Transcription
Hello, Health Champions. Today, we're going to talk about what would happen if you drink apple cider vinegar before bedtime. I call the video that because a lot of people have asked, due to some videos suggesting that you should drink it before bedtime. But we're going to cover all possible scenarios so you really understand what would be best for you.
The best time for you depends on the mechanism involved that would benefit you, and that determines the timing. So first, we have to understand what are the different things that apple cider vinegar can do for you. The first thing it can do is to help digestion.
The reason it can do that is that it's an acid, but it is not a very strong acid. If we compare the pH of apple cider vinegar to the stomach acid, hydrochloric acid, then we see that apple cider vinegar has a pH of 2 and 1/2 to 3, and a pH of 2, which is quite acidic, but it's still very weak compared to hydrochloric acid, which is between one and two. If you understand that pH is an exponential scale, then the difference between these two ranges is about 30 to 100 times. So hydrochloric acid is 30 to 100 times stronger.
So, even though apple cider vinegar helps digestion tremendously, it does not actually digest anything by itself. What it does is it primes the digestive tract; it jump-starts the action. In the stomach, there are some cells called parietal cells that make this hydrochloric acid for us, and the apple cider vinegar triggers or stimulates the parietal cells to do that. And then, as a result, an enzyme called pepsin is released that starts predigesting our proteins. This all takes place in the stomach so far.
But then the next step is that we also stimulate the gallbladder to release bile, and then we stimulate the pancreatic enzymes to be released from the pancreas, and that takes place in the small intestine, but it is set up by the action in the stomach. So everything happens in a certain sequence, and one thing leads to another, and the apple cider vinegar can start off this process. The pancreas releases proteases to digest protein further down, now into individual amino acids; it releases lipases to break down fat, which the gallbladder started with the bile; and also some carbohydrate breakdown with amylase.
Apple cider vinegar can be very, very helpful here because a lot of people have something called hypochlorhydria, which means they don't make enough hydrochloric acid—enough stomach acid—by themselves. So apple cider vinegar can help stimulate this process. If you don't have enough, now you can get symptoms like bloating and all sorts of different forms of indigestion. You can get malabsorption, meaning if you don't start the digestive process properly, then you also can't absorb the nutrients properly. In addition to protein, we can also be missing out on iron, calcium, and magnesium. If we don't have enough acid, we can also get acid reflux or GERD—gastroesophageal reflux disease. This is one of the biggest misconceptions out there because people feel the burning and they think they have too much acid, which is usually not the case. Typically, people don't have enough acid, and when we don't break down the food properly, then it just sits there, and now that's what starts bubbling back up and creating the symptoms.
Apple cider vinegar can also help you with blood sugar control because the active ingredient in apple cider vinegar is called acetic acid. By improving the acidity in the stomach, we slow the gastric emptying and we slow down the absorption of carbohydrates and the rate that they turn into sugar, and therefore we're not going to get the blood sugar spikes the same way. In fact, they found that people taking apple cider vinegar with a meal, or before a meal rather, they could get up to 34% more insulin sensitivity. The effects were greater when people with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes that already had some trouble with this. Apple cider vinegar can also improve your fat burning; it can stimulate fat burning.
The reason it does that is that apple cider vinegar, or acetic acid, will increase the activity of AMP Kinase, or AMPK. AMP stands for adenosine monophosphate, and if you notice that sounds a lot kind of like adenosine triphosphate, and the reason is they are kind of similar; they're part of the same process. So we have this little group, this molecule called adenosine, and then that is hooked up to a phosphate group, and this phosphate group—if we have one, that makes it adenosine monophosphate—but we could have more of these hooked up. If we have two, that's called adenosine diphosphate, ADP. But what we're really wanting is the energy currency of the body called adenosine triphosphate, ATP. So the more of these phosphates we have hooked up, the more they act like a high-energy state; it's like we're storing energy in a spring here. And when we have ATP, we are fully loaded to take advantage of that energy, and we can release one of these springs and we can get that energy back; then it turns into ADP. Usually, we just go from ADP to ATP back and forth, but in a really low-energy state, it becomes adenosine monophosphate.
So this AMPK, it monitors the ratio between the very low-energy states of AMP and the high-energy state called the ATP. So if that ratio is off, then if that AMP is relatively high, then that means that we need a lot more energy. So we always have different amounts of AMP, ADP, and ATP, and the body monitors the AMP Kinase monitors these ratios. And if we have a relatively high ratio—higher than normal amount of AMP and lower than normal amount of ATP—that indicates that it's a low-energy state, and apple cider vinegar can shift this a little bit to get this process started to make energy a little bit easier. So therefore, it will tend to increase fat burning to make energy and reduce fat storage. And it can also help a little bit more that apple cider vinegar will reduce appetite by increasing a satiety hormone—a hormone that makes you feel more full, more easy—called GLP-1.
