The Natural Apothecary Apple Cider Vinegar

Reports of the healing properties of cider vinegar date from thousands of years ago. In 400 bc, the Greek doctor Hippocrates used it as an antibiotic and for general health. Samurai warriors used a vinegar tonic for strength, and a vinegar solution was used to prevent stomach upsets and treat pneumonia and scurvy in the US Civil War and to treat wounds in World War I.

There is no doubt that apples and apple juice are beneficial to our health. For more information on the specific ways that they can help with many common health problems, see pages 21–3. Traditional use, common sense and anecdotal evidence suggest cider vinegar can also help a wide variety of ailments, although few trials have been done. One reason is that it’s difficult to get funding as cider vinegar can’t be patented.

Cider vinegar is sometimes called a ‘superfood’. These are foods that are thought to be nutritionally dense and therefore the best ones to include in our diets as part of a healthy lifestyle. Fruits such as blueberries or kiwi, nuts and seeds, beans and whole grains, leafy green vegetables and oily fish such as mackerel are often included in lists of the top superfoods that we should be eating, although the lists can be rather subjective.

In 1958 the term ‘Honeygar’ or ‘Honegar’ was coined by an American doctor writing about folk medicines. This refers to a mix of honey and vinegar and is available to buy today in pre-mixed bottles, clearly aimed at the health market. There are also several flavoured vinegar drinks ranges on the market. These often sold as detox products and include mixtures of cider vinegar with other superfood ingredients, such as pomegranate, goji berries or acai. If you find the taste of vinegar in water too strong, it might be worth trying these, although they may also contain high levels of sugar so always check the labels.

The list of ailments in this chapter details how and why cider vinegar can help, but don’t forget that you can also discourage common ailments with a healthy diet (including a variety of superfoods), adequate hydration, regular exercise, daily outdoor light, effective stress management, a sensible alcohol intake and no smoking.

One cause of acne is overproduction of sebum due to over-sensitivity of sebaceous glands to testosterone. Other possibilities are changes in sebum and unusually sticky hair-follicle cells. Other triggers include the premenstrual fall in oestrogen, humidity, stress, certain drugs (for example, the progestogen-only pill), and polycystic ovary syndrome. A reduction in the skin’s normal acidity may encourage infected spots.

Some people report that cider vinegar helps; if so, it could be because it kills bacteria, increases skin acidity, ‘cuts’ (emulsifies) skin oil, and reduces inflammation.

Mix 1 part of cider vinegar with 4 parts of water. Apply with cotton wool, rinse after 10 minutes and repeat three times a day.

These are usually caused by ill-fitting footwear. Soaking the feet in a solution of cider vinegar is reputed to soften corns and calluses and hasten their demise.

Add a cup of cider vinegar to a large bowl of warm water and soak your feet for 10 minutes a day. Afterwards, rub softened skin from the surface of the corn.

Cider vinegar washes are a traditional remedy for eczema. The inflammation of eczema makes the skin’s pH (acidity/ alkalinity) rise above its normal slightly acidic pH range of 4.2–5.6. Normal acidity helps prevent infection in eczematous skin by inhibiting the multiplication of potentially harmful bacteria and fungi. Cider vinegar washes have nearly the same pH as normal skin.

Try rinsing the affected area of skin with a mixture of equal volumes of cider vinegar and water twice a day. Avoid broken skin, as this will sting.

There are many anecdotal reports of cider vinegar curing warts. Some podiatrists use a more corrosive relative of acetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, to treat verrucas and other warts.

Soak some cotton wool in cider vinegar and apply to the wart. Cover with a sticking plaster overnight. Repeat each night for 2 weeks.

Try applying a solution made by adding 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar to a cup of water.

Or try applying neat cider vinegar to itchy skin, keeping it away from your eyes or other delicate parts.

Soak your feet when necessary in a bowl of hot water plus a cup of cider vinegar.

Dandruff treatment

Dandruff is often associated with the fungus Malassezia furfur. Cider vinegar is a popular home remedy.

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup warm water

1 Mix the cider vinegar and water together in a bowl.

2 Apply the solution to the scalp, rubbing it in with your fingertips.

3 Wrap your hair in a clean towel and wait for one hour before rinsing off the solution and then shampooing as normal.

Alternatively, massage neat cider vinegar into the scalp, cover with a towel and leave on for an hour. Repeat once or twice a week.

Age-related conditions

Ageing

Scientists have long searched for lifestyle factors that encourage long life and discourage age-related diseases (such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s). Long-lived peoples include certain groups in Russia (the Georgians), Pakistan (the Hunzas), Ecuador, China, Tibet and Peru. One link is that they tend to live at high altitudes; here, melting glacier water is rich in alkaline minerals such as calcium, which help the body maintain a healthy pH (acid-alkaline balance) without drawing calcium from the bones.

Apples, apple juice and cider vinegar have an alkalinizing effect in the body, so they, too, help conserve stored calcium.

