The Hemp Connection:
vinegar

I am so grateful I went to the educational meeting yesterday I almost didn't attend! For the majority of my career, the health benefits of vinegar is something that hasn't been taken seriously by colleagues in my profession. But when I saw the presenter for this topic was respected Arizona State University nutrition researcher Carol Johnston, I figured it was worth going to hear what she had to say.

Turns out, Dr. Johnston, a few years ago, while working on another project, quite by accident, found an obscure research article reporting that vinegar may be helpful in reducing insulin resistance. She decided to pick up on where the study left off, and what she has learned with her work has a lot of pertinence to PCOS.

One of the goals of better insulin function is to reduce a reading known as"postprandial blood glucose"…that is, the blood glucose reading you see after eating a meal. This reading can be important, because high numbers have been associated with heart disease as well as excessive baby weight gain in pregnancy (macrosomia). For those of you who experience the phenomenon of being hungry after eating a meal, part of the reason may be a high postprandial blood glucose.

Dr. Johnston's first study used nondiabetic subjects who were divided into two groups: insulin resistant and non-insulin resistant. None of these individuals were taking diabetes medications. If they were in the test group, they were asked to drink 20 grams of apple cider vinegar, wait 2 minutes, and then eat a (pretty high glycemic) test meal of a white bagel, butter, and orange juice. Both groups tried the vinegar and no vinegar protocols. Blood glucose 30 and 60 minutes later was measured.

They found that when vinegar was consumed before a meal, postprandial blood glucose was significantly reduced. Dr. Johnston proposes that vinegar actually may have activity similar to that of Precose or metformin. While she used apple cider vinegar in her studies, she shared that any vinegar will have the same effect. So whatever your preference, rice, balsamic, wine, or raspberry…get creative in the kitchen!

She also clarified that the difference between the action of cinnamon and vinegar is that cinnamon reduces fasting glucose and vinegar reduces postprandial glucose. So you can use both if you wish, they're not going to replace each others' benefit…they may actually complement each other.

It's important if you choose to try this, and you're on medication, to share this with your physician. The results may significantly affect the dose of medication you need. I can pretty much bet most physicians aren't informed about this, and since I was skeptical until yesterday myself, I'm providing all of the references used to write this article for anyone to download and share. The journals in which they were published are respected ones.

A really important caveat: you can overdo this advice. Large amounts of vinegar over time can cause low grade metabolic acidosis (Dr. Johnston studied this too, knowing the mentality of dieters and people desperate to get off of meds.), which is associated with osteoporosis. This acidosis can be prevented by making sure your diet has a good amount of high-potassium foods. Since those are notably fruits and vegetables, the obvious practical way to use this information is to eat a nice salad with each meal, topped with a vinaigrette dressing. Dr. Johnston recommends a ratio of 2 parts vinegar, 1 part oil, the reverse of what is traditionally used.

Keep in mind too, if you're planning to go to the health food store and buy the vinegar pills…they aren't going to work. Dr. Johnston did three separate studies with them (because she was so surprised they didn't work and she was so convinced they would), and did not get the same results the original vinegar produced.

We had the opportunity to try a new product by Bragg's, a line of vinegar beverages. inCYST intern Sarah Jones and I tried the apple-cinnamon and the concord grape-acai flavors. Both of us felt the drink was a little much to consume as packaged, but they would be fun to use in vinaigrettes, marinades, etc., in the kitchen. I'm going to try some recipes this weekend.

Keep in mind too, that any favorite foods made with vinegar will also be beneficial! Pickles, sauerkraut, Korean kimchi, there are many cultural favorites that can make this fun! Think of ways vinegar can be added to your own marinades and flip the oil to vinegar ratio.

If you're really adventurous, or just want a fun party gag, try these pickle pops we sampled yesterday! Sarah was not so keen on them but I'm German and found it pretty tasty. When I looked this up for you all,, I discovered there is even a jalapeno flavor. That's pushing it even for me, but hey, there's something for everyone.: )

Check back with us too if you're actually measuring your blood glucose after meals and let us know if this was helpful!

