One of the most widely cited studies suggesting apple cider vinegar might help with weight loss has been officially retracted.
BMJ Group announced the withdrawal of the 2024 paper after a detailed review raised serious concerns about its reliability. The trial, published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, had claimed that small daily doses of apple cider vinegar supported weight loss in adolescents and young adults with overweight or obesity. The findings generated international media attention and fueled a wave of ACV hype.
But closer scrutiny revealed problems with the research. Independent experts could not replicate the results, and reviewers flagged implausible statistical values, irregularities in the raw data, inadequate reporting of methods and the lack of prospective trial registration, a breach of BMJ policy.
The journal’s content integrity team referred the work to statistical specialists, who confirmed multiple analytical errors. As a result, the data were deemed unreliable.
“Tempting though it is to alert readers to an ostensibly simple and apparently helpful weight loss aid, at present the results of the study are unreliable, and journalists and others should no longer reference or use the results of this study in any future reporting,” said Dr. Helen Macdonald, BMJ Group’s Publication Ethics and Content Integrity Editor.
The authors said the errors were honest mistakes and agreed with the decision to retract.
While apple cider vinegar remains a popular wellness trend, this retraction underscores the importance of caution: even widely publicized nutrition claims can collapse under closer examination.