Is apple cider vinegar safe during pregnancy?

Nobody has studied it. We found no randomized trial and no systematic review of apple cider vinegar, or of any vinegar, in pregnant or breastfeeding women. The one vinegar trial whose methods we read left them out on purpose. That 8-week trial of apple cider vinegar in 73 adults with type 2 diabetes listed pregnancy and lactation among its exclusion criteria, next to reflux and stomach ulcer. So the safety question has no trial answer either way, and what follows comes from adults who were not pregnant.

Unsettled. We also found no position on vinegar in pregnancy from any expert body. The absence of a warning here is a gap in the research, and it should not be read as a finding of safety.

Drop in fasting blood glucose against control, mg/dL

The one effect of vinegar with moderate certainty evidence, from an umbrella review. Its full text does not mention pregnancy, and nobody has tested whether the effect applies to gestational diabetes. Source: card ev-acvpg-02 below.

What the trials found

Outside pregnancy, a 2026 umbrella review pooling 19 randomized trials found vinegar lowered fasting blood glucose by 9.40 mg/dL against control (95% CI 6.34 to 12.46 lower), with moderate certainty. The trials were in healthy adults, adults with overweight and adults with type 2 diabetes. The review does not mention pregnancy, so whether vinegar does anything for gestational diabetes is untested.

In a randomized crossover study of 16 healthy young adults, vinegar drunk with breakfast lowered appetite. The authors traced most of that effect to nausea, since tasting vinegar without swallowing it did nothing. That was acute dosing in people who were not pregnant, and how it bears on nausea in pregnancy has not been tested.

Who should be careful

Not for everyone. If you already feel sick, vinegar may add to it. In the 16 healthy adults above, drinking vinegar caused significantly more nausea. If you take vinegar as a drink, dilute it. In a UK case-control study of 309 children, those with dental erosion ate vinegar and fruit more often than those without, which is an association rather than proof of cause.

Tablets are a separate product. After an adverse event was reported with an apple cider vinegar tablet, tests of 8 tablet brands found they varied widely in acidity, acid content and label claims. That is one case, with product data from 2005. A case report links acute pancreatitis in an 84-year-old woman to a newly started weight loss supplement containing apple cider vinegar, and causality was not established.

The warning you may have seen is about juice. The US Food and Drug Administration warns that pregnant women risk serious illness from untreated, unpasteurised juices, and that includes raw apple cider, the drink. Vinegar is a different product, made by acetic fermentation, and the FDA page does not address it.

What expert bodies say

We found no statement on vinegar in pregnancy from any obstetric, dietetic or food safety body we looked for. The European Union refused the label claims that apple cider vinegar helps digestion and keeps bowel movements normal, and it has authorized no claim for apple cider vinegar. None of that is specific to pregnancy.

How we searched

Searched: a local copy of PubMed, queried on 7 October 2026. Vinegar or acetic acid with pregnancy, gestational, lactation or breastfeeding returned 28 hits, and none was about eating vinegar in pregnancy. Further queries on vinegar with injury, erosion and case reports returned 32, on vinegar with potassium or glucose 17, on vinegar with bacteria 2, and on cider vinegar 8. A Europe PMC search for trials of vinegar in pregnancy returned 25 results, and none tested vinegar in pregnant women. We also checked the EU claims register, Retraction Watch and the web.

Included: one trial for its exclusion criteria, one umbrella review, one feeding study on nausea, one case-control study on tooth erosion, two case reports, the FDA juice safety page and the EU register entry.

Excluded: a 2026 trial in polycystic ovary syndrome, which was not about pregnancy, and a trial on urinary stones. We also left out abortion studies in which acetic acid was a drug vehicle, cervical screening with acetic acid, and aggregator pages from web searches.

What we read: the full texts of the diabetes trial and the umbrella review, searched for pregnancy, and the FDA page. Everything else was read as an abstract.

What we could not get: an older report of low potassium and bone loss after years of heavy cider vinegar intake, which had no abstract or free text. A pilot study of vinegar in gestational diabetes mentioned on aggregator pages could not be traced to any publication or trial registration.

What would change this answer

Any randomized trial of vinegar in pregnant women or in gestational diabetes. We found none.
Data on how regular vinegar drinks affect heartburn, reflux and potassium in pregnancy, none of which has been studied.
A position from an obstetric or food safety body, which would at least set out what they consider a sensible amount.

More on this food: apple cider vinegar, apple cider vinegar and blood sugar and apple cider vinegar and digestion.