Another possible factor encouraging these peoples’ longevity is their consumption of fermented vegetables, fruit, milk, cereal grains, meat or fish. We don’t yet know whether any benefit is caused by fermentation reducing the carbohydrate in the food; by any remaining fermentation bacteria; or by the presence of fermentation acids (such as lactic or acetic). Whatever the reason, folk medicine has long held that cider vinegar (fermented apple juice) helps protect against age-related disease; certainly, consuming it before a meal discourages high blood sugar afterwards (see Diabetes). Also, people with an age-related reduction in stomach acid (one in two over-60s in Westernized cultures) who take cider vinegar, aid their absorption of many nutrients (including protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins A, B, C and E, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, chromium, selenium, manganese, vanadium, molybdenum, cobalt).

US researchers say mineral and vitamin deficiencies can accelerate the age-related decay of mitochondria (energy-providing structures in cells). Among the most important deficiencies are those of iron, zinc, biotin, pantothenic acid, magnesium and manganese.

Apples can help reduce inflammation associated with heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer’s, because they contain anti-oxidants and aspirin-like salicylates with anti-inflammatory actions. Unpeeled apples contain larger amounts. Apple juice contains smaller amounts.

Apple consumption is also associated with a reduced risk of cancer, strokes and type 2 diabetes.

Lastly, pectin binds to potentially toxic heavy metals such as aluminium and lead in the gut, which encourages their elimination. Indeed, pectin is regularly prescribed in Russia to remove heavy metals from the body. Such metals can form damaging ‘cross-links’ with brain and other cells. So, pectin’s binding ability may mean it helps protect against premature degeneration and ageing.

Heal from the inside out

Until we know more, hedge your bets by eating an apple a day, and either adding cider vinegar to various recipes, or taking 2 teaspoons in a glass of water 2 or 3 times a day.

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

This results from brain-cell destruction and is associated with patches of amyloid protein and clusters of tangled nerve fibres. The cause isn’t clear, but it can run in families and is more likely with age and after a serious head injury.

It’s possible, though unproven, that eating apples might help prevent Alzheimer’s or slow its development. One reason is that people with Alzheimer’s tend to have high levels of the amino acid homocysteine, and are particularly likely to lack those B vitamins that help normalize homocysteine levels. Apples contain small amounts of folic acid and vitamin B6, which are among the B vitamins with the greatest effect. So they can make a useful contribution to the intake of vitamin B.

Several studies suggest that a small daily dose of aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug discourages Alzheimer’s. There isn’t enough evidence for doctors to recommend taking such drugs long-term, and they can make the stomach bleed. But unpeeled apples, and apple juice, cider and cider vinegar made from unpeeled apples, are good sources of salicylates with aspirin-like qualities.

Arthritis

Inflammation links the many sorts of arthritis. Although some people claim that cider vinegar helps their arthritis, others say it doesn’t. While it’s certainly possible that people might react in different ways, there is no scientific evidence, so the jury remains out.

Apples could help reduce the inflammation that often accompanies arthritis, because they contain antioxidants (such as proanthocyanidin plant pigments, beta carotene, vitamin C, selenium) and aspirin-like salicylates.

Heal from the inside out

You may want to see if cider vinegar helps. Use it in salad dressings, soups or other recipes, or drink 2 teaspoons in a glass of water 3 times a day with meals.

Regular treatment

A folk remedy for arthritis in the hands or feet is to soak them 3 times a day in a solution made by adding 1 cup of cider vinegar to 3 cups of hot water.

Cataract

This clouding of the eye’s lens affects many people over 65. Apples might discourage cataracts by helping protect against certain trigger factors, including diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, infection and sunlight. Their eye-friendly nutrients include vitamins B2 and C, flavonoids and salicylates.

Cider vinegar is an unproven folk remedy for helping to prevent cataracts worsening.

Heal from the inside out

If you would like to try cider vinegar, add it to recipes or take 2 teaspoons in a glass of water 3 times a day for 6 months.

Osteoporosis

In this condition, affected bone is light and fragile and its cells are destroyed faster than they are created. Risk factors include age, too much or too little exercise, smoking, too little bright outdoor light, a lack of bone-friendly nutrients (calcium, magnesium, zinc, vitamins C, D and K and plant hormones), an early menopause, anorexia and various medications and illnesses (including gut and thyroid disorders). Research increasingly points to inflammation and oxidation being involved.

Apples might help prevent osteoporosis or slow its development because of their antioxidants such as flavonoids, which counter inflammation and oxidation. Apples also contain the trace mineral boron, which researchers believe could improve oestrogen levels and reduce the loss of bone-friendly minerals in the urine. Another constituent, present in small amounts, is the phyto-oestrogen genistein. The rate of loss of bone density around the menopause is much lower in women with a high intake of plant oestrogens; apples contain only small amounts, nevertheless they might help as part of a healthy diet. Apple pectin is useful too, because good gut bacteria break this down, releasing short-chain fatty acids which raise acidity in the large intestine and thereby boost absorption of minerals such as calcium and magnesium.

Cider vinegar might be useful too. First, it renders calcium from food or in supplements more soluble and thus better absorbed. Second, it provides extra acidity in the stomach, which is useful for people in whom a lack of stomach acid causes poor absorption of calcium and certain other nutrients. Third, although vinegar is acidic, the net result of its digestion and metabolism is mildly alkaline.

