Acetate turns up fat-burning genes in liver cells, but only when a specific switch called AMPK is working — if we turn off that switch, the effect goes away.

Acetic acid might help the body burn fat better by turning on certain fat-burning genes in liver cells — at least in mice and lab-grown human cells.

Acetic acid helps liver cells burn fat and stop making too much fat, but only if a key switch in the cell called AMPKα is turned on. If that switch is blocked, acetic acid doesn’t work anymore.

Eating acetic acid—like what's in vinegar—might help improve metabolism in mice by turning down certain genes in the liver that make sugar and fat.

In cow liver cells, a substance called acetate boosts a protein that helps burn fat, and the more acetate you add, the stronger the effect — but this only happens when another key energy-sensing switch is turned on.

In cow liver cells, a chemical called acetate seems to turn off a key fat-making enzyme by flipping a molecular switch, and this only happens when another switch (called AMPK) is working.