Does the Short-Term Use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring Detect Favorable Effects of Vinegar Ingestion at Mealtime in Adults with Prediabetes? A Pilot Trial

Clinical trials suggest that daily vinegar ingestion improves fasting blood glucose concentrations, postprandial glucose excursions, and hemoglobin A1c levels in patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. With the recent commercialization of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technologies, diabetes patients as well as other health-conscious individuals can evaluate the impact of food choices in real-time and make data-driven decisions to improve dietary behaviors. This 9-day, randomized crossover study documented CGM-derived glycemic patterns during vinegar ingestion in adults with prediabetes. Participants consumed two tablespoons of vinegar twice daily with meals for four days or a control tablet each morning for four days in random order. For each phase, fasting blood glucose on day four, average blood glucose across three days, and peak glucose excursion across three days were calculated. Fasting glucose concentrations of participants (n = 10 women; 36.6 ± 15.6 y; 33.9 ± 6.5 kg/m2) averaged 105.8 ± 20.6 mg/dL at baseline. Vinegar ingestion was associated with significant reductions in the mean glucose concentration (−4.4 mg/dL) and the frequency of blood glucose excursions > 140 mg/dL (−10%) in comparison to the control treatment, but fasting glucose concentrations were unaffected. These data suggest that vinegar-induced improvements in blood glucose can be observed in real-time using a CGM device in adults with prediabetes.