De­spite it’s re­cent surge in pop­u­lar­i­ty, the ben­e­fits of ap­ple cider vine­gar have been well known for cen­turies. Here are a few rea­sons why we should in­clude ap­ple cider vine­gar in­to our di­ets.

Re­duce Bloat­ing

Vine­gar in­creas­es the acid­i­ty in the stom­ach. This can help with the di­ges­tion of food there­fore mak­ing its jour­ney to the small in­tes­tine a bit eas­i­er. Slow di­ges­tion can cause acid re­flux, which is a burn­ing sen­sa­tion when food backs up in­to your esoph­a­gus, caus­ing feel­ings of full­ness. Con­sum­ing vine­gar can help move things along, try putting one ta­ble­spoon of ap­ple cider vine­gar in a glass of wa­ter and drink­ing it 15 min­utes be­fore meals.

Reg­u­late Blood Sug­ar

Acetic acid has been proven to slow down the di­ges­tion of sim­ple car­bo­hy­drates, thus reg­u­lat­ing blood sug­ar lev­els. Ap­ple cider vine­gar is rich in acetic acid, so hav­ing a ta­ble­spoon be­fore meals can help to avoid the short highs and the long lows of a high carb di­et.

High Blood Pres­sure

Stud­ies have shown that the ni­tric acid found in ap­ple cider vine­gar, can aid in low­er­ing high blood pres­sure. This is be­cause high ni­tric acid pro­duc­tion helps to re­lax blood ves­sels and can have over­all good ben­e­fits for your car­dio­vas­cu­lar sys­tem. This, over time, can nat­u­ral­ly re­sult in the low­er­ing of high blood pres­sure.

Detox­i­fi­ca­tion

Drink­ing di­lut­ed, raw and un­fil­tered ap­ple cider vine­gar is be­lieved to help cleanse and detox­i­fy your liv­er. One ta­ble­spoon of ap­ple cider vine­gar in a large glass of wa­ter be­fore meals is the dai­ly-rec­om­mend­ed amount for detox­i­fi­ca­tion. Though some meth­ods may sug­gest more, it’s best to work your way up.

Weight Loss

When you have ap­ple cider vine­gar be­fore a meal, as well as aid­ing in di­ges­tion, it will help to re­duce hunger lev­els, which is ben­e­fi­cial for los­ing weight. While raw ap­ple cider vine­gar may aid in weight loss, it’s not the on­ly so­lu­tion. Think of it as one part of your much larg­er body fat re­duc­tion plan.