You have probably heard that oil and vinegar dressing is a better dieting choice than Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing. Like me, you probably assumed it was better for your weight loss efforts because of a lower fat content. Well, that may be true, but new evidence from Japan also gives you another reason to top your salads with the dynamic duo.

Vinegar, long used in folk medicine internally and externally, contains acetic acid, which is now believed to help break down fat accumulation. In a study just published in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, (you didn’t know such a Journal existed, did you?), a guy named Tomoo Kondo seems to have proven that a component of vinegar might be your friend in the war against fat.

Here’s the research: He took some rats and fed them a high fat diet. He also gave some of them acetic acid, which is found in vinegar. The rats getting the acetic acid gained ten percent less body fat than the other rats.

The process works like this: We have genes that regulate enzymes that oxidize fatty acid.  When these genes are activated, they can suppress fat from accumulating in the body. The genes are turned on by acetic acid.

Granted, the study was done on fat rats and you are not a fat rat. You aren’t even a *f.a.t. rat. You are a person. But, unlike a lot of science’s rodent studies, this one should be easy to experiment with on your own at home. I say make yourself some of this yummy vinegar dressing and eat some once or twice a day on your salads without changing anything else about your dieting and exercise efforts. Measure your fat after a month and see if there’s a difference! Report back on your findings!