Apple cider vinegar was made famous by D.C. Jarvis in his book Folk Medicine, which was published in 1960. He worked as a doctor among the rural people of Vermont (USA), and in the course of his work discovered that the use of simple remedies such as apple cider vinegar, seaweed, and honey was often effective in treating common health problems.

He observed the chronic ill-effects of the diet of modern America, with its excessive sugar, wheat, and animal protein, and claimed that it was a diet ‘against the fundamental laws of life.’ He stated that the general effect of these foods was to alter the pH balance of the tissues and urine, which produced a physiological state conducive to disease. The solution was to avoid the consumption of industrial foods altogether, and to eat more like the unsophisticated people he lived among who still enjoyed robust health.

He specifically recommended the replacement of wheat with rye, sugar with raw honey, a reduced intake of meat, and the avoidance of pasteurised milk. As a general health tonic, apple cider vinegar was combined with honey in equal measures of one or two teaspoons and sipped in water (always dilute).

Apple cider vinegar could also be used to treat more specific conditions. These include obesity, migraine, sinusitis, neuralgia, chronic fatigue, and dizziness. It could also be used as a gargle for treating sore throats. Dr. Jarvis also notes that if you give pregnant animals and humans a regular dose of apple cider vinegar it prepares them for an easy birth, as well as producing healthy, vigorous, above-weight offspring. Potassium, he claimed, is the most important nutrient, and apple cider vinegar has this in abundance along with other trace minerals.¹

As far as obesity is concerned, the loss of weight that is associated with regularly taking apple cider vinegar is gradual, occurring over one or two years, indicating a broad metabolic effect. The reader should remember that this strategy is part of a sugar-free, wheat-free regime, and there was plenty of exercise in farming life in Vermont, as there once was in other famous places where people lived a long healthy life such as Okinawa and the Greek Islands.

It also needs to be pointed out that before the 1940s there was no widespread pesticide use. The presence of these ‘obesogenic’ residues in processed food, along with other synthetic chemicals that interfere with the hormonal system, is a new problem to consider when seeking to lose weight or regain health.²

Apple cider vinegar is also antimicrobial in activity and can help with treating dysbiosis caused by low stomach acid, food poisoning, diverticulosis and other bowel disorders. It can also be used topically against infections such as impetigo, ringworm and shingles, also for treating cuts, burns and purulent sores. You can apply it neat to reduce smarting and itching, also as a rub for varicose veins or night sweats.³

Honey can be combined with apple cider vinegar in order to make an old-fashioned medical syrup known as oxymel, but it needs to be organic apple cider vinegar, the one with the sediment in the bottle. To make oxymel the ancients added water and salt to honey before reducing it to a syrup, and you can use it as a vehicle for herbs such as garlic, sage, and thyme, in order to make it into a cough medicine.

Dr. Jarvis called this drink it switchel or honegar, and said that the older generations of farm labourers drank it much as we would drink carbonated energy drinks today. The minerals that honegar contains assist the body in maintaining its pH balance as well as promoting cleansing, thereby assisting in the treatment of conditions such as rheumatism, gout, and arthritis, and not just to enhance performance in sport or farm work.¹

It would also help children who are addicted to sugary, carbonated drinks who are at risk of developing fatty liver and diabetes. This renown health drink, could be useful in a transition that would include other new habits such as a eating a wholefood diet, the drinking of clean water, as well as doing regular exercise outside the home in the fresh air, away from gadgets.

Disclaimer: this article is intended for the purpose of general education only, and is not a substitute for diagnosis, treatment advice, or a prescription that is given in a consultation with a qualified physician.

References:

1.         Jarvis DC. Folk Medicine. London: Pan Books; 1960.

2.         Colborn, Dumanoski, Myers. Our Stolen Future. Dutton Adult; 1996.

3.         Bartram T. Bartram’s Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine. New York: Marlowe & Company; 1998.