorous results in impaired function of the adrenal glands and thus the entire endocrine system. The outcome of all this can include body odor, pains in the heart, rapid pulse, increased mucous production, and headaches. Repetitive use will also result in hardening of the liver.
Well! That explained a) my revulsion to its taste/smell and b) the internal stimulation I felt when drinking it.
I went on to do a little research and from everything I can tell, have found this to be true. Apparently if you go to any high school chemistry lab, chances are you will find a bottle or two of acetic acid on the shelves, labeled “poison”. 
Now the problem was, what on earth was I going to put on my salads? Just about every salad dressing out there has vinegar in it and I wasn’t about to give up my greens. I have solved this problem for myself by squeezing or mixing combinations of fresh citrus onto my salads – orange, lemon, pineapple, mango, etc. Freshly diced pineapple is divine on a bed of lettuce, I’ve found out!
You don’t have to agree with me of course – but if you are a heavy vinegar user, I would encourage you to do a little research into where vinegar comes from, how it is made and how it came to be used in our food. (Wikipedia was enlightening). One may of course argue that the vinegar that is used for food purposes is very diluted and by the time it actually goes in to your body there is very little pure acetic acid. But I would argue right back that poison is poison and I would rather not put even diluted doses of it in my body personally, thank you very much. :)
And the moral of my story is – if someone claims that there is one magical supplement that can pretty much cure every ailment, it might behoove you to have a healthy dose of suspicion.
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{ 6 comments }
I remember once stumbling upon the Bragg’s web site. I saw their claims about apple cider vinegar, but just passed over it. I’m glad I never ordered the stuff. Thanks for forcing me to think critically about the effects of this so-called “miracle” product.
Interesting topic. I had not thought much about vinegar before now. I keep it around only as a cleaning liquid. Vinegar smells too bad to be a food for me. Today it is really hard to tell what’s good and what’s bad. Some people like Bragg say that soy is great. Others say it’s poison. I don’t know what to think except that both sides of the debate are making money. Bragg must have made a lot of money selling those little booklets.
I agree wholeheartedly with you, Sarah. There are no magic pills, no miracle foods. Not too long ago children were forced to take spoonfuls of castor oil. I looked that up on Wikipedia and was surprised to see that Mussolini’s regime used castor oil as a form of torture! The main use for castor oil now is lubricating engines. (Have you heard of Castrol?)
Thumbs up on the fruit instead of salad dressing recommendation. I started doing this just a year ago, after seeing a friend put a diced pear atop her bed of spinach. I tried it myself and haven’t bought a bottle of dressing since. Apples, strawberries, raisins, mandarin oranges, and lemon juice are my favorites.
I have tried apple cider and found my energy level increase when I was
tired it shure seemed to help me.
Mark.
Let’s be a little circumspect when we use the word “poison”. Saying simply “poison is poison” is a gross oversimplification. ‘Poison’ describes an action, not an inherent quality of a substance. If you eat a polar bear liver, you’ll probably die of Vitamin A poisoning. Are we going to say that Vitamin A is a “poison” then?
For god’s sake, have a tablespoon of vinegar if you want it.
Hi Jon,
Thanks for your comment.
It is true, “poison” can be a verb that describes an action. But when you look it up in the dictionary, the primary definition of the word “poison” is that of a noun:
“a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health.”
(from dictionary.com).
The problem with your polar bear and vitamin A analogy is that Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that is inherent in natural human food that contributes something to the well-being of the human body. (Not to mention, I do not consider polar bear liver as food appropriate for human beings).
Vinegar is not a nutrient, is not found naturally in food and is a diluted form of a known toxin to humans. It is an unnatural additive, much like say, aspartame or hydrogenated oils. You cannot compare it to Vitamin A.
There is no reason to put small amounts of diluted poison in one’s body. But that is just my opinion. :)
Thanks for reading and for the discussion.
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