Drinking vinegar will not cause you to lose weight, prevent cancer or heart disease, lower high blood pressure or offer any other health benefit. Vinegar is fine for salad dressings, as a preservative or a household cleaner, but it is not a medicine. One book claims that vinegar helps you to lose weight because oil and vinegar don't mix, so vinegar and body fat won't either. I hope you don't believe that.

Vinegar is about 95 percent water and 5 percent acetic acid. Because it is acidic, it prevents the growth of bacteria in a test tube and is used as a preservative to pickle a wide variety of foods. However, it will not kill bacteria in humans, prevent infection or serve any other health function. Your stomach acid is much stronger than vinegar, so eating vinegar or any other acid food has no impact at all on the acidity of your stomach or any other organ in your body. The only way vinegar will help you lose weight is if you use it as a dressing and eat lots of salads made with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans.