Giving Vinegar A Shot

There’s nothing more on trend than a dose of the latest wellness tonic: cactus water, turmeric lattes, kombucha and now ... vinegar? Kate Wills spent a week finding out if it leaves more than just a sour taste

- Kate Wills

As wellbeing fads go, drinking apple cider vinegar – or ACV to those in the know – seems a little difficult to stomach. But the idea of it as a digestive tonic has graduated from insider trick to mainstream bandwagon. Ever the early adopter, Gwyneth Paltrow heads the celeb fan club, Kourtney Kardashian downs it twice a day, and Katy Perry credits her ACV habit for never missing a live performance. Major.

Now, you know those people who lap up trends? Well, that’s me. I’m a junkie for injectable vitamins and I even brew my own kombucha, for God’s sake. So during a week when I felt particularly run-down, I decided to give ACV a go. It has the word cider in it – how bad could it be?

“The idea of drinking vinegar for its medicinal properties isn’t new,” says nutritional therapist Kay Ali. “In ancient Greece, Hippocrates prescribed vinegar mixed with honey for a variety of symptoms, including coughs and colds. And more recently, as we’re starting to understand more about the effect fermented foods have on the gut and how important gut flora is, drinking vinegars have suddenly returned to the spotlight.”

History lesson over; now for chemistry class. The word vinegar comes from the Latin words vinum (wine) and acer (sour) and, in essence, vinegar is just that: sour wine. “You can make vinegar from many things – fruits, vegetables and grains – but ACV is the most popular choice [to drink] because apples contain the most acetic acid, a key component in vinegar’s medicinal properties,” explains Ali.