As a geneticist, I spent years learning one habit before anything else: read the methods before you believe the headline. Apple cider vinegar is the perfect test case. In 2024 a small trial claimed a daily spoonful helped young people lose 6 to 8 kg in 12 weeks, and it went everywhere. In September 2025 the journal retracted it. So does apple cider vinegar help weight loss at all? Here's what's left once the bad study is taken out.
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General information, not medical advice. If you have diabetes, reflux, a stomach condition or take regular medication, talk to your GP before adding vinegar to your routine.
The viral study, and why it was pulled
The trial was published in March 2024 in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. It enrolled 120 overweight or obese adolescents and young adults in Lebanon, split them into four groups (5, 10 or 15 mL of apple cider vinegar a day, or a placebo) and followed them for 12 weeks. The vinegar groups reportedly lost 6 to 8 kg and dropped 2.7 to 3.0 BMI points. The authors called it a "promising antiobesity supplement" with no side effects.
Numbers that big from a teaspoon or two of vinegar should make anyone suspicious, and they did. Within weeks, independent researchers pointed out that the four groups were almost too similar at the start, in age and BMI, to have come from genuine random allocation. Others noted there was no trial registration and no CONSORT flowchart (the standard diagram that shows who joined, who dropped out and why).
On 23 September 2025 the journal retracted the paper. The notice said the authors' analyses could not be replicated, multiple errors were found, and the dataset showed patterns inconsistent with random allocation, with improbably small p-values for the number of people involved. The authors put it down to honest mistakes but agreed to the retraction. The publisher asked journalists to stop citing the findings.
So the most-shared apple cider vinegar weight-loss study no longer counts as evidence. If a reel or a product label still quotes "6 kg in 12 weeks", it's quoting a retracted paper.
What the remaining research says about apple cider vinegar and weight loss
Take that trial out and the picture gets much smaller, but it doesn't go to zero.
The older Japanese trial. The study most often cited before 2024 is Kondo and colleagues (2009). Obese Japanese adults drank a beverage containing 15 mL or 30 mL of vinegar, or a placebo, every day for 12 weeks. Body weight, BMI, visceral fat area, waist and triglycerides were all significantly lower in the vinegar groups than in the placebo group. The differences were modest, in the range of a kilogram or two, not six to eight. Worth knowing: the research was run by a vinegar manufacturer, and it used a general vinegar drink, not apple cider vinegar specifically.
The pooled evidence. A 2025 meta-analysis in Nutrients combined 10 randomised trials with 789 adults who were overweight or had type 2 diabetes. Daily apple cider vinegar was linked with small reductions in body weight, BMI and waist, mostly over trials of 12 weeks or less and at around 30 mL a day. A 2026 umbrella review of ten vinegar meta-analyses put the average weight difference at about 1 kg.
One kilogram over a few months is real, but it's roughly what you'd get from skipping one biscuit a day. It's a nudge, not a fat-loss tool.
How could vinegar do anything at all?
The main active ingredient is acetic acid. The best-supported idea is that vinegar taken with a carb-heavy meal slows how fast the stomach empties, which can blunt the blood-sugar rise afterwards and may help some people feel full a little longer. That's also why the effect seems to depend on taking it with food, not on a "fat-burning" property of the vinegar itself. Some animal research suggests acetic acid changes how fat is stored, but that hasn't been shown convincingly in people.
The honest limitations
- Small, short trials. Most studies are a few dozen people per group for 12 weeks or less. Nobody knows if the effect lasts.
- Blinding is hard. Vinegar has a strong taste and smell, so many participants can probably tell whether they got the real thing.
- Reviews can carry old errors. Meta-analyses completed before the retraction may have included the Lebanese data. When a big trial is pulled, pooled results built on it need to be checked again.
- Industry funding. Some of the key early work was run by vinegar companies. That doesn't make it wrong, but it's worth knowing.
The cautions nobody puts on the label
Your teeth. Apple cider vinegar is acidic, and acid softens tooth enamel. Sipping it neat, or several times a day, is the worst way to take it. If you use it, dilute it well, drink it with a meal, consider a straw, rinse with water afterwards and wait before brushing.
Your throat and stomach. Undiluted vinegar can irritate the throat, and it can make reflux worse for some people. Never take it neat or as a "shot".
Slow stomach emptying. In a small 2007 pilot study of people with type 1 diabetes and gastroparesis (a condition where the stomach already empties too slowly), 30 mL of apple cider vinegar a day slowed emptying even further, which can make blood-sugar control harder. If you have diabetes, especially if you use insulin, speak to your doctor first.
What I'd actually do (practical takeaways)
- If you like it, use it as food. A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a salad dressing or a big glass of water with a carb-heavy meal is a reasonable, low-cost habit. If you're shopping for one, any plain apple cider vinegar will do. The "mother" makes it cloudy, but there's no good human evidence it adds a weight-loss benefit.
- Skip the gummies and shots. Most gummies contain far less acetic acid than the trial doses, often with added sugar. You'd be paying for the label.
- Protect your teeth. Dilute it, take it with meals and use a reusable straw if you drink it.
- Put your effort where the effect is bigger. Protein at every meal, fibre from whole foods (or psyllium husk if you struggle to get enough), regular strength training and a protected sleep window will each do more for your waistline than vinegar ever will. I've covered the same pattern with greens powders and detox teas: the hyped product is usually the smallest lever.
A simple way to use it: sharp yoghurt dressing
Whisk together 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 3 tablespoons Greek yoghurt, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon olive oil, a pinch of salt and some cracked pepper. Toss it through shredded cabbage and grated carrot, or spoon it over grilled chicken. You get the vinegar with a meal, plus a protein boost from the yoghurt, with no shot glass involved.
The bottom line
Does apple cider vinegar help weight loss? Slightly, maybe, and only alongside meals. The spectacular study that made it famous has been retracted, and the remaining trials point to about a kilogram over a few months. It's fine as a salad dressing. It's not a strategy.
If you want to know which levers actually matter for your body, start with my free Biotype Guide. It takes about 10 minutes and shows you where to focus first.
Sources
- Abou-Khalil R, Andary J, El-Hayek E. Apple cider vinegar for weight management in Lebanese adolescents and young adults with overweight and obesity: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. BMJ Nutr Prev Health 2024;7(1):61–67. Retracted September 2025. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2023-000823
- BMJ Group. BMJ Group retracts trial on apple cider vinegar and weight loss (2025). bmjgroup.com · Retraction Watch coverage: retractionwatch.com
- Kondo T, Kishi M, Fushimi T, Ugajin S, Kaga T. Vinegar intake reduces body weight, body fat mass, and serum triglyceride levels in obese Japanese subjects. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 2009;73(8):1837–43. doi:10.1271/bbb.90231 (PubMed 19661687)
- Castagna A, et al. Effect of apple cider vinegar intake on body composition in humans with type 2 diabetes and/or overweight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutrients 2025;17(18):3000. doi:10.3390/nu17183000 (PubMed 41010525)
- Shahmohammadi F, et al. Vinegar consumption and health: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Food Sci Nutr 2026;14(5):e71849. doi:10.1002/fsn3.71849 (PubMed 42110393)
- Hlebowicz J, et al. Effect of apple cider vinegar on delayed gastric emptying in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus: a pilot study. BMC Gastroenterol 2007;7:46. doi:10.1186/1471-230X-7-46 (PubMed 18093343)
