Saturday March 28, 2015 (foodconsumer.org) -- E Östman from Lund University in Lund, Sweden and colleagues conducted a study and found evidence suggesting that intake of vinegar or acetic acid may help type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The study published in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed vinegar supplementation lowered glucose and insulin responses and boosted satiety after a bread meal in healthy men and women.

Diabetes mellitus patients cannot handle glucose properly (glucose intolerance) due to insulin insensitivity.   They often need to use exogenous insulin or diabetes medications to help glucose metabolism.

The study was conducted to test how vinegar would help people who suffer insulin insensitivity or diabetes mellitus.  For the study, 12 healthy volunteers without type 2 diabetes mellitus were  asked to eat 50 grams of white wheat bread for breakfast after 12 hours of fasting (overnight) with or without being supplemented with 18 or 23 or 28 mmol acetic acid.

Researchers found higher doses of vinegar were associated with lower blood glucose and serum insulin responses.  In the meantime, vinegar supplementation was also found to increase the satiety score at 30, 90 and 120 minutes postpgrandially.   However, vinegar supplementation did not make any difference in the glucose and insulin responses at the 120 minutes.

The study concluded "Supplementation of a meal based on white wheat bread with vinegar reduced postprandial responses of blood glucose and insulin, and increased the subjective rating of satiety."

The findings need to be confirmed in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus to see if vinegar or acetic acid could indeed help them to handle glucose without resorting to medications. (David Liu, PHD)