It's cheap and may not be glamorous, but the vinegar you put on your salad can protect against heart disease and cancer, and even help us age more slowly.
Vinegar not only tastes great on chips, dresses up a salad and makes glassware sparkle, but it is also a storehouse of important vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids and enzymes and has a host of amazing healing powers.
New research means doctors and scientists are calling it one of the 'functional' foods - foods that are not only nutritious but help prevent and protect against disease.
Follow this guide for the type that's right for you.
Apple Cider
This vinegar, available in supermarkets and health food shops, is the most potent and health-giving of all vinegars.
It contains the same important nutrients as apples - including pectin, beta-carotene and potassium - plus enzymes and amino acids formed during the fermentation process.
Its high potassium content encourages cell, tissue and organism growth, and the enzymes help boost chemical reactions in the body.
It also contains calcium, which maintains healthy bones, helps transmit nerve impulses and regulates muscle contraction, and iron, essential for healthy blood. Magnesium is another component, with many beneficial effects on the body, especially the heart.
Low potassium levels can make us feel permanently tired, and potassium-rich foods help prevent age-related illness.
It also enables the stomach to produce hydrochloric acid, which aids digestion. We lose acid as we age, but apple cider vinegar can help prevent common digestive disorders as we get older.
Red wine
Red wine vinegar has been used for centuries as a cure-all, and its benefits are now being confirmed by scientific research.
It has even been credited with helping the Roman army succeed.
Latin historian Spartianus apparently recorded that vinegar mixed with water was the drink that helped soldiers survive battle, as well as the various alien climates they encountered.
Medical experts agree that the healthier you are, the younger your body stays. Not only is red wine vinegar full of anti-ageing antioxidants, it is cholesterol free, sodium free, and fat free.
Without doubt it can help stave off age-related ailments such as heart disease and cancer.
Like wine itself, red wine vinegar is flavanoid-rich and can help lower your cholesterol levels, which again lessens the risk of heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure.
Vinegar acts as a substitute for salt, and a low fat, low sodium diet is important for a healthy heart as we get older.
Red wine vinegar adds flavour to low-fat, heart-healthy foods such as beans, vegetables, fruit, pasta and whole grain cereals.
Balsamic and herbs
In Italian 'balsamico' means balm and in previous centuries, balsamic vinegar was used as a gargle, tonic and air purifier against the plague.
Traditionally it was made from Trebbiano grapes allowed to ripen until they are supersweet on the hills around Modena, Italy.
High in antioxidants and potassium, it also makes a particularly tasty vinaigrette.
Its sweet, full flavour means it can even be used over vanilla ice cream.
Thyme vinegar
This vinegar contains iron, magnesium, silicon and thiamine and acts as an antiseptic and general healing tonic. It can subdue coughing and relieve intestinal ailments.
Oregano vinegar
This is both antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. It kills bacteria, viruses, fungi and other germs and fights cold and flu.
Sage vinegar
Recommended for the gum disease gingivitis and sore throats, due to its natural astringent and antiseptic properties.
Rosemary vinegar
This contains extra calcium, magnesium and potassium, all of which help balance fluids surrounding nerves and heart tissue. Rosemary may also help to lower blood pressure.
Ten more therapeutic uses
1. Heal burns: To minimise inflammation and swelling, apply apple cider vinegar straight out of the bottle to burns. It should also help alleviate smarting and soreness and prevent blisters.
2. Clear congestion: Inhale the vapour from a steaming pot of water containing several spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar.
3. Lose a headache: For a tension headache, dampen a cloth with herbal vinegar, put it on your forehead and lie down. For migraine, mix equal parts of vinegar and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Lean your head over the pan and inhale for 75 breaths.
4. Soothe a sore throat: Gargle with a 50-50 solution of warm water and vinegar.
5. Relieve sunburn: Apply cold vinegar compresses to sunburned skin to relieve discomfort and prevent blisters. antiseptic properties. (Pregnant women should avoid it.)
6. Stop hiccups: Sip a glass of warm water mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar.
7. Swat insect stings: Make a paste from vinegar and cornstarch and apply directly to insect bites or bee stings, but not wasp stings.
8. Alleviate athlete's foot: Rinse feet several times a day with plain, herbal or apple cider vinegar. The acid content of the vinegar helps stop fungus growth and relieves itching.
9. Fight off night sweats: For menopausal night sweats, or sweats caused by flu, try sponging yourself down with apple cider vinegar before going to bed.
10. Avoid morning sickness: Drinking a glass of water containing a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, first thing in the morning, should alleviate early pregnancy nausea, and is safe for the baby.
No comments:
Post a Comment