Apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice has become an increasingly popular natural weight loss method, touted by online health publications and influencers alike. Proponents claim it’s a safer alternative to pills and drugs, and it’s also cheaper.
But is there any research backing for these compounds to cause weight loss? Is there any risk to their use? How do real users rate and describe the effectiveness of apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice for weight loss? And what apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice brands are the best?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze medical studies on apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice for weight loss, to give our take on whether this combination is likely to be effective, or if it’s a waste of money.
We’ll feature real user reviews of apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice for weight loss, and pick our top brands for each drink.
Is This Actually Proven to Work?
Both apple cider vinegar (ACV) and cranberry juice have been studied in medical research for their effects on weight loss.
A clinical trial published in the Journal of Functional Foods tested the weight loss effects of 30 milliliters (mL) per day of ACV. This is around 10% of one standard cup. After 12 weeks, those taking ACV lost 8.6 pounds.
Vinegar intake generally is associated with reductions in body weight and cholesterol levels in obese individuals according to a 2009 clinical trial.
Taking whole apple cider vinegar in liquid form is a better choice for those using this compound for weight loss than gummies or pills. As we documented in our article on do apple cider vinegar gummies work, most gummy and pill brands don’t include enough ACV per serving to match the dose used in research studies for weight loss.
Cranberry extract has been shown in two animal studies (source 1, source 2) to have an anti-obesity effect.
Cranberry juice consumption was shown to be associated with lower body weight in a medical review published in the Nutrition Research journal, but we can’t find any studies directly proving that cranberry juice directly reduces body weight in humans.
Overall, we consider the research backing for ACV and weight loss to be much stronger than for cranberry juice, but there is some promising research on both natural compounds.
But how do real users rate this combination for weight loss? We’ll discuss that in the next section.
Real People Try ACV and Cranberry Juice
A YouTube creator named “JustBeingC’Aira” shares her experience using an ACV and cranberry juice for 10 days and includes before-and-after images:
A YouTube creator named Molly Purcell claims to use an ACV and cranberry drink for detox and fat burning:
Will it Cause Side Effects?
We can’t find any clinical trials on the combination of ACV and cranberry juice, so it’s challenging to say for certain whether or not it will cause side effects.
However, we find it unlikely that this drink will cause side effects given that it’s created with whole food ingredients and no unhealthy additives.
Both apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice have been consumed for years, and are safe and non-toxic. There is less risk of synergistic effects with combined whole food ingredients than with concentrated extracts like those used in supplements.
ACV and cranberry juice may interact with medications, so patients may wish to speak with their doctor prior to using this drink for weight loss.
But what ACV and cranberry juice brands are the best picks? We’ll discuss that in the next section.
Our Clean ACV and Cranberry Picks
The most important thing to consider when shopping for ACV and cranberry juice is to choose brands that are free of any unhealthy additives like refined sugar or flavoring chemicals.
Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar is our top ACV pick. It’s certified organic, contains only two ingredients (apple cider vinegar and purified water), and is standardized to 5% acetic acid which is the same concentration as in most medical studies on ACV that we came across while researching this article.
Lakewood Organic Cranberry Juice is our top cranberry juice pick. It’s certified organic, contains only one ingredient (organic cranberry juice), and packaged in glass.
Does ACV Timing Matter?
A YouTube creator named Lacey Baier has a video with over 2 million views that discusses whether the daily timing of ACV matters for weight loss:
Our Clean Weight Loss Picks
There are food-based nutrients which have been shown in medical studies to be effective for weight loss.
Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition to cause 16 pounds of weight loss in 6 months when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline).
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top fiber pick because it's certified organic, provides 7 g of fiber per serving and costs under $1.85 per serving at the time of updating this article.
MCT oil was shown in a meta-study to cause more than one pound of weight loss over 10 weeks. This equates to potential annualized weight loss of 6 pounds per year with less than one tablespoon's worth of MCT oil per day.
Performance Lab MCT Oil is our top MCT oil pick because it's certified organic.
Ginger intake "significantly decreased body weight" according to a 2019 meta-study on ginger and weight loss that analyzed data from 14 clinical trials.
Pique La Ginger is our top ginger product, because it's an organic tea in convenient crystallized form, and all that's needed is to pour the powder into a glass and add hot water.
All three of the products mentioned in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