Heal from the inside out

It’s worth including apples and cider vinegar in your daily diet to help prevent or treat osteoporosis.

Memory loss

Anecdotal reports suggest that cider vinegar can aid memory.

Heal from the inside out

There’s only very preliminary evidence that apples, apple juice and cider vinegar can improve memory or slow its loss, but nothing to be lost by including them in your diet.

Age spot lightener

The most common are brown freckles (‘liver spots’), caused by normal ageing plus photo-ageing (accelerated ageing from sun exposure).
Some people report that applying cider vinegar – particularly if mixed with onion juice – lightens age spots.

1 onion

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 Peel and finely chop the onion, wrap it in a muslin cloth (cheesecloth), and squeeze to extract the juice into a small bowl.

2 Mix the cider vinegar with 1 teaspoon of the onion juice and apply the mixture to the freckles twice a day. They may begin to lighten within six weeks.

Digestion, diet and gut health

Anaemia

Iron-deficiency anaemia can be associated with low stomach acid, which affects one in two over-60s. It can also result from stress or the prolonged use of antacid or acid-suppressant medication. A lack of stomach acid can reduce iron absorption from food. Vitamin B12-deficiency anaemia is another possible result of low stomach acid.

Eating apples could be particularly useful if you have iron-deficiency anaemia. Gut bacteria break down apple pectin, releasing short-chain fatty acids which raise acidity and thereby boost iron absorption.

Heal from the inside out

If you have iron- or vitamin B12-deficiency anaemia, try improving your absorption of either nutrient by drinking a glass of water containing 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar in water before each meal, or by adding cider vinegar to a dressing for a first-course salad or soup.

Diarrhoea

Apple pectin is water-soluble and in the gut it forms a gel that helps bind the bowel contents into stools and thereby reduces bowel-opening frequency. What’s more, ‘good’ bacteria in the gut break down some of the pectin, forming a protective coating for the gut lining which soothes any irritation. This breakdown releases short-chain fatty acids (such as butyric acid) with ‘prebiotic’ qualities, meaning they nourish ‘good’ or ‘probiotic’ bowel bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobac-teria. Pectin’s prebiotic quality makes colon cells stronger and better able to produce protective mucus which helps prevent irritants sticking to and inflaming the gut lining.

Another type of apple fibre, cellulose, attracts water, bulks up bowel contents and makes them less runny. Cooking apples pre-softens their cellulose, helping it bulk up stools and reduce diarrhoea.

Cider vinegar can help kill diarrhoea-causing bacteria such as Escherichia coli, so it’s useful for those people (such as one-in-two over-60s) with low production of stomach acid that would otherwise attack bacteria.

Heal from the inside out

If you have diarrhoea, try eating an apple every few hours. Raw apples are good, while cooking the apple first (for example, by stewing or baking it), pre-softens its cellulose, which may be useful if your bowel contents are rushing through very fast.

Regular treatment

You might also want to try drinking 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water 3 times a day.

Food intolerance

Poor production of stomach acid can occur with stress, prolonged use of antacids or acid suppressants and ageing.

Normal levels enable the digestive enzyme pepsin to break down proteins, but a shortage allows poorly digested protein to be absorbed into the blood and trigger allergy.

Heal from the inside out

If you think you might be short of stomach acid, try starting each main meal with a salad sprinkled with a cider vinegar and olive oil dressing, or first drink a glass of water containing 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar. Cider vinegar is considerably less acidic than stomach acid, but can nevertheless aid digestion.

Gallstones

Most gallstones contain cholesterol, others contain bile pigments or calcium salts. The bile often contains excess cholesterol and the gallbladder doesn’t contract well. Such problems are more likely with obesity, constipation or diabetes, all of which may be helped by consuming apples and/or cider vinegar as part of a healthy diet.

The apple fibre pectin may bind and thereby help eliminate certain bile acids from the gut, which would prevent them being reabsorbed and used to make gallstones.

A tendency to gallstones may be linked with a lack of stomach acid, because this encourages the gallbladder to be inactive, which in turn encourages the formation of gallstones in the stagnant bile. A lack of stomach acid is more likely with ageing and stress and in people taking antacid or acid-suppressant medication.

Encourage gallbladder contractions with frequent meals that include something sour (such as cider vinegar) or bitter.

Heal from the inside out

If you suspect low levels of stomach acid, take 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar (added to a glass of water or a ‘starter’) before a meal, to increase stomach acidity. Cider vinegar’s pH is 5, whereas stomach acid is more strongly acidic, with a pH of 1–2, but a little extra acid might be useful.

Gallbladder flush

Some people report success from a ‘gallbladder flush’. This is said to soften stones and let them come out in the stools next day. Before trying a flush, discuss it with your doctor.

Days 1–6	Drink 1–2 litres of apple juice a day for 6 days.
Day 7	Miss supper; at 9pm, take 1–2 tablespoons of Epsom salts in a little water; at 10pm, drink 4 fluid ounces of olive oil shaken with 2 of lemon juice, then lie on your left side for 30 minutes before bedtime.

