People have been saying that vinegar is good for you for generations. In ages gone by, grandmothers used to wash the children's hair in vinegar to get rid of lice. If you drink it, it's supposed to be even better. People say it moves toxins out of your body, cures fungus on the skin, eases constipation and helps with the common cold.

Vinegar also has a reputation for taking charge of our blood sugar levels, stops us from wanting to eat sugar and gets our appetite down to a healthy level. Some say it also breaks down fat in the body. You will also find that there are scientific studies that seem to indicate that vinegar helps promote that full feeling while we are eating, which hopefully means we stop eating when we are full.

Considering that there is a stack on ailments that vinegar is supposed to help with, there is not a great deal of scientific research into its benefits or otherwise. And the studies that have been done are a little on the small side.

Many advocates of vinegar as a cure-all say that it contains vitamins, enzymes, complex carbohydrates and minerals. Scientific research says that is true buy vinegar contains these elements in only very small amounts. There was a small scientific study a few years ago that involved a group of people taking two tablespoons of vinegar twice a day before meals. Another group did not have vinegar in any form. After a month the people who took the vinegar had an average weight loss of two pounds.

Scientists say that if you want to try vinegar as a weight loss aid, just having it on your salads is enough to do the trick, there's no need to actually drink it. If you want to have it as a drink you can mix it with water or some juice. If you take vinegar as a drink twice a day, you should probably drink it through a straw because it can damage the enamel on your teeth.

The ingredient that gives vinegar its distinct taste and smell is acetic acid. It helps your body break down food and absorb nutrients. In one study, mice that were fed acetic acid were less prone to growing body fat than other mice.

You can buy pills containing vinegar. Some manufacturers of these vinegar supplements claim that it actually flushes fat from the body but the supplements might not work because they don't contain acetic acid. There is evidence that vinegar lowers your potassium levels, and can react to some medications so if you want to start taking vinegar, see what your doctor says first.

The bottom line is that there is some scientific evidence indicating that vinegar could help us with weight loss. These studies are not really big enough to give us an indication of vinegar's effect on the population as a whole, but if you have a salad with dressing twice a day, where's the harm?