Does apple cider vinegar help the liver, or with kidney stones? What the research does and doesn't show

The evidence doesn't support apple cider vinegar for fatty liver or kidney stones. No human trial we've found has tested it for liver health at all — only mouse studies exist. For kidney stones, the one human trial that measured it directly found apple cider vinegar made no significant difference to the urine chemistry that predicts stone risk.

What the evidence doesn't support

It doesn't support apple cider vinegar as a way to improve fatty liver, and it doesn't support drinking it to prevent or dissolve kidney stones — no human trial has tested either use directly to a positive result. What exists for the liver question is animal research only; what exists for kidney stones is one small human trial with a null result.

What the trials found

For the liver: we haven't found a single human trial of apple cider vinegar and liver health, fatty liver or liver enzyme markers. What exists is animal research — for example, a 2025 study gave mice a high-fat diet alongside daily apple cider vinegar powder for 12 weeks and reported the vinegar group had less weight gain, smaller liver fat deposits, and lower liver enzyme (ALT and AST) elevations than the high-fat-diet group without it, alongside changes in gut bacteria populations. That's a finding in mice on an experimental diet, given the vinegar by gavage rather than as a diet choice — it hasn't been tested in people, and animal metabolic studies frequently don't replicate in human trials.

For kidney stones: a randomized crossover trial gave adults who had never formed a kidney stone one of four beverages — apple cider vinegar, coconut water, lemon water or orange soda — for a week each, with a washout period between, and measured 24-hour urinary citrate, pH and volume (markers linked to stone risk). Apple cider vinegar produced no significant change in any of the three measures. Lemon water and coconut water both significantly increased urinary citrate; apple cider vinegar did not.

We haven't found any human trial testing whether apple cider vinegar dissolves an existing kidney stone once it's formed. The trial above tested prevention-related urine chemistry in people without stones, not dissolution of a stone already present.

Questions people ask

Is apple cider vinegar good for fatty liver?

No human trial has tested that question. The only supportive findings come from a mouse study on an experimental high-fat diet, which doesn't establish what apple cider vinegar does for a person's liver.

How do you take apple cider vinegar for fatty liver?

There's no human-trial dose to point to, since no human trial of apple cider vinegar and liver health has been run. Anything more specific than that would be a guess.

Can apple cider vinegar cause kidney stones?

The one trial that measured related urine chemistry in people without existing stones found no significant change from apple cider vinegar, in either a stone-risk-reducing or stone-risk-increasing direction.

Can apple cider vinegar dissolve kidney stones?

We haven't found a human trial testing that. The trial described above measured urine chemistry in people who don't have stones, not what happens to a stone that's already formed.

When to talk to a doctor

Fatty liver, chronic kidney disease and kidney stones are diagnoses that need monitoring by a doctor, and apple cider vinegar is not a treatment for any of them. If you've been told you have fatty liver, kidney disease, or a history of kidney stones, talk to your doctor about management before adding any new supplement — and mention it if you do, since acidic drinks and supplements are sometimes relevant to existing kidney or liver conditions.

Related reading: apple cider vinegar side effects, who should not take apple cider vinegar, and apple cider vinegar and diabetes: what the research does and doesn't show.