Peptic ulcer

Thick mucus normally protects the stomach and duodenum from stomach acid and the digestive enzyme pepsin. An ulcer can develop if something interferes with this mucus or with the lining cells or the volume of acid. The usual culprit is inflammation from infection with Helicobacter pylori bacteria. This is a major cause of stomach ulcers, stomach inflammation (gastritis) and stomach cancer. Around 2 in 5 of us are infected, though only 1 in 10 infected people develop an ulcer. Some people with ulcers make too much acid, but most don’t, and some make too little.

It’s theoretically possible that if someone with peptic ulcer symptoms tests positive for H. pylori and suspects a lack of stomach acid (for example, because acid-suppressants don’t relieve symptoms), the acidity of cider vinegar might discourage the infection. But it might temporarily worsen ulcer pain.

Heal from the inside out

If you would like to try it, either drink a glass of water containing 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar each day, or use cider vinegar as a condiment or add it to recipes.

Indigestion and heartburn

Stewed apple is a favoured first food after a gastrointestinal infection. And organic acids in apples (for example, malic and tartaric) and cider vinegar (acetic acid) may help prevent indigestion caused by low stomach-acid production. Low stomach acid is encouraged by ageing, stress and prolonged use of antacids or acid-suppressant medication. Organic acids such as those in vinegar are weaker than gastric acid, but help provide an acidic environment for efficient protein digestion.

Heartburn is a frequent symptom of low stomach acid. Medical treatment is to suppress gastric acid with antacids, but this sometimes does no good or even worsens the problem. If antacids don’t help, you may have low stomach acid. Consuming vinegar could then help by increasing your stomach acidity, though because its pH is only around 5, it cannot make the stomach as acidic as gastric acid (pH 1–2).

Heal from the inside out

To use cider vinegar to prevent problems, take 2 teaspoons in a glass of water before each meal, or add it to food.

If you have indigestion or heartburn, take 1 tablespoon in a glass of water. If it helps, the odds are that a lack of stomach acid was to blame.

Kidney stones

Cider vinegar is said to help dissolve common, calcium-containing stones. These are more likely when threatened overacidity of body fluids leads to calcium being withdrawn from bones and teeth and excreted in the urine to keep the body-fluid’s pH (acid-alkaline balance) within its normal tightly controlled range. Cider vinegar, unlike other vinegars, is said to have a mild alkalinizing effect after it has been digested, so it might reduce the body’s need to take calcium from bones. It might also help by reducing spikes of insulin in the blood after eating carbohydrate. Such foods otherwise raise insulin – a hormone that encourages stones by making the kidneys discharge more calcium in the urine.

Apples and apple juice may help prevent or dissolve stones, as they too have an alkalinizing effect. They also provide vitamin B6 and magnesium; this might help because, according to researchers, a lack of these nutrients encourages stones.

Heal from the inside out

Try including cider vinegar, apples and apple juice in your diet if you are prone to kidney stones.

Detox drinks

Store-bought cider vinegar detox drinks are available, but they can also be easily made at home. Combining cider vinegar with other health-promoting natural ingredients will allow you to harness all the benefits. Aim to drink one of these drinks every day. Add a little honey if you prefer your drinks to be sweeter.

Spicy lemon

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Add the ingredients to a cup of water and mix together well. Drink straight away.

Morning wake-up call

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ teaspoon turmeric

Add the ingredients to a cup of hot water, stir well to mix, and drink first thing in the morning to kick-start your metabolism.

Vitamin boost

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

¼ cup orange juice

¼ cup cranberry juice

Add the ingredients to a glass, taste, and dilute with as much water as required.

Antioxidant green tea

1 cup green tea, made with leaves or a teabag

a few fresh mint leaves 1

tablespoon cider vinegar

Make a cup of green tea using leaves or a teabag. Add the mint leaves and stir the cider vinegar through. Allow to cool slightly before drinking.

Cider vinegar pills are sold at health food stores, pharmacies and online. The supplements, sold in tablet form, contain a dehydrated form of cider vinegar. There is little research available on the effectiveness of the pills, although they are said to have the same benefits on our health as ingesting cider vinegar in liquid form. Always check the ingredients on the label when buying supplements, as there may be other ingredients included. Drinking pure cider vinegar diluted with a little water is the safest way to ensure you are getting all the health benefits without any hidden ‘nasties’.

Respiratory problems and allergies

Asthma

Inflammation and oversensitivity of airways causes wheezing, coughing and a tight chest. Possible triggers include cold air, exercise, certain foods, hormone changes, laughter, infection, various fumes, a sudden fall in air pressure, thunderstorms, allergy, and breathing too fast.

Apples and apple juice have an anti-asthma effect that seems stronger than that of any other food. This may result from their high levels of antioxidants such as quercetin, as these have a provable anti-inflammatory effect.

As for cider vinegar, Dr DC Jarvis, who studied 24 people in the US over two years in the 1950s, found their urine pH became highly alkaline before and early on in an asthma attack (Folk Medicine). On following his suggestion to drink cider vinegar, their urine rapidly returned to its normal acid pH and the asthma attack was less severe. He attributed this to its organic acids and potassium content.