The food behind this question

Apple cider vinegar: a real effect on one meal, a small one on weight — numbers, evidence and safety

The same question for other foods (pregnancy)

Sources

ev-acvpg-01 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized controlled trial, open label, 8 weeks · n = 73
Exclusion criteria were lack of proper cooperation, BMI more than 35, pregnancy and lactation, insulin injection, and gastrointestinal disorders including reflux and gastric ulcer.
Who: adults aged 30 to 60 with type 2 diabetes in Iran; pregnancy and lactation were exclusion criteria
Effect: no data in pregnancy or lactation
Certainty: Corpus, Europe PMC, ClinicalTrials.gov and web search (2026-10-07) found no trial or review of vinegar in pregnant women.
Frontiers in Clinical Diabetes and Healthcare, 2023 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the full_text
ev-acvpg-02 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · umbrella review of meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials with re-estimated effects and GRADE · n = 19 trials
vinegar intake was associated with a significant reduction in FBG levels in comparison to the control group (MD = −9.40 mg/dL; 95% CI: −12.46, −6.34; p = < 0.001; GRADE = moderate)
Who: adults in 19 randomized trials of vinegar, healthy, overweight or with type 2 diabetes; no pregnancy trials
Effect: FBG MD -9.40 mg/dL (95% CI -12.46 to -6.34); GRADE moderate
Certainty: The full text does not mention pregnancy; whether this applies to gestational diabetes is untested.
Food Science & Nutrition, 2026 (Shahmohammadi et al., umbrella review) · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the full_text
ev-acvpg-03 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized crossover acute feeding study · n = 16
These studies indicate that vinegar ingestion enhances satiety whereas orosensory stimulation alone does not, and that these effects are largely due to poor tolerability following ingestion invoking feelings of nausea.
Who: healthy, young, normal weight unrestrained eaters; not pregnant
Effect: higher nausea ratings and lower appetite after vinegar; tasting without swallowing had no effect
Certainty: Acute single doses; relevance to nausea of pregnancy is inferred, not tested.
Int J Obes (Lond), 2014 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
ev-acvpg-04 · Observational data · case-control study · n = 309
Fruit and vinegar consumption was higher in the erosion group, as was the taking of vitamin C supplements.
Who: 309 age and gender matched children (erosion, caries-active, caries-free), UK
Effect: vinegar and fruit consumption higher in the erosion group
Certainty: Association only, children; supports diluting vinegar and not holding acidic drinks in the mouth.
ASDC J Dent Child, 2000 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
ev-acvpg-05 · Laboratory or animal data · case report with laboratory product analysis · n = 8 products
After an adverse event was reported to the authors, eight apple cider vinegar tablet products were tested for pH, component acid content, and microbial growth.
Who: one adverse event case and eight commercial apple cider vinegar tablet products
Effect: brands varied in tablet size, pH, acid content and label claims
Certainty: Single injury; product data from 2005.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2005, 105(7):1141-4 (Hill et al.) · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
ev-acvpg-06 · Laboratory or animal data · case report · n = 1
We discuss an 84-year-old woman with acute pancreatitis possibly linked to a recently introduced weight loss supplement containing apple cider vinegar.
Who: one 84-year-old woman
Effect: acute pancreatitis possibly linked to an apple cider vinegar supplement
Certainty: Single case; causality not established; supplement, not culinary vinegar.
ACG Case Rep J, 2024 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
ev-acvpg-07 · Position of an expert body · agency consumer guidance · n = —
While most people's immune systems can usually fight off the effects of foodborne illness, children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems (such as transplant patients and individuals with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or diabetes) risk serious illnesses or even death from drinking untreated juices.
Who: pregnant women, children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems
Effect: untreated juice may carry harmful bacteria; FDA advice is to choose pasteurized or treated juice
Certainty: Applies to unpasteurised apple cider juice; vinegar is a different product made by acetic fermentation and is not addressed on this page.
US FDA, What You Need to Know about Juice Safety, page updated 03/05/2024 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section
ev-acvpg-08 · Position of an expert body · entry in the EU Register on nutrition and health claims, non-authorized list · n = —
POL-HC-6625 Apple cider vinegar 1. Helps improve digestion 2. Helps maintain normal bowel movement 3. Normalizes bowel movement 4. Promotes intestinal activity 5. Promotes/contributes to bowel regularity Non-authorised
Who: EU food labeling
Effect: claim POL-HC-6625 status Non-authorized; no apple cider vinegar claim authorized
Certainty: Refused means the evidence did not meet the bar; nothing pregnancy-specific.
EU Register on nutrition and health claims, claim POL-HC-6625, snapshot 2026-09-21 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the dataset

How this page was made. Evidence was extracted from primary sources into cards, every number was re-checked against the source, and the text was written from those cards. Bioma Learn has no human medical reviewer at this time, and we say so rather than invent one. Methodology. This is information, not medical advice.