Vinegar, with its famously sour taste and sharp aroma, is a versatile kitchen star. It can flavor and preserve food, providing potential health benefits along the way.
Since vinegar can boost taste without adding many calories, it’s considered one of the healthiest condiments and the main ingredient in one of the healthiest salad dressings, vinaigrette.
It’s even a key part of the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet, says registered dietitian Carol Johnston, Ph.D., who studies the medicinal use of vinegar.
“The thing that’s so interesting about vinegar is it’s in all cultures around the world,” Johnston, a professor of nutrition at Arizona State University, tells TODAY.com.
“It’s everywhere and it’s cheap. So it’s like the perfect healthful adjunct for your diet.”
Apple cider vinegar gets a lot of attention, but there are many other options to choose from including balsamic, white wine, red wine, rice and malt vinegar.
What is vinegar made of?
Vinegar is the product of double fermentation. The process starts with alcohol, such as wine or cider. All vinegars are fermented from a carbohydrate source, generally fruit like grapes or apples, or another carb like rice, Johnston says.
When the alcoholic beverage is exposed to bacteria in the air, it’s fermented again over time and acetic acid forms. That’s what gives vinegar its tangy, acidic taste.
Vinegar has been used as a condiment and food preservative since antiquity, says Elisabetta Politi, a registered dietitian at the Duke Lifestyle and Weight Management Center in Durham, North Carolina.
“The acetic acid in vinegar prevents decaying by raising the acidity of food, making it difficult for bacteria to live,” Politi tells TODAY.com.
All vinegar used for cooking in the U.S. contains about 5% acetic acid, which is its defining ingredient, Johnston says.
Is vinegar good for health?
There are many health claims about vinegar. Here’s what the experts say:
Vinegar can help control blood sugar
Johnston calls this the best-established health claim based on published research, studies and meta-analyses.
Consuming vinegar before eating a carb-rich meal brought down blood glucose in people with insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes, she noticed in her own investigations.
It may be happening because the acetic acid in vinegar blocks enzymes that digest starch, which leads to less glucose being released into the bloodstream, Johnston says. People who traditionally eat the Mediterranean diet often dip bread into vinaigrette dressing.
She recommends drinking one to two tablespoons of vinegar diluted in 8 to 12 ounces of water at lunch and dinner.
“This does not mean you go off your diabetic meds,” she cautions. “It’s not like that. It’s an adjunct therapy.”
The American Diabetes Association doesn’t recommend the use of vinegar for glycemic control, adds Politi, who is a certified diabetes educator.
Vinegar may help lower cholesterol and blood pressure
Emerging evidence “seems to be pointing in vinegar’s favor pretty strongly” when it comes to lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, Johnston says.
“There are several reports out there showing reductions — not drastic, but significant reductions,” she adds.
Vinegar has anti-inflammatory effects
Since vinegar is often made from fruit, it contains polyphenols — compounds in plants that are strong antioxidants. The darker the vinegar, the more polyphenols, Johnston says.
Antioxidants can prevent cell damage and could reduce the risk of inflammatory-based diseases such as cancer.
“But (fresh) grapes have a lot more polyphenols than red wine vinegar. So if your goal is to acquire more of these polyphenols, you should just eat the fruit or drink the juice,” Johnston notes.
Vinegar improves gut health
When you ingest vinegar, you’re ingesting postbiotics, the chemicals produced by the good bacteria in your gut, which have healthful effects, Johnston says.
"That’s only going to promote gut health," she adds.
Can vinegar help you lose weight?
There’s mixed evidence whether vinegar helps with weight loss, both experts say.
“One hypothesis is that vinegar may help delay gastric emptying, while another one is that it influences fat metabolism, but neither has been proven,” Politi says.
“Vinegar may have a modest effect on weight loss, in conjunction with exercise and healthy eating.”
Apple cider vinegar has been studied the most for possible weight loss benefits, but hasn’t consistently led to significant and sustainable weight loss across different groups of people, she adds.
Vinegar may reduce appetite, but any weight loss or body fat loss that comes from its consumption would be very gradual, Johnston says.
Which vinegar is healthiest?
The acetic acid in vinegar is what provides most of the health benefits, and all types of vinegar used for cooking contain about the same amount of acetic acid, Johnston says.
So from that perspective, all vinegars are healthy when used in a small amount as condiments, Politi notes.
Balsamic vinegar is the top choice if you’re looking for a supermarket option with the most polyphenols; red wine vinegar is a close second, Johnston adds.
“The (balsamic) fermentation process is more concentrated — concentrating the actual grape product,” she says. “So because it’s more of a concentrated fermentation process, you get more of the polyphenols.”
Pomegranate vinegar and blackberry vinegar are less easy to find, but they're also packed with polyphenols, a 2023 study found.
Trace nutrients in vinegar reflect their “parent product,” so apple cider vinegar has more of an apple profile, while wine vinegar has some bioactive agents found in grapes, Johnston says.
“They each have their own specific advantages as far as their chemical profile,” she explains. “But the science hasn’t really gone much beyond (acetic acid) as far as saying which is the healthiest.”
How much vinegar is safe?
If you’re drinking it, stick to 1 or 2 tablespoons of vinegar diluted in 8 to 12 ounces of water, the dietitians say. Or dilute it with food by using it in a dressing or sprinkling it over a salad.
“Vinegar alone can damage the enamel of your teeth, so don’t let it linger in your mouth, and rinse your mouth with plain water after drinking it,” Politi advises.
Drinking diluted vinegar through a straw can help minimize the exposure to teeth, Johnston adds. But it will irritate any lesions in the mouth or the esophagus, so those patients should avoid vinegar.
