Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits for IBS/GERD

Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits for IBS/GERD

Apple Cider Vinegar has a lot of buzz going for it on the internet and the natural health circuit. It can reportedly help with all sorts of problems ranging from gout to heartburn to weight-loss. While a lot of these claims haven’t been proven, I decided to give it a try.

Vinegar is fermented apple juice, yeast help break the apple juice to an alcohol & then bacteria break it down into the sour substance we know. Most commercial vinegar we see in supermarket shelves has been filtered & pasteurized, possibly even distilled(clear). What you want to look for is Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar, as the other products have had all their “goodness” boiled out of them.

As far as digestion goes Apple Cider Vinegar is suppose to work two ways:

• 1) It increases acidity in the stomach which helps digest food. Now people with heartburn might think this is a bad thing, but in some cases heartburn/indigestion is caused by a lack of acid, not too much.
• 2) It has something called “mother” which is the cloudy unfiltered stuff in the vinegar. Most people purport the “mother” as being the source of Apple Cider Vinegars healing powers. Reading up on it though “mother” is an ice way of saying “dead bacteria & fermentation byproducts”. There really may not be a whole lot of  stuff inside the “mother” that does anything. It is not dangerous to drink though.

Apple Cider Vinegar on it’s own is too acidic to drink, so it is recommended to mix about 1 tablespoon(15ml) with 8oz(235ml) of water, plus you’ll probably want to add something to sweeten it a bit. It’s strongly advised to use natural sweeteners like honey instead of refined white sugar. I wonder about Turbinado or Panela sugars, as these are raw sugars without excess refining. The flavor after sweetening is like a sour apple juice.

Results were iffy. They seemed similar to results I received with digestive enzymes. Some days it seemed to help, other days it seemed to make my symptoms worse. One meal I’d feel less bloated, another day I’d feel more bloated and sometimes nauseated. Overall I do not think the apple cider vinegar helped a whole lot, but heck it’s pretty cheap & worth a try if you’re suffering from some sort of digestive malady. There is very little harm or risk of side-effect so long as you are taking it with water.

You can find Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar at your local supermarket in the health food aisle or check local health food stores. You can also order online. BRAGG is a brand that is widely available, but there are probably others out there.