Can Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) really help you lose weight? Yes, if you take it with a calorie reduced diet over time, but no if you don’t cut back on how much you eat. There is no scientific data to indicate that it does help with weight loss, and no medical evidence that suggests that it should help promote weight loss. However, if you believe that it can and/or will help you to reduce your appetite and reduce your hunger to cause you to eat less, then it could work for you- but only if you consume fewer calories. ACV by itself has no metabolic function or activity that will help you to burn off excess fat. As the Harvard Medical School Health Letter repots: “In all, the scientific evidence that vinegar consumption (whether of the apple cider variety or not) is a reliable long term means of losing excess weight is not compelling. If you are trying to lose weight, adding ACV to your diet probably won’t do the trick. If you read about a new diet (or other remedy) that sounds too good to be true, a healthy dose of skepticism is usually in order.” The study used by the ACV diet to suggest its use for weight loss also had the subjects eat 250 calories less each day while on the ACV diet. Just eating 250 calories less each day is about 2 pounds of weight loss per month. This is probably a major reason for any reported weight loss while on the ACV diet. However, wanting to believe in something that might cause weight loss may provide the inspiration and motivation to make any diet work. The ACV diet will make its promoters rich, buy it will not make you thinner. Peter Vash, MD, M.P.H.