Drinking pickle juice might sound gross, but there are several reasons to consider it. It is hydrating and may help with muscle cramps, blood sugar, and gut health, among other benefits.
Athletes have been sipping this briny beverage for years. Experts didn’t know why pickle juice was good to drink after exercising. They just knew that it seemed to help relieve cramps.
They were right. It appears to help with muscle cramps, plus more.
Here’s a look at 10 healthy benefits of drinking pickle juice.
According to an older study from 2010, dehydrated healthy men experienced faster relief from muscle cramps after drinking pickle juice. It took about 1/3 cup of pickle juice to have this effect. Pickle juice relieved cramps more than drinking the same amount of water, and it also helped more than drinking nothing at all.
This could be because the vinegar in pickle juice may help with rapid pain relief. Vinegar may help stop nerve signals that make tired muscles cramp. A 2024 study of individuals with cirrhosis of the liver, a condition that causes painful muscle cramps, found that just sips of pickle brine when drunk at the start of cramps lessen the severity of the cramps without causing serious side effects.
For most people, drinking water for hydration after a workout is fine. Water is probably all you need if you’re exercising moderately or for an hour or less. But it’s a different story if you’re exercising hard, exercising for longer than an hour at a time, or exercising in hot climates.
Drinking something with sodium and potassium can help you get hydrated faster. Sodium is an electrolyte that you lose when you sweat. Potassium is another electrolyte lost in sweat.
Pickle juice contains a lot of sodium. It also has some potassium. After a sweaty or lengthy exercise session, sipping some pickle juice can help your body recover to its normal electrolyte levels more quickly.
Watching your sodium intake or on a low sodium diet? Be sure to check with your doctor and dietitian about pickle juice before drinking it.
If you’re trying to lose weight, you’re probably not too psyched about consuming high calorie sports drinks. It’s still a good plan to replace lost electrolytes after exercising hard, for a long time, or in hot weather. Plus, if your muscles are cramping, you’ll probably want relief as fast as possible.
Pickle juice to the rescue! Pickle juice contains no fat, but it can have some calories. It can have anywhere from zero to 100 calories per 1-cup serving. The amount of calories depends on what’s in the pickling solution.
If you already eat pickles regularly, you don’t have to spend money on sports drinks. Even if you don’t eat pickles, you can still choose pickle juice as a budget-friendly alternative to more expensive workout beverages.
You can also buy commercially prepared pickle juices marketed as sports drinks. They cost more than drinking what’s left in your pickle jar when all the pickles are gone. The upside is that you’ll know from reading the nutrition label what you’re getting in each serving.
Pickle juice has significant vitamin C, a key antioxidant. Antioxidants help shield your body from damaging molecules called free radicals.
Everyone gets exposed to free radicals, so having plenty of antioxidants in your diet is a good idea. Vitamins C and E also help boost your immune system function, among other roles they play in your body.
Pickle juice contains lots of vinegar. Research suggests that consuming a little bit of vinegar every day may help you lose weight.
An early study from 2009 found that vinegar may reduce body weight, BMI, and body fat mass in adults with obesity. After 12 weeks, study participants who had consumed either about 1/2 ounce or 1 ounce of vinegar daily had lost more weight and fat than those who hadn’t consumed any vinegar.
A 2024 study of adults with overweight and obesity found that three doses of apple cider vinegar a day for 4 to 12 weeks were associated with significant reductions in weight, body mass index, waist and hip circumferences, and body fat ratio.
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Lots of people have type 2 diabetes and don’t know it. Unregulated blood sugar can cause serious health problems such as blindness, heart damage, and kidney damage.
The vinegar in pickle juice can help your belly stay healthy, too. Vinegar is a fermented food. Fermented foods are good for your digestive system. They encourage the growth and healthy balance of good bacteria and flora in your gut.
Choose dill pickle juice for more potential benefits. Dill has quercetin in it. Quercetin has
Dill has many other traditional medicinal uses. These include treating:
- indigestion
- stomach cramps
- gas
- other digestive ailments
Even if it makes your lips pucker when you drink it, a little bit of pickle juice might make for sweeter breath.
Bacteria in your mouth can cause bad breath. Both dill and vinegar have antibacterial properties. This potent combination may help freshen your breath after you drink pickle juice.
Instead of dumping that leftover liquid from your pickle jar down the drain, consider saving it for future use.
You might even find yourself enjoying the salty flavor. Things can taste different after you exercise than they usually do. So even if pickle juice doesn’t sound amazing right now, it may hit the spot after your next workout.
Even if you don’t ever love the taste, you may decide that drinking pickle juice is worth it for the health benefits.