Apple cider vinegar, which is unappetizing to drink on its own, has somehow become a wellness wonder. It can do everything, from helping you detoxify your body to lowering your blood sugar to being a secret weapon for melting belly fat. At least one of those claims might have been based on bad science.
The study at the center of the claim that apple cider vinegar could help with weight loss was initially published in March 2024 in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. On September 23, 2025, BMJ issued a retraction of that paper, which stated that sipping diluted apple cider vinegar every morning helped overweight teens and young adults shed an astonishing 13 to 17 pounds in just 12 weeks.
It stated that even their blood sugar and cholesterol levels appeared to be in perfect order.
That Study Saying Apple Cider Vinegar Helps With Weight Loss? Retracted.
The study quickly spread across the internet and was touted as the new gospel by the TikTok and Instagram wellness influencer set. There are probably millions of people across the world who started raw-dogging the abhorrently flavored liquid and wondering why they weren’t losing as much weight as the teens in the study.
That’s because it was all too good to be true.
After peer scientists and BMJ’s own integrity team took a closer look, they found the study’s statistical data lacking. Something wasn’t adding up, as much of the data contained “implausible values.”
Participants, who were mostly between 12 and 25 years old, may not have even been randomized properly. Some were still growing and may not have been proper candidates for observing weight loss. The authors didn’t even register their clinical trial beforehand, a huge no-no in the scientific community.
Experts also criticized the study for its lack of transparency. There is no detailed breakdown of the participants’ diets, nor confirmation of their lifestyle habits that may have contributed to the weight loss.
The study claimed that drinking apple cider vinegar could help shed pounds, yet provided no evidence that apple cider vinegar was even the primary driver of that weight loss. It’s a mess.
To their credit, the authors agreed to the retraction, chalking the flaws up to honest mistakes. However, it serves as a valuable reminder of why science relies so heavily on peer review and why the results of one study do not necessarily lead to significant shifts in thinking or procedure.
Ideas and study findings need to be rigorously tested by multiple teams across the world again and again before they can be entirely accepted as accurate enough to be practically applied in the real world, especially if the study is claiming that a common pantry item is actually a miracle drug that will help you shed pounds faster than any shot of Ozempic or gastric bypass ever could.
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