A mouse study suggests vinegar - or its main ingredient acetic acid - may alleviate ulcerative colitis, a condition that causes ulcers, abdominal pain and other symptoms.
Millions of people around the world have ulcerative colitis - an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) where there is chronic or recurring immune response and inflammation of the colon or large intestine.
The condition - which causes ulcers, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms - is similar to another IBD called Crohn's disease, except Crohn's affects the whole digestive tract.
Although the causes of ulcerative colitis are not well understood, research suggests gut bacteria may play an important role.
Now, a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and led by Jilin University in Changchun, China, describes how vinegar appears to suppress inflammatory proteins while also increasing beneficial bacteria in the guts of mice.
The researchers carried out their investigation after learning of a previous study that had suggested vinegar - used in traditional medicine - might be a remedy for ulcerative colitis.
For their study, the researchers gave vinegar and its main ingredient acetic acid to mice chemically induced to develop symptoms of ulcerative colitis. They administered the substances by putting small amounts in the animals' drinking water.
The results showed that either substance significantly reduced symptoms of ulcerative colitis in the mice.