Background and objective: Apple vinegar is a fermented product prescribed for hypertension in Persian medicine. This study aimed to evaluate the short-term effect of oral administration of apple vinegar on systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, and heart rate in healthy individuals.
Materials and methods: This study was conducted on 40 healthy people. On test day, control group drank 200 ml water 4 h after breakfast, while test groups drank 200 ml water containing 22, 28, and 34 g apple vinegar. Blood pressure was measured just before intervention and also after intervention every 15 min for 2 h. Heart rate measurement was done before and after intervention. Pulse pressure was calculated as difference of systolic and diastolic blood pressures every time.
Results and conclusion: Our results showed no significant relationship between consumption of apple vinegar and systolic blood pressure. In the test group administered 22 g apple vinegar, pulse pressure and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly after 75 min. According to linear mixed model, changes in systolic blood pressure score were not significantly affected by groups, but it was significantly affected by time (p = 0.037). In addition, interaction of time and low-dose apple vinegar group for diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure were significant (p = 0.005 and p = 0.008, respectively). Higher amounts of apple vinegar showed no significant effect. This study revealed that apple vinegar could decrease diastolic blood pressure and pulse pressure in healthy people in short-term use. Considering there is no side-effect for apple vinegar by the studied amounts and also its potential in modulation of blood pressure, evaluation of its effects in hypertensive patients is recommended for further studies.