
The crisp, tangy scent of apple cider is so evocative of autumn it's hard to imagine drinking it in May. So now's the perfect time to synch your vinegar to the season and try some apple cider vinegar. With all the health benefits vinegar provides, it's a great way to get your "apple a day."
1. Apple cider vinegar can lower the blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, in which the body's ability to produce insulin to regulate blood sugar is compromised. But lowered blood sugar is a benefit even to people without diabetes. Elevated blood sugar is a factor in a variety of other chronic diseases as well. This benefit has been shown in studies and unlike some others, isn't just an old wives' tale.
2. Apple cider vinegar may help stimulate weight loss, although don't look for that "eat anything you want/never exercise" elixir they promise on late-night TV. Lowering blood sugar and insulin levels can help with that. But vinegar is also one of those ingestibles that, if eaten with a high-carb meal, can make you feel fuller and eat less.
3. Apple cider vinegar may have some healthy heart benefits. It's unclear because the studies were done in rats, but there's evidence that it may lower cholesterol and triglyceride and prevent LDL cholesterol from oxidization, which leads to heart disease. It may also lower blood pressure, a factor in both heart disease and strokes.
4. Apple cider vinegar may offer some protection against cancer but that hasn't been proven. Again, the studies that showed it can shrink tumors and kill cancer were done with rats.
5. Apple cider vinegar has a high level of antimicrobial acetic acid, so vinegar has been used for centuries as a preservative for its bacteria-killing properties. For the same reason, it's also been used to clean wounds. Apply some to that cut, scratch or sunburn to take advantage of its healing properties. It could play a role in helping to stave off infections.
6. Apple cider vinegar could help give you healthy, glowing skin. Many people have sworn it's the secret to clearing up conditions like rashes, psoriasis, acne and eczema, and even get rid of warts. Tell the wicked witch to get some, pronto!
Apple cider vinegar most likely has no special benefits that many other vinegars don't; all vinegars are a healthy food with no known side effects. So there's no point in buying it as a tablet or supplement and waiting for wonders to occur. But tossing a spoonful on your salad along with a little olive oil in place of that gloppy ranch or thousand island dressing IS going to do wonders for your health.
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Migratory beekeeping involves trucking millions of bees across the U.S. to pollinate different crops, including avocados and almonds. Timothy Paule II / Pexels / CC0
<p>According to <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/beekeeping-how-to-keep-bees" target="_blank">From the Grapevine</a>, American avocados also fully depend on bees' pollination to produce fruit, so farmers have turned to migratory beekeeping as well to fill the void left by wild populations.</p><p>U.S. farmers have become reliant upon the practice, but migratory beekeeping has been called exploitative and harmful to bees. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/health/avocado-almond-vegan-partner/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported that commercial beekeeping may injure or kill bees and that transporting them to pollinate crops appears to negatively affect their health and lifespan. Because the honeybees are forced to gather pollen and nectar from a single, monoculture crop — the one they've been brought in to pollinate — they are deprived of their normal diet, which is more diverse and nourishing as it's comprised of a variety of pollens and nectars, Scientific American reported.</p><p>Scientific American added how getting shuttled from crop to crop and field to field across the country boomerangs the bees between feast and famine, especially once the blooms they were brought in to fertilize end.</p><p>Plus, the artificial mass influx of bees guarantees spreading viruses, mites and fungi between the insects as they collide in midair and crawl over each other in their hives, Scientific American reported. According to CNN, some researchers argue that this explains why so many bees die each winter, and even why entire hives suddenly die off in a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.</p>Avocado and almond crops depend on bees for proper pollination. FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels / CC0
<p>Salazar and other Columbian beekeepers described "scooping up piles of dead bees" year after year since the avocado and citrus booms began, according to Phys.org. Many have opted to salvage what partial colonies survive and move away from agricultural areas.</p><p>The future of pollinators and the crops they help create is uncertain. According to the United Nations, nearly half of insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, Phys.org reported. Their decline already has cascading consequences for the economy and beyond. Roughly 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on bees and other pollinators for free fertilization services worth billions of dollars, Phys.org noted. Losing wild and native bees could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-bees-crop-shortage-2646849232.html" target="_self">trigger food security issues</a>.</p><p>Salazar, the beekeeper, warned Phys.org, "The bee is a bioindicator. If bees are dying, what other insects beneficial to the environment... are dying?"</p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
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