Taking cider vinegar can restore some acidity to the stomach in someone with low levels of their own stomach acid. If you suspect this (for example, because you get indigestion that is not relieved by antacid medication), you might want to try taking cider vinegar either regularly each day to help prevent asthma, or early in an attack to help cure it.

Heal from the inside out

For an adult, put 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar into a glass of water and sip over half an hour. Wait another half-hour then repeat. Or put 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar in soup or salad dressing. For children, use less cider vinegar, depending on their size.

Hay fever

Cider vinegar is a traditional remedy for allergic rhinitis.

Heal from the inside out

Put a tablespoon of cider vinegar into a glass of water and sip the mixture over half an hour. Wait half an hour then repeat. Alternatively, add a tablespoon of cider vinegar to soup or other food.

First aid and infections

Bruises

These are associated with leaking of blood from tiny blood vessels. Applying a solution of cider vinegar to bruises is a folk remedy that could be worth trying to limit bruising and speed recovery.

Quick fix

Use a cotton pad to apply a solution of 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar in a cup of cool water.

Cold sores

These lip sores are caused by reactivation of a Herpes simplex viral infection by such triggers as stress, periods, infection, skin damage, sunshine and fatigue. Cider vinegar is an old home-remedy for this condition.

Quick fix

Try dabbing neat cider vinegar on your lip 3 times a day with a paper tissue or clean cotton pad if you think a sore is imminent.

You could also apply neat cider vinegar to an actual sore, but it might sting.

Ear infection

Cider vinegar is a traditional treatment for infection in the outer ear.

Regular treatment

Add 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar to an egg cup of water and apply with a cotton bud 3 times a day.

Fainting

Simple faints, or the dizziness that warns of them, are often associated with low blood sugar. Eating apples helps prevent this, mainly thanks to their content of the soluble fibre pectin, which helps keep the blood sugar steady by slowing the absorption of sugar from the gut.

Cider vinegar may help too, by slowing the rise in blood sugar after a meal; whether this is due to its acetic acid content or some other constituent is unclear.

Cider vinegar may also help prevent faints in those people – such as one in two over-60s – who have poor digestion caused by low stomach acidity, and who are also ‘fast oxidizers’ of sugar, meaning they feel hungry sooner after a meal than do most people. This is because its extra acidity improves protein digestion, so they can readily produce energy from protein when they have used up their available sugar.

Regular treatment

Eat apples as between-meal snacks, to help maintain normal blood sugar. Include cider vinegar in your main meals.

Sprains

Cider vinegar is said to relieve pain from a sprain, though why is unclear.

Quick fixes

Apply a cider vinegar compress to the affected area – for example, a face flannel squeezed out in a bowl of hot water plus a cup of cider vinegar.

Stings

Applying cider vinegar is a traditional way of treating a wasp sting. A bee sting requires baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) instead. An easy way to remember is ‘V’ for ‘vasp’ stings and vinegar, ‘B’ for baking/bicarbonate and bee stings. One possible mechanism is that it can convert certain toxins in wasp venom to less toxic acetate compounds.

Dousing with vinegar is a folk remedy for most jellyfish stings as it deactivates venom cells. But immersing the stung part in hot water, if available, for four minutes, is even more effective. Don’t put vinegar on a sting from a Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish, though, since researchers say this could make the venom cells that are embedded in the skin discharge more venom.

Quick fix

Apply neat cider vinegar to a wasp or jellyfish sting, using a cotton pad.

Nosebleed

There are isolated reports that cider vinegar helps stem a nosebleed. Also, consuming cider vinegar is a traditional remedy for frequent nosebleeds

Quick fix

To see if cider vinegar helps stop a nosebleed, soak a cotton-wool ball in cider vinegar, lean your head backwards, then put the cotton-wool ball in the affected nostril.

Regular treatment

If you suffer from frequent nosebleeds, try drinking 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water 3 times a day for, say, 3 months.

Athlete’s foot treatment

This fungal infection makes the skin between the toes sore and soggy, and is often picked up in changing rooms or around swimming pools. Anecdotal reports suggest cider vinegar might help.

4 tablespoons cider vinegar

10 drops tea tree oil

1 Fill a large bowl with warm water.

2 Add the cider vinegar and tea tree oil and mix well.

3 Bathe your feet in the water for 5–10 minutes every day to treat an outbreak of athlete’s foot.

Head lice treatment

Cider vinegar does not kill lice effectively but can loosen the glue that sticks louse eggs (nits) to hairs.

250ml/1 cup cider vinegar

silicone-based conditioner (such as Pantene)

1 Add a cup of cider vinegar to a cup of water.

2 Apply to dry hair then leave for half an hour.

3 Wet the hair with water and smooth in lots of the silicone-based conditioner.

4 Comb the hair with a wide-toothed comb, then a fine-toothed one to remove any lice.

5 Now shampoo. Some nits may stay stuck to hairs, so do this wet-combing twice weekly for 2 weeks to catch newly hatched lice.

