From: Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Wed Sep 05 2001 - 21:44:27 MDT
This is the 45'th update of my fly longevity experiments. All bottles
contained 1/4 tsp citric acid as standard. Here I test a variety of
vinegars at a lower 1 teaspoon level this time. Best result was with
balsalmic vinegar, which offered superior survival for the first month.
This vinegar had the darkest colour, and so I presume the highest
phytochemical content. I note that this vinegar is manufactured from grape
juice, and that grape juice has offered survival advantages on several
occasions in the past when I have tested it.
Since in humans potassium depletion is a side effect of excessive
vinegar use, I decided to test the effect of a small nutritional
supplement of potassium. This did appear to restore maximum survival of
white vinegar treated flies to close to control levels. It is interesting
that in a published study, which did not use an added acid, potassium also
improved survival in flies. The next run will test the effect of various
potassium salts.
Run #45 Percent Survival on Day
supplement 4 11 15 20 25 30 36 41 45 50 55 60 67
___________________________________________________________________
control 100 88 76 64 60 56 56 56 48 36 24 8 0
vinegar, apple cider 1 tsp 96 78 74 65 52 35 22 4 4 0 - - -
vinegar, balsalmic 1 tsp 100 100 94 94 89 72 50 44 17 0 - - -
vinegar, malt 1 tsp 100 89 83 72 78 56 39 33 6 0 - - -
vinegar, red wine 1 tsp 100 94 78 72 72 56 44 39 33 6 0 - -
vinegar, rice 1 tsp 100 94 61 56 56 50 22 6 6 0 - - -
vinegar, white 1 tsp 100 75 67 58 42 42 33 17 17 0 - - -
+ KHCO3 1/64 tsp 100 91 82 64 64 45 27 27 27 18 18 0 -
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