HERBAL VINEGARS FOR BONE HEALTH
Vinegar alone, as a natural remedy, is most commonly used to improve digestion (mainly apple cider vinegar). More recently, its use for reducing glucose spikes has been popularized in social media wellness circles. But the use of vinegar has a long history in folk herbal traditions. Using vinegar as a medium (menstruum) for extracting and preserving constituents from plants is an ancient practice, and one that you’re probably familiar with; “fire cider,” apple cider vinegar infused in a number of herbs including chiles–hence the “fire” name–and taken to support the immune system during cold & flu season, is a widely used natural remedy. Herbal vinegars are also a good alternative to alcohol-based extracts (tinctures), safe for kids and anyone who can’t have alcohol.
While any kind of herb can be extracted in vinegar, one of the categories of herbs that’s well suited for vinegar extraction is nutritive herbs. Nutritive herbs are rich in vitamins and trace minerals, and include many leafy greens. Some of the best known in this category are nettles, dandelion, oat straw, raspberry leaf, alfalfa and horsetail, which are naturally rich in Vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, as well as calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, boron, manganese and silica. One of the traditional uses for these by herbalists is for bone health formulas, although there are no studies to back these claims. Nevertheless, most of these plants have a long history of use, are considered safe, and most can be consumed as foods. A spoonful or two of vinegar infused with these plants can be a practical way to boost daily nutrients.
Herbalists commonly turn to nutritive herbal vinegars for women in menopause–the added nutrients can complement a comprehensive dietary and lifestyle plan to support bone health during this time. In menopause, bone mineral density declines due to a drastic drop in estrogen, the hormone that plays the largest role in regulating bone mineral density. Note that I highlight complement because food, resistance training and not smoking are the primary key factors proven to impact bone mineral density the most. But these nutritive vinegars are great for everyone, really, including kids during puberty, when bone mineral density accumulation is at its highest.
All of the nutritive plants are also commonly taken as infusions (water extractions), but I like taking them in vinegar form because I find it more convenient, it tastes good, is easy to make, and easy to incorporate into my daily routine. I use it to make salad dressing that I can consume daily with food.
Nutritive herbs are mild in taste so you can play with combining them with culinary herbs like garlic, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, and chili peppers for a more flavorful vinegar. If you want to give it a try, see here for basic things to know. There’s no exact formula, and there’s a lot of room for experimentation depending on how concentrated you’d like your herbal vinegar to be. You can play with the amount of plant material and length of time you let it sit before straining. Click the button for more tips.