The cost of diabetes medications can exceed $6,000 per year, per person. And one of every 8 federal health care dollars, ($79.7 billion annually), is spent on diabetes care. Imagine what we could do to our personal budgets, not to mention that nagging national debt, if we all just walked into Costco and invested in an industrial-sized bottle of vinegar…

Ebihara K, Nakajima A. Effect of acetic acid and vinegar on blood glucose and insulin responses to orally administered sucrose and starch Agric Biol Chem 52: 1311-1312, 1988.

Johnston CS, Kim CM, Buller AJ. Vinegar improves insulin sensitivity to a high-carbohydrate meal in subjects with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2004: Jan 27(1); 281-2.

White AM, Johnston CS. Vinegar ingestion at bedtime moderates waking glucose concentrations in adults with well-controlled type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2007 Nov;30(11):2814-5.
Johnston CS, White AM, Kent SM. A preliminary evaluation of the safety and tolerance of medicinally ingested vinegar in individuals with type 2 diabetes. J Med Food. 2008 Mar;11(1):179-83.

Johnston CS, White AM, Kent SM. Preliminary evidence that regular vinegar ingestion favorably influences hemoglobin A1c values in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2009 May;84(2):e15-7.
Johnston CS, Steplewska I, Long CA, Harris LN, Ryals RH. Examination of the antiglycemic properties of vinegar in healthy adults. Ann Nutr Metab. 2010;56(1):74-9.

This time of year the Southern Belle part of my DNA kicks in and I eat watermelon until it's coming out of my ears! It's the most refreshing fruit on a hot summer day.

I made a watermelon feta salad yesterday that was to die for. I'd never tried vinegar on watermelon but there was something about the combination that has me hooked! Here is something close to what I made for you to try, from the Domestic Goddess blog.

I wanted to share it with all of you since I've been writing a lot about how vinegar can help postprandial blood sugars. There are so many ways to use this concept other than taking a spoonful of vinegar!

¼ seedless watermelon, diced (about 4 cups)
1 cup salty feta cheese, broken into teaspoon-sized lumps
¼ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
excellent quality extra virgin olive oil – to drizzle on top
drizzle of red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

I was asked my thoughts about this beverage, popular in some circles. I knew nothing about it, except that my taste buds don't embrace the flavor. Even though I didn't think it had much to do with PCOS, it turned out it actually does.

Kombucha is simply tea that has been brewed, had sugar and probiotics added to it, and then allowed to ferment for several days, allowing a"mushroom" to grow on top of the brew (see photo).

(I think I've inadvertently made kombucha in my sun tea jar when I let it sit too long…but that belongs in another post detailing my long list of bad kitchen incidents…)

The kombucha mushroom is actually quite similar to the"mother" that grows on top of some vinegars. And it turns out, kombucha has a pH similar to vinegar. Its similar potential benefits arise from the similar pH. As you recall, I've written a little bit recently about the usefulness of vinegars taken just before mealtime to help mediate post-meal blood glucose spikes. I am assuming you could use a few swigs of Kombucha just before a meal in a similar fashion. That could be a great research study, come to think of it.

But beware, as too much vinegar can cause detrimental shifts in overall body pH, so can kombucha. Interestingly, a kombucha brewer I found online recommended that adults should not consume more than 4 to 8 fluid ounces daily. Most commercial kombucha is sold in 14 to 20 ounce bottles, which is up to 5 times that amount. It's important to keep in mind that it's not something to swig all day long as your source of hydration, it's something to consume in metered amounts for a specific health purpose. And if you're doing the vinegar thing, best not to do the kombucha thing. And vice versa.

