Not only is vinegar good for descaling kettles, cleaning windows and pickling onions, but it seems that it could help you to keep the weight off, too.

An old housewives’ tale has it that cider vinegar is good for the waistline. The supermodels Cindy Crawford and Heidi Klum seem to be on to it too and have been known to take a swig of vinegar before a meal, believing that it helps them to maintain their figures. Researchers in Japan have now found some evidence that vinegar does, indeed, appear to have a fat-burning effect after all.

Before you rush out to buy a bottle of Sarson’s, it is worth noting that the scientists carried out their study on laboratory mice rather than on human beings. Nevertheless, they found that when the mice were fed a high-fat diet along with vinegar, they developed up to 10 per cent less body fat than mice that were fed a high-fat diet and just water. It seems that the acid in vinegar — acetic acid — switches on genes that make certain fat-burning enzymes spring into action, helping to suppress the accumulation of body fat.

What’s more, two other studies have shown that vinegar-taking mice also had lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure compared with those on water. Somewhat tantalisingly, Tomoo Kondo, from the Central Research Institute in Handa, Japan, reveals that further research, this time on people, also looks promising. It seems that subjects who were given 15ml of vinegar daily lost fat, particularly around their stomachs.

Research has also shown that it takes the edge off appetite by slowing the speed at which our stomachs empty. This means that you probably eat less during a meal and feel full for longer after it, so you are less likely to snack in between meals. Thankfully, you need only about four teaspoons of vinegar to slow down stomach-emptying — an amount that can be found in a generous serving of French-style salad dressing. Lemon juice, which contains citric acid, has a similar effect, and it is likely that lime juice does as well.

The natural acids known as lactic and propionic acid, produced during the fermentation of sourdough breads, have also been shown to make people feel more full for longer and to reduce the rate of digestion compared with other breads, making Mediterranean-style diets, which often feature salad with a vinegar-based dressing and sourdough bread, particularly good for your waistline.

The bottom line is that adding vinegar, lemon or lime juice to your meals will do no harm and may help a bit in the battle of the bulge. Just don’t think that you will lose much weight by sprinkling extra vinegar on your chips.

If you have a nutrition question, e-mail amanda.ursell@thetimes.co.uk

Natural fat-burners

Adding a tablespoon of chilli sauce such as Tabasco, or mustard, to your meals has been shown to speed up the metabolism by up to 15 per cent for two hours after eating.

Green tea contains a supernutrient that reduces fat tissue in animals.

Some scientists reckon that by drinking two litres of very cold water you will burn off an extra 70 calories. That is a lot of water: it is safer to burn off the equivalent calories with a brisk 20-minute walk. Research suggests that having between 200mg and 600mg of caffeine (2-6 cups of filtered coffee) about 30 minutes before aerobic exercise increases the amount of fat that is broken down from our body stores to fuel working muscles.

Ephedra, also known as ma huang, is a herb that contains ephedrine, which is similar in structure to amphetamines and is said to speed up the metabolism — but it also raises blood pressure and can trigger irregular heartbeats, so it is banned in the UK and in America.

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