Coughs and colds

Colds and sore throat

Chewing an apple makes its pectin swell with water and form a soothing and protective layer of gel on an inflamed throat. This explains its use in certain commercial throat lozenges. An apple’s vitamin C might shorten the length of a cold. Another benefit of apples is that fermentation of the pectin in the large intestine releases short-chain fatty acids (such as butyric acid) with ‘prebiotic’ qualities – meaning they nourish ‘good’ or ‘probiotic’ bowel bacteria, such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. These, in turn, have beneficial effects on the body’s immunity.

A traditional remedy for a sore throat is to gargle with dilute cider vinegar; why this might help is unclear, though cider vinegar does have some antibacterial properties.

Quick fix

Put 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar in a glass of water and sip the mixture over half an hour. Wait half an hour then repeat the treatment. If you dislike cider vinegar in water, add it to soup instead.

Regular treatment

Gargle twice a day with a mixture made by putting 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar in a glass of water.

Cough

Vinegar has been used for millennia to fight infections; Hippocrates (460–377 BC), for example, prescribed it for persistent coughs. Apples, too, may help.

Traditional remedies for a cough involve applying some cider vinegar to the chest or pillow at night. By doing this small amounts of organic acid vapour from the vinegar might be absorbed into the body through the nose or skin, but why this might help remains unclear.

Quick fixes

Soak some brown wrapping-paper in cider vinegar and put it on your chest. Cover it with a towel, and relax for 20 minutes.

Alternatively, try sprinkling a little cider vinegar on to your pillow (covered with an old pillowslip!) each night.

General Health

Heavy periods

It’s claimed that cider vinegar can ease heavy periods.

Regular treatment

If you would like to try this unproven home remedy, drink 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water 2 or 3 times a day, or add cider vinegar to your food.

Varicose veins

Cider vinegar is a traditional remedy for aching varicose veins, though why it might work is not clear.

Regular treatment

Dampen a small towel with cider vinegar and wrap it over troublesome veins twice a day, for half an hour each time.

Heal from the inside out

Either drink a glass of water containing 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar 3 times a day, or use cider vinegar as a condiment or in recipes.

Fatigue

Apples supply sugar plus small amounts of B vitamins that may help prevent or treat fatigue. More importantly, they supply fibre, which helps keep blood sugar steady, so helping prevent the low-blood-sugar swings sometimes associated with fatigue.

Theoretically, at least, cider vinegar could help tiredness associated with a lack of sufficient stomach acid. This prevents proper absorption of nutrients and is more likely with ageing and stress.

Heal from the inside out

See if it helps to eat an apple a day, and to take 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar 3 times a day, as a condiment, in a glass of water, or added to recipes.

Cramp

Possible triggers include insufficient dietary calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamins B and C. These are all present in apples, so an apple a day might help.

Cider vinegar is a folk remedy for cramp, possibly because its acidity in the stomach improves calcium and magnesium absorption in the many people who produce sub-optimal levels of their own stomach acid.

Heal from the inside out

Include cider vinegar in recipes or take 2 teaspoons in a glass of water 3 times a day.

Quick fix

Mix 2 tablespoons of vinegar in a cup of warm water, soak a face flannel in this mixture, then put the flannel over the muscle and cover it with a thick towel.

Headache

Vinegar is a traditional remedy for a headache and familiar from the ‘Jack and Jill’ nursery rhyme in which Jack mends his head with ‘vinegar and brown paper’. Why vinegar should help isn’t clear, but some complementary practitioners believe headaches can result from various body ‘buffer systems’ having to work extra hard to keep the blood’s pH (acid-alkaline balance) within its normal tightly controlled range; others believe headaches can result from this pH being at the alkaline end of normal. They recommend various remedies:

Quick fixes

Sponge the head with cider vinegar, or apply a flannel soaked in a pint (600ml) of water containing 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar.

Inhale organic-acid vapour by putting a tablespoon of cider vinegar into a vaporizer and staying near for, say, 15 minutes.

Regular treatment

Drink a cup of hot water containing 3 teaspoons of cider vinegar 3 times a day.

Hiccups

Possible causes are an overfull stomach, due to eating too much; low stomach acid slowing protein digestion; or fatty, sugary food slowing stomach emptying and encouraging fermentation. Cider vinegar is a traditional remedy.

Heal from the inside out

To try preventing frequent attacks, add cider vinegar to your food, or drink a teaspoon of cider vinegar in a glass of water before a meal.

Quick fixes

To try stopping hiccups, very slowly sip the same solution or swallow a teaspoon of neat cider vinegar.

Overweight and obesity

Apples contain the soluble fibre, pectin, which slows the absorption of sugar from the gut. This helps prevent hunger and overeating. Pectin can also interfere with the absorption of fat. One theory is that this is because pectins form a gel in the stomach, which mops up triglyceride fats and stops them being absorbed.

Vinegar has been said for thousands of years to promote weight loss. Early research suggests that if cider vinegar does indeed help, it does so by aiding satiety after eating, by helping the body burn calories faster and by helping compensate for any lack of stomach acid.

