
Ever since Goli took the entire world by storm in 2019 with the “World’s First Apple Cider Vinegar Gummy,” the ACV Gummy Cosmos has been expanding at light speed.
We’ve counted at least 20 brands of Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies out there by Feb 2021, with more doubtless on the way.
With a wide variety of ACV Gummies to choose from, how do you decide?
Why would you intend to take an Apple Cider Vinegar gummy in the very first place?
Do they even do anything?
Don’t despair!
We got you within the Gummy Galaxy. Take our hand even as we wander through the Gummy Orchards like some sort of Johnny Gummyseeds, exploring this new frontier…
WHAT IS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR?
Apple Cider Vinegar is a vinegar made from (you guessed it) apple cider.
Apple cider is distinct from apple juice in that cider is less refined and very minimally processed. Basically, you merely take your apples, crush’em up, squeeze out most of the liquid, and viola! Apple Cider.
Apple cider is generally unfiltered and unpasteurized, which is really a crucial point along the way of earning ACV.
HOW IS APPLE CIDER VINEGAR MADE?
Vinegars are essentially super-fermented concoctions made from whatever original juices were involved. The fermentation process has two steps:
First, the natural sugars in the cider are became alcohol by yeasts, in the same way that beer or wine are fermented. Cider will ferment all Don Cristo Salts on it’s own if you allow it to, due to naturally-occurring yeasts present on the apple skins.
Secondly, once the sugars have already been transformed into alcohol, different yeasts and bacteria further metabolize the alcohol into acetic acid, which provides vinegars their sour tanginess, and is apparently the magic ingredient that gives vinegars their potential health benefits.
This whole process, the transmutation of sugars into alcohols into acetic acid, is accomplished by way of a fascinating collection of microbes called The Mother.
WHAT IS THE MOTHER?
The Vinegar Mother is where the magic happens. The Mother is what’s called a Symbiotic Culture of Yeast and Bacteria, and it’s basically a collection of various beneficial micro-organisms that interact, sharing nutrients and metabolizing each other’s by-products.
If you’re familiar at all with Kombucha, it is a similar process, at least at the beginning.
In the beginning of the fermentation process, there are always a few different yeasts and bacteria within The Mother.
Interestingly, a thorough analysis of the fermentation process using organic apples vs. conventional apples found that there are more several types of bacteria within the cider made from organic apples than conventional ones.
Vinegar Mother
mom?
Since the alcohol percentage increases, the microbial makeup of The Mother changes, until it’s pretty much entirely acetic acid bacteria left, which finishes the vinegarization process.
The result of this beautiful dance of microbes is a potent concoction of organic acids, flavonoids, polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals.
WHAT EXACTLY IS IN APPLE CIDER VINEGAR?
The primary active ingredient in ACV is acetic acid, which can be responsible for all the potential benefits that ACV might hold.
Acetic acid is present in all vinegars, not only ACV. It’s mostly produced at the ultimate stages of the fermentation process, when it’s just the acetic acid bacteria left standing.
Apple Cider Vinegar, and vinegars in general, usually contains about 4 or 5% acetic acid by volume.
Additionally, ACV contains some other bioactive ingredients, either originating in the apple cider itself, or as products of the fermentation process: polyphenols including flavinoids like quercetin, vitamins B1, B2, B6, and C, some minerals like potassium and iron, and possibly a trace amount of amino acids.
WHY DO PEOPLE DRINK APPLE CIDER VINEGAR?
Spoonful of ACV
open wide
Topically applied Apple Cider Vinegar for treating infections dates back at least to the Old Testament, and the practice of drinking ACV extends back at least as far as good ol’Hippocrates, who administered it for coughs, among other things.
Drinking Apple Cider Vinegar had a little renaissance in the 1820s, but it’s only within the last few couple of years it has become something of a craze, carrying out a 2009 study on the potential weight-loss benefits of adding ACV to your diet, which we’ll cover a little more in depth later on.
THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF ACV
On the list of claims made about the potential benefits of supplementing with Apple Cider Vinegar, the primary ones are gut health, weight loss support and blood sugar levels regulation. ACV is also saturated in antioxidants, and can be considered a probiotic food.
We’ll look at a number of the studies below.
It’s important to see that, while there has been some promising clinical studies, they’ve often been limited in dimensions or completed with animal subjects, which makes it hard to draw firm conclusions regarding the actual benefits of ACV.
And much like pretty much all supplements, Apple Cider Vinegar isn’t currently approved by the FDA for any particular use, and they haven’t evaluated any claims.
STUDIES ON APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
The most famous study is the aforementioned 2009 Japanese study of 175 obese volunteers, who got either 0, 15, or 30 milliliters of Apple Cider Vinegar per day for 3 months while on a low calorie diet and exercise regimen. After 3 months, the subjects given 15ml or 30ml of ACV had lost on average 2.6 pounds and 3.7 pounds set alongside the placebo group.
