1. Vinegar intake reduces body weight, body fat mass, and serum triglyceride levels in obese Japanese subjects
Tomoo Kondo, Mikiya Kishi, Takashi Fushimi, Shinobu Ugajin, Takayuki Kaga Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2009 Aug;73(8):1837-43. doi: 10.1271/bbb.90231. Epub 2009 Aug 7.
Acetic acid (AcOH), a main component of vinegar, recently was found to suppress body fat accumulation in animal studies. Hence we investigated the effects of vinegar intake on the reduction of body fat mass in obese Japanese in a double-blind trial. The subjects were randomly assigned to three groups of similar body weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference. During the 12-week treatment period, the subjects in each group ingested 500 ml daily of a beverage containing either 15 ml of vinegar (750 mg AcOH), 30 ml of vinegar (1,500 mg AcOH), or 0 ml of vinegar (0 mg AcOH, placebo). Body weight, BMI, visceral fat area, waist circumference, and serum triglyceride levels were significantly lower in both vinegar intake groups than in the placebo group. In conclusion, daily intake of vinegar might be useful in the prevention of metabolic syndrome by reducing obesity.
2. Acetic acid bioproduction: The technological innovation change
Giulia Merli, Alessandro Becci, Alessia Amato, Francesca Beolchini Sci Total Environ. 2021 Dec 1;798:149292. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149292. Epub 2021 Jul 28.
Acetic acid is an organic acid of great importance globally and the demand of this product is currently increasing. The production of this acid has consequently aroused more and more interest over the years, especially for more sustainable processes. From a biological point of view, acetic acid can be produced by acetogenesis using inorganic substrates like CO2 or CO (with acetogenic bacteria) and aerobic fermentation (with acetic acid bacteria or fungi). With the aim of investigating the progress of technological innovation, the methodology applied by this review was an analysis of the international patents with the Espacenet platform, which ensured a worldwide invention overview. Another criterion was the selection of a precise period of time, from 1990 to 2020. A patent review is able to create an overview of the inventions designed for the real scale implementation, providing a whole picture of the state of the art of the technological innovation change. In addition, the most representative works of literature, that consider the influence of operating conditions (T, pH, oxygenation), have been analysed for each process. The present review, with an innovative approach focused on the technological innovation change, highlighted the ongoing interest for acetic acid bioproduction by acetogenic and acetic acid bacteria. The number of patents related to acetic acid bacteria was consistent also in the past years, but recently the interest is moving forward the utilization of genetic engineering (36% of the patents) and new substrates, like agriculture waste (26% of the patens), responding to circular economy principles. On the other hand, the acetic acid production by acetogenic bacteria is most recent, with over the 90% of the patents developed in the last 10 years. In this case the interest is mainly focused on the use of synthesis gas as substrate, that could increase the process sustainability.
