Vinegar tastes good on salad, preserves your pickles and makes your ketchup zing, but some say it can also help with a number of health conditions.

The food ingredient has been used by humans for thousands of years. Vinegar purchased in the store is essentially water with high levels of acetic acid.

While you may already know vinegar can be a good cleaner, some claim the benefits to consuming vinegar extend into many areas. Here are eight examples of claims that vinegar is effective to help your health.

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1. Losing Weight
WebMD points to some research which seems to suggest apple cider vinegar consumption can turn on the fat burning genes. However, they warn the effect is certainly subtle and not likely permanent.

2. Lowering Blood Glucose for Diabetics
The American Diabetes Association reports research which showed type-2 diabetes patients who took vinegar at bedtime saw a benefit in more stable blood glucose levels.

3. Digestion
Vinegar can help with diarrhea. Readers Digest reported the pectin in apple cider vinegar soothes the intestines.

4. Healing Wounds
Researchers investigating some of the folk remedies of vinegar found that vinegar has antimicrobial properties, but cautioned that there could be many problems with using vinegar for this purpose, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

5. Lowering Blood Pressure
Scientists think the acetic acid in vinegar is able to reduce blood pressure in rats, the Library of Medicine said

6. Preventing Tumors
Some studies show that sugar cane vinegar and rice vinegar may have some effect in preventing tumor growth in test subjects with cancer.

7. Lower Cholesterol
Researchers have shown that rats that intake high levels of acetic acid like that found in vinegar can reduce serum cholesterol.

8. Reduce Risks of Heart Disease
In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who had a higher intake of oil and vinegar salad dressing had a reduced risk of ischemic heart disease.

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