The same scientists who directed that study also unearthed that giving rats acetic acid changed the gene expression and regulation of genes responsible for fat burning.
A 2005 Swedish study of 12 people unearthed that eating bread with vinegar led to lower glucose and insulin responses compared to just eating bread, and helped increase feelings of satiety (feeling full).
And a 2017 systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that vinegar will help regulate blood sugar levels response after meals: “The findings claim that vinegar can be effective in reducing postprandial glucose and insulin levels, indicating maybe it’s considered as an adjunctive tool for improving glycemic control.”
Again, these studies by themselves are very interesting, but without further research, they don’t really indicate that ACV can reliably produce these effects or that ACV should be taken with the intention of treating or preventing any condition!
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR GUMMIES VS. LIQUID
Apple Cider Vinegar Liquid vs Gummies
most of the gummies to the dancefloor
The largest reason to take Apple Cider Vinegar gummies instead of liquid ACV? The taste, hands down.
Apple Cider Vinegar tastes crazy. Especially when you’re doing a direct shot.
The other thing is that liquid ACV is extremely acidic because of the acetic acid, and over time you may do harm to your tooth enamel or to the sensitive tissues in the mouth area and throat.
You can dilute liquid ACV in a glass of water to simply help with the taste and the acidity.
(If you’re looking for a good liquid ACV to test, we recommend Bragg‘s.)
Orrr, you may take ACV as a gummy!
HOW ARE ACV GUMMIES MADE?
ACV gummies may be produced in several ways: either with liquid ACV, or with dehydrated Apple Cider Vinegar powder.
There are various DIY recipes online which use liquid ACV + gelatin. These recipes demand using 1/2 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar to make between 20 and 30 gummies, which means that each gummy winds up with about 1/3 of a tablespoon of ACV: you’d have to at 6 of these per day to have 2 tablespoons of ACV.
Apple Cider Vinegar powder may be made several different ways. The most frequent method is to mix ACV with maltodextrin and drying it. Pure vinegar powder may be made by freeze-drying or by spray-drying vinegar.
Dehydrating ACV into a dust, instead of using liquid, means you can pack much more in to a gummy!
would be the potential benefits the same?
Currently, there haven’t been any studies on dehydrated ACV specifically, let alone gummies, so we can’t say for certain that it’s the same.
But it appears as though the primary ingredients, acetic acid, the vitamins, etc. should all remain intact through the dehydration process if it’s done right.
what else is in acv gummies?
One of the best reasons for having gummies is that they give endless opportunities to incorporate extra, synergetic ingredients!
Most commonly included with ACV gummies are B vitamins, especially B12 and B6. Some brands take the chance to pack in several superfoods like beetroot and pomegranate.
All of the Apple Cider Vinegar gummies that we recommend are manufactured with pectin instead of gelatin, although there are some gelatin-based gummies out there.
Pectin is a polysaccharide that’s naturally occurring in lots of fruits, including apples! It’s actually what gives jams and jellies their jelly-ness, and is often used, alongside tapioca, for vegan gummies.
But Goli, for instance, says that two of the gummies, which each contain 500 milligrams of concentrated ACV, “provides slightly more than the one tablespoon of the recommended dose of Apple Cider Vinegar.”
This can vary a little between brands, with respect to the exact nature of the dehydrated ACV they use within their gummies, but the rule of thumb is apparently that 1,000 milligrams of ACV = about one tablespoon of liquid ACV.
So for instance, the most truly effective 3 gummies within our list below all have 500mg of ACV per gummy, so you’d desire to take 2 to 4 of the gummies daily if you intend to approximate 1 or 2 tablespoons of ACV.
Second, we focused on brands that we trust to be mindful in formulating and manufacturing their gummies. Because supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA, it’s important to complete your due diligence in researching and selecting brands that are trustworthy.
We’ve picked our five favorite top-quality Apple Cider Vinegar gummies, based on the ingredients, the amount of ACV, how much sugar they contain, if they’re organic, the taste, and if we trust the brands making them:
Goli’s ACV gummy is first-rate from start to bottom: with 500mg of ACV per gummy, certified Organic by Oregon Tilth, vegan, Non-GMO, and a luscious pillowy texture with an ideal balance of sweet and sour.
Garden of Life is a serious supplement brand, stocking the shelves of health-food coops over the land since 2000, when the initial founder decided to only eat a diet consisting of foods available during biblical times. Hence “Garden of Life.”
USDA Certified Organic, non-GMO, and vegan, these gummies come from an organization with a rigorous scientific and health-conscious philosophy.
And by Organic Queen we’re not only talking about these ACV gummies, we’re also talking about the actual organic queen herself, Alicia Silverstone. MyKind Organics is the brainchild of Alicia Silverstone, and she partnered with Garden of Life to bring top-of-the-line ingredients to gummy vitamins, fit for the vegan queen herself.
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