Low acidity in the stomach affects around one in two over-60s, and is encouraged by stress and prolonged use of antacid or acid-suppressant medication. Research associates low stomach acidity with poor absorption of many nutrients (including protein, vitamins B and C, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, chromium, selenium, manganese, vanadium, molybdenum and cobalt). It also indicates that poor nutrient absorption can make people want to eat even when they are not hungry. Cider vinegar improves absorption of these nutrients by increasing stomach acidity. And by improving protein digestion, it may specifically help people who are ‘fast oxidizers’ of sugar and tend to feel very hungry within three hours or so of a meal. This is because they can readily produce energy from protein when they have used up their available sugar.

Cider vinegar also aids absorption of fats and vitamins A and E by stimulating the release of bile and pancreatic enzymes into the gut. It also slows the rise in blood sugar after a meal. This not only helps prevent high blood sugar, but also the low-blood-sugar swing that sometimes follows, and which can trigger desire to overeat. Whether its blood-sugar-lowering ability is due to its acetic acid or another constituent is unclear.

Heal from the inside out

It’s worth including apples and cider vinegar in your diet if you would like to maintain or achieve a healthy weight.

Long-term/serious conditions

Diabetes and pre-diabetes

Cider vinegar and apples are proving useful in helping prevent or treat the high blood sugar of pre-diabetes and diabetes. This is important because high blood sugar encourages complications such as disease of the heart, eye and kidney.

Several studies suggest that vinegar may aid blood-sugar control in people with diabetes, and slow the progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes. One possible explanation is delayed stomach emptying. Another, courtesy of Japanese researchers is that acetic acid inactivates intestinal enzymes (disaccharidases) that convert sugars to glucose. This would help prevent blood sugar rising too high or too quickly, so lowering the need for insulin. Other studies suggest that acetic acid helps normalize the release of sugar from the liver, and the production of sugar in the liver from non-carbohydrate sources.

Other studies show that other acidic foods, including lemon juice, yoghurt, traditionally made slowly fermented bread, and kenkey (fermented corn) also reduce expected blood-sugar spikes after meals; some foods even being as powerful as the oral diabetes drug metformin. Frequent consumption of acidic foods is traditional in many countries and may help explain national differences in diabetes rates. Many such foods contain acetic acid, including Japanese sunomono (vinegar-treated vegetables), sumeshi (vinegared rice), potato salad, mustard, vinegared fish and chips, and vinegar-based dressings.

Heal from the inside out

It seems sensible for people with pre-diabetes or diabetes to eat an apple a day and either add cider vinegar to their food (or drink 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar in a glass of water 3 times a day, with meals), or eat other fermented foods or pickled products containing vinegar.

Strokes

A stroke (‘brain attack’) usually results from a blood clot interrupting the blood flow in one of the brain’s blood vessels (thrombotic stroke). Less often it is caused by bleeding in the brain from an unhealthy artery (haemorrhagic stroke).

The main culprit behind a thrombotic stroke is the narrowing of an artery by atheroma. This fatty substance contains low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which is readily oxidized by free radicals, making arteries inflamed, scarred and rough inside. Clots form on roughened artery walls, especially if blood is abnormally sticky. Risk factors include smoking, stress, unhealthy diet, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic infections.

Preliminary evidence suggests that apples and cider vinegar help prevent high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, so it’s worth adding them to your diet.

Heal from the inside out

Include apples and cider vinegar in your daily diet.

High blood pressure

Risk factors include obesity, overactivity of the kidney hormone renin, insulin resistance (pre-diabetes), salt sensitivity, age and genetics, though most often there is no obvious cause. Vinegar can affect several of these factors and preliminary studies suggest it can lower blood pressure.

There are five possible reasons. First, it increases nitric oxide (which relaxes blood vessels). Second, it acts like ACE-inhibitor blood-pressure medication (meaning it inhibits angiotensin-converting enzyme, thereby decreasing production of the blood-vessel constricting hormone angiotensin II). Third, it adds flavour, which helps salt-sensitive people reduce their salt intake. Fourth, adding it to casseroles or stocks containing meat bones releases some of their calcium; this could help the many people who have a low calcium intake, because calcium helps keep blood pressure healthy. Fifth, vinegar could lower blood pressure by encouraging weight loss.

Heal from the inside out

If you would like to try cider vinegar, add it to your food 2 or 3 meals a day, or take a teaspoon in a glass of water 3 times a day.

An apple a day

Some of the goodness from apples can be found in cider vinegar, but in addition, eating an apple a day will benefit your general health and might help prevent certain long-term illnesses. Eat apples unpeeled to get larger amounts of natural anti-inflammatories. Apple juice contains smaller amounts and the best choice is cloudy juice made from crushed whole apples. See pages 13–14 for a recipe for home-made apple juice.

Alzheimer’s

Bronchitis and emphysema

These two types of chronic obstructive lung disease often require ever more intensive treatment. Studies suggest apples may help. Most researchers believe that antioxidants are protective, and some think the flavonol quercetin plays a key role. Other constituents that may help include other flavonoids, pectins and malic acid.