Apple cider vinegar can also help improve your gut health because the active ingredient in apple cider vinegar, like we said, is called acetic acid, and that's actually a short-chain fatty acid that is produced by some gut bacteria, but it is also consumed by other gut bacteria. So by taking some apple cider vinegar, we can also give these beneficial bacteria a little bit of a prebiotic—a little bit of food—to enhance their function. And apple cider vinegar also can contain some organic acids that can increase the function, that can stimulate the beneficial bacteria and inhibit the harmful strains of bacteria. If you get an unfiltered, usually organic but unfiltered, apple cider vinegar, it contains a little bit of stuff, a little bit of cloudiness at the bottom, and that's they call the mother, and that contains some enzymes and and some bacteria that act like probiotics for these bacteria in the gut. So there are many different ways that apple cider vinegar can actually support and improve the overall gut balance.
So now that you understand what apple cider vinegar can do for you, now the timing—when to take it—depends on what you're trying to accomplish. So look at what your primary reasons would be out of the things that we talked about.
If you were to take apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, now it will do the following: it will prime your digestion for later, so even if you're only going to eat like many, many hours later, you're still starting a process that will help your body be ready for it when you eat. And in the meantime, you're going to help clear up any undigested residue, so it's like a cleanup and a detox process, if you will. It will also support the gut biome, like we talked about, and it will kickstart your AMPK and your fat burning and your metabolism and your energy production a little bit. And when you stimulate the pancreas to release enzymes, but there's no food in the digestive tract, then these enzymes are going to sort of be latent for later, but there's also going to be some of that enzymes getting out in the systemic circulation and have a mild systemic effect and start cleaning up various different protein and different kinds of junk.
If you were to take the apple cider vinegar before a meal, you want to allow at least 15 to 20 minutes before the meal, and now you will get enhanced digestion; you will jump-start it, like we talked about. Thereby, you will break down the food better, and it is critical that you complete the first step of breakdown so that the later steps will work better. The better you can do these first steps, the more benefit you're going to get out of the food. So now you're going to absorb the nutrients in the food better; you're going to utilize them better. And we're talking primarily protein and minerals, but all foodstuffs will be better absorbed, so that includes fat and carbohydrate too. And there is a good chance you will reduce your acid reflux if you have issues with that. But like we talked about, one of the huge benefits is that you will reduce your blood sugar spikes; you will improve your insulin sensitivity dramatically.
You can also take it before bed, like we suggested in the title, and then you would improve the following primarily: you would improve your gut health; you would support that; and you would improve your blood sugar control. This would be especially important if you have a tendency to wake up with high blood sugars. If you're insulin resistant or a diabetic, a lot of those people will wake up with very high blood sugar, and by taking apple cider vinegar, you can kind of work on this throughout the night. But what this means also is that if you have a tendency to become hypoglycemic, and maybe you don't even sleep so well, maybe you have unrestful sleep because of your blood sugar swings and you tend to drop low, then that would be a contraindication—that's a strong reason not to take the apple cider vinegar before bed. Because it can help stabilize blood sugar and blood sugar control in some people, it may even improve the quality of sleep. But we do recommend, if you do it that way, that you rinse your mouth after taking the apple cider vinegar and that you wait about 30 minutes to brush your teeth, though, because the apple cider vinegar can kind of soften the enamel, so you don't want to get anything abrasive in there within that 30-minute period.
But now let's talk about the dosage. Also, does it change depending on when you take it? Well, a little bit. So if you take it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, you would typically take one tablespoon, and that's about 15 milliliters for those who prefer the metric system. You would dilute that with at least 8 to 16 oz of water, and in metric that would be 2 and 1/2 to 5 dl. And that's to reduce the potential irritation of the acid on your digestive tract, on your esophagus, and on your teeth.
And then if you take it before a meal, now you would do the same amount; you would take one tablespoon if it's a low-carbohydrate meal, because then you don't really need so much of the blood sugar control. But if it's a little bit higher in carbohydrate, then you would double the amount of apple cider vinegar to get that extra boost to handle the glycemic response. But now here's the thing: if you double the amount, you also need to double the water. So now you would take 16 to 32 oz, or about half a liter up to 1 liter, which is quite a bit. And you want to make sure that you absorb that before you start eating. And now you want to allow at least 20, but even better probably 30 minutes before the meal, that way you have absorbed virtually all of that fluid, so it's not going to interfere with your digestive process.
