Is vinegar good for your stomach?

The stomach is a digestive organ in the human body. A good diet is helpful to the health of the stomach. Eating a proper amount of vinegar can promote appetite and help digestion. However, patients with stomach problems should try to eat less vinegar, especially those with damaged gastric mucosa such as gastric ulcers. Eating vinegar may aggravate the damage to the gastric mucosa, so you should pay attention to this aspect. In addition, you should not drink vinegar on an empty stomach.

Can I drink vinegar if I have a bad stomach?

Doctors remind that patients with stomach problems should try to drink less fruit vinegar. Patients with stomach diseases such as gastric ulcers have their mucus barrier on the surface of the gastric mucosa damaged, and the gastric mucosa is eroded by the digestive enzymes and gastric acid in the gastric juice for a long time. If they drink a lot of fruit vinegar, it will not only corrode the gastrointestinal mucosa and aggravate the ulcer disease, but the vinegar itself is rich in organic acids, which can cause the digestive organs to secrete a large amount of digestive fluid and increase gastric acid, thereby aggravating the ulcer and causing stomach pain and other uncomfortable symptoms.

If patients with stomach diseases such as gastric ulcers must drink fruit vinegar, they should pay attention to two points: first, do not drink more than 20 ml of concentrated vinegar juice per day; second, try not to drink it on an empty stomach. It is best to drink vinegar diluted with boiled water.

In addition, people with gastric ulcers and excessive stomach acid should not drink fruit vinegar. Fruit vinegar is highly acidic and long-term consumption will have a certain corrosive effect on the gastric mucosa. Therefore, people with bad stomachs, especially those who already have gastric ulcers, should drink less or no fruit vinegar. People with healthy stomachs should not drink more than 250 ml of fruit vinegar per day, and it is best to drink it after meals. Eating some soda crackers while drinking fruit vinegar can reduce irritation to the stomach.

1. Do not drink vinegar on an empty stomach

No matter how strong your stomach and intestines are, it is not suitable to drink vinegar on an empty stomach, so as to avoid stimulating excessive secretion of stomach acid and damaging the stomach wall. Drinking vinegar between meals or one hour after a meal will be less irritating to the stomach and intestines and aid digestion.

2. Vinegar drinks may not necessarily help you lose weight

Drinking vinegar to lose weight was once popular. The argument was that vinegar could improve the body's metabolism and prevent fat accumulation. However, nutrition experts said that there is currently no definite research to support this claim. Some vinegar products, such as fruit vinegar drinks, contain a lot of sugar to enhance the taste, and the calories are not low. When purchasing, pay attention to whether sugar is listed in the ingredient list, or the calories and carbohydrate content on the nutrition label. It is doubtful whether drinking vinegar can help you lose weight.

3. “Vinegar can stimulate appetite” is not suitable for everyone

The summer heat can make people lose their appetite, so eating some cool, sour dishes can stimulate appetite. One easy way to do this is to season it with vinegar. Nutritionists recommend that chronic disease patients with poor appetite and elderly people with deteriorating sense of taste should eat a moderate amount of vinegar to regulate appetite and improve eating habits. However, for people with normal gastrointestinal function, eating more vinegar may not necessarily increase gastric acid secretion and promote appetite.