Drinking vinegar can soften blood vessels? What you really need to do is this...

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"Drinking vinegar can soften blood vessels"

You can often see this view on the Internet: vinegar is an acidic substance that can dissolve fat and calcium in blood vessels. Drinking vinegar regularly can soften blood vessels.

Rumor Analysis

That is not the case.

The vinegar you drink will not directly enter the blood vessels to work, and our body's internal environment will not be easily affected by the acid or alkali from food sources. Even if you drink more vinegar, it will not soften the blood vessels, but may harm your health.

How to keep cardiovascular health is a question that many people are concerned about. In recent years, some middle-aged and elderly people who pay attention to health preservation have been pursuing various methods of "dredging blood vessels". Among them, "drinking vinegar to soften blood vessels" has been popular in life for a long time, and many people try to use this method to maintain blood vessel health. However, is this method really feasible?

Drinking vinegar is useless for softening blood vessels

The reason why some people try to "drink vinegar to soften blood vessels" is because they want to prevent or alleviate vascular hardening. Vascular hardening is actually atherosclerosis, which is a very common chronic disease nowadays. This disease has a high incidence and mortality rate in developed and developing countries. The cause of the disease is the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in blood vessels, which eventually leads to reduced vascular elasticity, hardening, and narrowing of blood vessels. If the plaque ruptures, it will also lead to the formation of blood clots.

Copyrighted stock images, no reproduction is authorized

Atherosclerotic plaques are composed of lipids, inflammatory cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibrous tissue. Therefore, it is not a problem that can be solved simply by softening the calcium and fat in the blood vessels. Besides, the vinegar you drink will first enter the stomach, and then be processed by the digestive tract. It will be neutralized by the alkaline digestive fluid in the small intestine. Only a small amount will enter the blood and will not have any effect. This part of the acetic acid will be metabolized by the liver. In addition, our body has a buffer system that can help us maintain the body's acid-base balance. It will not become acidic just because of drinking vinegar, and it cannot change the pH value of the blood. In other words: the vinegar you drink will not directly enter the blood vessels to dissolve calcium and fat, nor will it change the pH value of the body and blood, and it will not soften the blood vessels.

Drinking too much vinegar may harm your body

Some people drink vinegar in an attempt to "soften their blood vessels", while others drink vinegar simply because they like it. Regardless of the purpose, we must remind everyone: drinking too much vinegar may cause harm to the body.

1. Corrosion of teeth

Teeth are not only one of the important signs of good appearance, but also the basic guarantee for us to eat smoothly. Protecting the health of teeth is very important. However, people who drink vinegar frequently should pay attention. Saliva is one of the most important components in the oral environment, with a pH of 6~7, which has a positive effect on preventing tooth wear. The acidic pH value of edible vinegar in my country is generally between 2.2~3.8, which is highly acidic. If you drink vinegar frequently, the acidic environment of the mouth will cause acid erosion damage to the teeth. In the initial stage of tooth erosion, the enamel surface is only partially demineralized. If the oral environment is restored to neutral at this time, the demineralized tooth surface will remineralize, and will not cause permanent damage to the hard tissue of the tooth; if the teeth are in an acidic environment for a long time, causing the demineralization time to be too long, all the inorganic matter in the enamel is eroded and dissolved, then even if the neutral environment around the teeth is restored, the outer enamel cannot be completely remineralized and restored.

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2. Damage to the esophagus and stomach

Drinking vinegar directly will cause some irritation to the esophagus and stomach, and may damage the esophageal mucosa and gastric mucosa. Drinking a lot of vinegar may also cause vomiting, stomach pain, and even acute gastritis. If you already have stomach problems, drinking a lot of vinegar will aggravate the symptoms of stomach problems and may even cause gastric ulcers. But don't worry too much, most people don't drink too much vinegar!

If you don’t want blood vessels to be clogged, stay away from these bad habits

1. Diet

The taste is too strong, and they like to eat high-fat and high-salt foods, especially foods rich in saturated fatty acids, such as fat, pork belly, butter, etc. Saturated fatty acids are the main risk factor for elevated blood cholesterol, which will increase the level of plasma bad cholesterol and increase the risk of atherosclerosis. If you like to eat salty foods on a daily basis, high salt intake will increase the risk of hypertension, and long-term hypertension can promote the occurrence of atherosclerosis. It is best to control daily salt intake within 5 grams, which is no more than the amount of 1 beer bottle cap (with rubber pad).

Beer bottle cap salt (with rubber pad, no point), about 5 grams Image source: provided by the author

2

Drinking and smoking

Drinking and smoking are both "chronic killers" of health. Frequent drinking will increase the level of triglycerides in the body, thereby increasing the risk of atherosclerosis. A study involving 1,655 young people aged 17 to 24 mentioned that drinking alcohol in young people will accelerate atherosclerosis; the more they drink, the more atherosclerosis increases. And this study also found that heavy smokers have a greater increase in atherosclerosis than those who never smoke, especially women. Quitting smoking in time when you are young can help blood vessels restore health. Smoking is a recognized risk factor for atherosclerosis, which can cause nitric oxide metabolism disorders in the body. Nitric oxide metabolism disorders are an important cause of endothelial damage to the blood vessel wall, which in turn promotes the occurrence of atherosclerosis. In addition, try to avoid secondhand smoke.

3. Lack of exercise

Atherosclerosis is more likely to affect overweight, obese, and big-bellied people. In addition to having an unreasonable diet and heavy taste, these people often lack exercise. Long-term sitting and lying down for enjoyment can also promote the formation of vascular plaques. Studies have shown that exercise can improve blood lipids, regulate the body's oxidative stress response, control inflammatory responses, prevent plaque expansion and rupture, and reverse plaques. It is recommended to perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, such as running, skipping rope, swimming, climbing, yoga, aerobics, etc. In summary, don't expect to soften blood vessels by drinking vinegar. To prevent and control blood vessel blockage, the most important thing to do is: eat a balanced diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat less greasy food, eat less salt, and at the same time quit smoking, limit alcohol, and exercise.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

From the rumor that "drinking vinegar can soften blood vessels", we can see that eating the right food is good for health, but food cannot replace medicine after all, nor can it play the role of treating diseases. If you have a disease, you still need to take medicine as prescribed by the doctor and pay attention to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

References

[1] Sun Changhao. Nutrition and Food Hygiene. 8th edition. People's Medical Publishing House. 2018

[2] Liu Xueshen. Study on the related influencing factors of human tooth enamel acid erosion damage[D]. Southwest Jiaotong University, 2012.

[3]Anderson, S., Gonzalez, LA, Jasbi, P., & Johnston, CS (2021). Evidence That Daily Vinegar Ingestion May Contribute to Erosive Tooth Wear in Adults. Journal of medicinal food, 24(8), 894–896. https://doi.org/10.1089/jmf.2020.0108

[4] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents[M]. People's Medical Publishing House. 2022

[5]https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/alcohol-use-in-young-adults-is-associated-with-early-ageing-of-blood-vessels

[6] Li Xiang, Luo Chunying, Xue Li. Research progress on the effect of smoking on arterial vascular elasticity assessed by ultrasound[J]. Journal of Difficult Diseases, 2018, 17(3): 319-324

[7] Expert consensus on the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis with traditional Chinese and Western medicine (2021)[J]. Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, 2022, 42(03): 287-293.

Author: Xue Qingxin, one of the first nutrition instructors of the National Health Commission, and a registered nutritionist in China

Review｜Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center