And if you take it before bed, at bedtime or during the evening, now you want to reduce the amount. And this is the biggest difference because a lot of people suggesting you take it in the evening, they would still tell you to take two tablespoons, and that's going to be a lot for most people. So in the evening, you want to hold back on the amount because you don't need a whole lot, and there also is the potential to irritate the digestive tract, especially if you lie down and you have a tendency for reflux. So you want to take about one teaspoon and work your way up, maybe if you feel you need it, but for a lot of people, one teaspoon is going to be enough, and that's about 5 ml. And if you want to take a little bit more, and if you are prone to reflux, now what you can do is you can take it earlier, so it's not like you have to take it right before bed. If you have your last meal, let's say at 6, and you go to bed at 10, then you just need to allow enough time really to digest the food, and you could take it like 8:00 or 9:00; it's totally fine because you'll still get the benefits—the stimulation that you get from the apple cider vinegar is still going to be there.
And then for a lot of people, their biggest hurdle is that apple cider vinegar is not the tastiest thing they have ever come across. Some people love it, and other people can't stand it. So here are some things that you can do to sort of work with the flavor if that's an issue for you. So first of all, you want to dilute it, like we've talked about, so it's not so intense. You want to use at least 8 ounces of water per tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Then what I often do—I don't mind the flavor terribly, but I think you can make it better—so I often squeeze a little bit of lemon in there as well, and then I put a few drops of concentrated stevia in there, just enough to kind of break up the acidity a little bit. And a lot of people, including me, also like to add sparkling water and a few ice cubes with that. But all of these last things are optional, so that's just things you can try if you want to work with the flavor a little bit.
So what would be the best time for you, then? Well, you look through all the things that we've talked about, and you figure out the biggest reason for you—what is the symptom or the condition or the situation that you would like to address—and then you pick that time, or you do one or more, or you do all of them. Because even if you do all of them, you'll probably just end up taking about 3.3 tablespoons, which would be if you take one in the morning, you eat twice a day, and you take one tablespoon with each meal because you don't eat a ton of carbs, and you take one teaspoon at night; that would make it about 3.3, or right at 50 milliliters. But you also don't want to overdo it because just because something is good in a certain amount does not mean that more is better.
So how much is too much, and what are the risks? Well, you don't typically want to exceed six tablespoons a day, or 90 milliliters. But with what I was talking about, we're about half of that. Some of the risks include that you get an irritation in your GI tract, in your stomach, in your esophagus. And then, like we talked about, what you would do is you dilute it and you reduce the dosage, at least temporarily. I mean, take a little bit less; don't hurt yourself; don't try to force this. Start with a teaspoon if you're suspecting you get something or if you feel even a little bit, and then what happens later on, maybe you can increase. Another risk is that you can affect your tooth enamel; that you can erode it. And again, we want to dilute it, but then when you drink it, you can also use a straw so it doesn't touch your teeth so much. And right after you're done, you can rinse out your mouth with water. Another risk with excess amounts of apple cider vinegar or acetic acid is that you can lose both minerals, especially potassium, but you could also unregulate; you can unbalance some of the other minerals, especially calcium and magnesium, which can lead to bone loss. But again, don't worry if you just keep it to the dosages that I have talked about, like three tablespoons a day.
But I do want to point out one study where they had a girl—a woman—who used 250 milliliters, which is over a cup; it's about 17 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar per day for six years. And at the end of those six years, she had very severe mineral deficiency—potassium deficiency—and she had very severe bone loss as well. But like I said, just because something's good, you don't want to overdo it. But then we want to realize that other vinegar counts too. So if you have a salad and you pour some olive oil and vinegar on that, and you put a couple of tablespoons of wine vinegar on it, now you don't need to add apple cider vinegar during that meal; you've already gotten all the acidity that you're looking for. And there are other things as well, like hot sauce, that could be 30 to 50%, or some cases even higher than that, of vinegar. So if you toss your wings in hot sauce and you eat them, then you might add two or three tablespoons of hot sauce per person if you like it spicy, and now you've already gotten all the vinegar—all the acetic acid—that you need for that meal; you don't need to add any.
Even though I prefer apple cider vinegar, it doesn't mean that the white distilled vinegar doesn't work; the acetic acid in there is the exact same. Now I would prefer apple cider because if it's organic and unfiltered, now you're getting some additional benefit with those enzymes and the probiotics in there. But even with the white distilled, you're going to get 90% of the benefits. So if you feel like apple cider vinegar is kind of pricey to use several times every day, then you could go—if that cost is a prohibitive or very burdensome for you—then go to Walmart and buy that distilled vinegar by the gallon, and you can use these vinegar treatments for next to nothing. If you enjoyed this video, you're going to love that one. And if you truly want to master health by understanding how the body really works, make sure you subscribe, hit that bell, and turn on all the notifications so you never miss a life-saving video.