Cancer

Cancer results from mutation of a cell’s DNA which allows the cell to continue multiplying instead of dying due to apoptosis (cell suicide) at its allotted time. Such malignant cells arise repeatedly during ordinary everyday life; most are destroyed by the immune system but a few grow into a cancer. Dietary factors that encourage certain cancers include a lack of anti-oxidants such as the flavonoid quercetin, as these normally mop up the free radicals (overactive oxygen particles) that are continually produced in the body and can damage cells. Several studies suggest that apples have anti-cancer properties and that their antioxidants are partly responsible. Other point to other apple phytochemicals, including pectins, pectin-like rhamnogalacturonans, and triterpenoids. Certainly pectin is broken down by gut bacteria, releasing short-chain fatty acids which raise acidity in the large intestine and thereby encourage apoptosis in colon cancer cells. What’s more, experiments indicate that pectins and pectin-like rhamnogalacturonans have pronounced antimutagenic effects. Some alternative practitioners believe that diet can influence cancer by changing the body’s pH (acid-alkaline) balance. Certainly a cancer itself can be relatively more acidic than normal tissue. But there is currently no scientific evidence to support their view.

Constipation

An unhealthy diet and dehydration are among the most likely causes of constipation. Eating unpeeled raw apples may help, because they are rich in water-soluble types of fibre called pectin and pectin-like compounds. Pectin dissolves in water to form a gel that makes stools softer and easier to pass through and from the bowel. Unpeeled apples also contain cellulose; this insoluble fibre attracts water, which makes stools softer, bulkier and easier to pass, and reduces their ‘transit time’ through the large intestine. Cloudy apple juice contains smaller amounts of pectin which may nonetheless be useful.

Gum disease

Chewing an apple boosts gum health, because repeated jaw movement increases the circulation of blood to the gums, and apples contain phenolic compounds called tannins which, studies suggest, help prevent periodontal (gum) disease.

Heart disease

Coronary heart disease encourages angina and heart attacks. Fatty atheroma collects in coronary artery walls and, when overly thick, the heart muscle no longer gets enough blood to enable it to pump properly. Free radicals in blood oxidize LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in atheroma, producing oxidized LDL cholesterol – the dangerous sort. Free radicals are overactive oxygen particles and are encouraged by a poor diet, infection, smoking and stress. They also trigger immune cells to inflame artery walls. Atheroma and inflammation scar and roughen the lining of arteries, which encourages high blood pressure by making arteries less elastic; they also encourage blood clots that can block an artery and cause a heart attack.

Studies suggest that apples and apple juice help protect against heart disease, possibly thanks to their flavonoids such as quercetin and catechins.

Another possibility is that aspirin-like salicylates in apple peel may, like aspirin (acetyl salicylic acid), discourage heart attacks associated with inflammation of coronary arteries.

Finally, ‘good’ microorganisms degrade the apple fibre pectin in the large intestine, freeing useful short-chain fatty acids such as butyric acid. These acids reduce LDL cholesterol (the potentially dangerous sort) and increase HDL cholesterol (the potentially protective sort). They also inhibit C-reactive protein, a blood marker for inflammation and a predictor of cardiovascular disease.

High cholesterol

Apples can help prevent high cholesterol. People with an unhealthy balance of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, tend to develop a cholesterol-rich layer of atheroma in their arteries. This impairs their circulation. Also, the presence of oxidized LDL cholesterol in atheroma stiffens arteries and encourages high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.

Pectin in apples, and to a lesser extent in cloudy apple juice, absorbs cholesterol and triglycerides in the gut and eliminates them from the body. One way it does this is by increasing the viscosity of the contents of the small intestine, which reduces the absorption of cholesterol from food or bile. Another is that ‘good’ microorganisms degrade pectin in the large intestine, liberating short-chain fatty acids (such as butyric acid) which inhibit cholesterol absorption, suppress cholesterol production in the liver, and boost HDL cholesterol.

Studies using whole apples show that a combination of pectin and vitamin C lowers cholesterol more than does pectin alone; and the combination of pectin and phenols lowers cholesterol and triglycerides more than either alone. The decreases are small but worthwhile. Eating one large apple a day lowers cholesterol by up to 11 per cent. Eating two lowers cholesterol by up to 16 per cent. The cholesterol lowering effect of four a day can equal that of a statin drug!

Some alternative practitioners explain that cholesterol is an acidic by-product of fat metabolism. They say a healthy diet containing plenty of alkaline-forming foods (such as apples and cider vinegar) makes the body better able to prevent atheroma accumulating in the arteries, and to dissolve or neutralize and then eliminate cholesterol.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Possible symptoms include pain, constipation, diarrhoea, passing mucus, bowels never feeling empty, wind and bloating. One in three people sometimes have an irritable bowel; one in five of these have frequent trouble – which is then called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Apples’ soluble pectin fibre may reduce symptoms, partly because it makes stools softer and easier to pass.

Low immunity

Apples may boost immunity. First, their vitamin C is useful for immunity. Second, their pectin fibre is degraded by ‘good’ microorganisms in the large intestine, liberating short-chain fatty acids such as butyric acid. These aid immunity by stimulating production in the spleen of helper T cells, antibodies, white blood cells and cytokines. They also inhibit C-reactive protein, a blood marker of inflammation.

Parkinson’s disease

This results from degeneration of brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter (nerve-message carrier) dopamine. There’s usually no apparent cause but scientists believe genes and brain infection can play a part. Studies suggest an apple a day helps reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s.