The prominent medical publisher BMJ Group has retracted a study that found apple cider vinegar could help people achieve dramatic weight loss.
A press release from the group cited "concerns raised about the quality of the work," as the overarching reason for yanking the March 2024 study, published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health.
The retraction was expected by many nutrition experts, who have long questioned claims that this kind of vinegar could remedy ills including obesity, diabetes, and even cancer.
"The big surprise is why the BMJ accepted the study in the first place," says Marion Nestle, professor emerita of nutrition and food studies at New York University.
"An apple a day may keep the doctor away," Nestle says, "but apple cider vinegar as a superfood? If only."
The study involved 120 overweight or obese people in Lebanon. Those who took daily doses of vinegar for 12 weeks reportedly lost about 9% of their body mass.
When the study came out, BMJ group issued a press release, which helped attract global media attention.
The results gave credibility to an old idea: that apple cider vinegar could improve health.
But some scientists had doubts.
"Upon first glance, the magnitude of effect for weight loss seemed implausible," says Eric Trexler of Duke University, who was one of the scientists who pointed out flaws in the study just weeks after it was published.
The weight loss rivaled what's seen in people taking the latest costly prescription products, like Ozempic and Wegovy.
Trexler says he wishes the study had been retracted sooner.
Scientists notified BMJ of their concern in June 2024, he says, but more than a year elapsed before the journal took action.
That delay, which is common for medical journals, reveals "a pressing need for reform across the academic publishing industry," Trexler says.
Bad news for vinegar?
The retraction is just the latest blow for a product that has been a darling of celebrities and influencers.
Proponents have included celebrities like Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, before he took over the federal agency responsible for Medicare and Medicaid.
Perry and actor Orlando Bloom also became part owners of Bragg Live Food Products, which advertises the health benefits of its apple cider vinegar.
But the celebrity endorsements have been countered in recent years by pushback from scientists. The product has also been buffeted by an influencer scandal that led to the 2025 Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar.
The series is loosely based on Belle Gibson, an Australian influencer who falsely claimed to have brain cancer. Gibson credited natural remedies and a special diet with curing her cancer.
She later admitted lying about her cancer.
Over the past decade, several academic medical centers have publicly questioned the purported benefits of apple cider vinegar.
The University of Chicago, for example, published an explanation of why it doesn't control high blood pressure or cure cancer.
Harvard Medical School challenged claims about weight loss. So did the Mayo Clinic.
A future beyond salad dressing
Despite the scientific fallout, apple cider vinegar may well maintain its popularity in the wellness world.
"I get the sense that it has increased over the last decade or so," Trexler says.
And at least one forecasting group expects the global market to continue growing through 2032, thanks in part because it's believed to offer "various health benefits."
Bragg Live Food Products issued a statement downplaying the retraction, saying the company "never relied on this study to support our acetic acid claims."
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