Acetic Acid and the Benefits of Vinegar

    Acetic Acid is one of the main components in our popular household item called Vinegar. It is a well-known product for its many health benefits as well as a great ingredient for cooking and cleaning products. In French, "vin" means wine and "egar" means sour which I found interesting considering wine or some other kind of alcohol is what helps make acetic acid into vinegar. It starts with any kind of alcohol, the type of alcohol used is what creates the flavor of vinegar. Hence the flavors of examples like "red wine or white wine vinegar". The alcohol must go through fermentation for a certain period of time that is long enough to create bacteria within the liquid being used. Stored in a dark place, once the bacteria has had enough time to be created within the alcohol, the alcohol begins to turn into acetic acid after stored for a long period of time and having exposed to oxygen it will form this new smell and new liquid which will be the vinegar.

    Every person and article and review has their own opinions on what to believe when it comes to the health benefits or health risks of vinegar. Personally, I have shots of apple cider vinegar twice a day and only as little as a teaspoon because I have always known the health benefits to be great for metabolism and healthy skin. I also know that too much vinegar can cause harm to the body especially the stomach lining as vinegar is very much still acidic (even though it is considered a weak acid on the PH scale). One of the books, I used for this assignment gave one hundred ways apple cider vinegar can be used to benefit both health and beauty, and then I read a recent article published that it is so harmful to the body and that the alternative should just be lemon juice. I feel as though it honestly just depends on personal preference, what you have grown up around in your own life, and that almost everything on this planet has the potential to do some kind of harm so not everything should be feared!