I was most concerned about whether or not kombucha was safe for women who are pregnant, either knowingly or unknowingly, or are trying to conceive. It's been around for thousands of years, which indicates that it's relatively safe. However…the Happy Herbalist I linked to above had an interesting list of other things that can grow in homemade kombucha with funky names like vinegar eels and vinegar worms that really didn't sound like anything I should be messing with…if I was spending thousands of dollars on an IVF procedure…that without interference from eels and worms, only has a 40% chance of succeeding. Not my most evidence-based observation ever posted on this blog, but sometimes the"Eeeeuuuuwww factor" and common sense preclude the need for peer-reviewed citations.

Drink kombucha if you must, but if you're trying to conceive, I strongly recommend you stick with commercially prepared options to reduce your chance of exposing your baby to things it's probably not going to enjoy. Do not try this at home!

In the research files, Indian scientists have reported improved antioxidant activity in animals given kombucha. In rats, particularly male rats, kombucha appeared to prolong life.

However, a German complementary medicine journal made the following conclusion: No clinical studies were found relating to the efficacy of this remedy. Several case reports and case series raise doubts about the safety of kombucha. They include suspected liver damage, metabolic acidosis and cutaneous anthrax infections. One fatality is on record. Germans in general are more open to complementary medicine modalities; taken in that context this is a strong conclusion.

I know that vinegar researchers had a very hard time being taken seriously when they first started submitting studies to the journals, and they were eventually accepted. So there exists the strong possibility that with the right kind of studies kombucha could eventually earn respect.

That being said, be advised that it may be beneficial, but it does not deserve the health halo it often gets, and there have been problems associated with its use, most likely its overconsumption. Use with respect, and use with caution.

Sai Ram M, Anju B, Pauline T, Dipti P, Kain AK, Mongia SS, Sharma SK, Singh B, Singh R, Ilavazhagan G, Kumar D, Selvamurthy W. Effect of Kombucha tea on chromate(VI)-induced oxidative stress in albino rats. J Ethnopharmacol. 2000 Jul;71(1-2):235-40.

Hartmann AM, Burleson LE, Holmes AK, Geist CR. Effects of chronic kombucha ingestion on open-field behaviors, longevity, appetitive behaviors, and organs in c57-bl/6 mice: a pilot study. Nutrition. 2000 Sep;16(9):755-61.

Ernst E. Kombucha: a systematic review of the clinical evidence. Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2003 Apr;10(2):85-7.

Ever since hearing Dr. Johnston speak about her research demonstrating that vinegar consumed just before a meal helps keep the blood glucose lower, I've been noticing more interesting ways to act on that simple interaction.

Here is one I just found in a food industry newsletter at the bottom of my Expo West pile.

Tillen Farms has a variety of pickled vegetables including: green beans, asparagus, bell peppers, snap pea, carrots, and tomatoes. They would be a great addition to a salad, or something to snack on while waiting for dinner to finish.

For more information visit www.tillenfarms.com.

Enjoy!

Not long ago I mentioned some research suggesting that vinegar consumed with a meal can help to reduce the glycemic index of that meal. I'm not big on drinking vinegar myself, so I've had my eyes open for tasty ways to make that interaction work for you in real life.

One great food to keep in mind is the Argentinian condiment chimichurri. I call it South American pesto, the big difference being that chimichurri is most often made with parsley instead of basil. That's ok, parsley is absolutely loaded with vitamin A and lots of other nutritional goodness we lose out on because we tend to think it is only useful as a garnish.

Here is a great recipe with some serving ideas. It's barbecue season so it's a great time to get friendly with this sauce! While the Argentinians are famous for their love of beef, this sauce is great on anything you wish to barbecue, such as the salmon in the photo.

As chimichurri becomes more popular in the United States, pre-prepared versions are becoming more common. I've even seen it on the shelves at Trader Joe's, both plain and as part of some of their packaged dishes.

The other day I stopped at a demo table at my neighborhood store and met the president of Magic Road International, a company devoted to importing Argentinian foods. She shared that they have a chimichurri sauce (Estancia Lucia) that they're working to bring to your table, made with great ingredients such as native Argentinian olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It's become one of my favorite condiments because it's so tasty and versatile.

Be on the lookout and fire up that grill!