I’ve watched over the past year as a drink called Kombucha has become more and more popular within my group of friends. Most of them drink it because the bottle tells a story that all but promises freedom from sickness of any kind. They also say that it makes them feel better.
From the GTS Kombucha website:
“In 1995, founder GT Dave’s mom, Laraine Dave, had been diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer with a trajectory of illness known to move quickly to the lymph and bones. When she was diagnosed, doctors held out little hope for her given the aggressive type of cancer and its advanced stage. But to the surprise of everyone, her cancerous cells were found to be dormant with no metastasis. Her physicians were baffled and asked what she was doing that others in her situation were perhaps not doing. The only thing she could think of was that she had been drinking homemade Kombucha every day for the last couple of years.”
Anecdotal evidence is never convincing to a skeptic, so I’ve remained skeptical about Kombucha’s health providing properties even though several of them profess its wonders.
First, what is Kombucha? It is a fermented, sweetened tea (either black or green is normally used) containing what’s technically known as a zoogleal mat of various symbiotic bacteria and yeast species. I prefer to call the mat “the octopus” in reference to the way it attacks your face when drinking straight from the bottle. Most people refer to it simply as a “mushroom”.
Research has identified the bacteria as belonging to the genus Acetobacter, which oxidize sugars or alcohols metabolizing acetic acid as a bi-product. These bacteria are used widely in the food industry, especially in the production of vinegars from wines and spirits, and have been ingested by humans for hundreds of years. So, if not healthful, they certainly aren’t known to be widely harmful to humans.
The yeast are from several different genera, including but not limited to Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Candida stellata, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Torulaspora delbrueckii and Zygosaccharomyces bailii. Several of these species are used in either the brewing of beer or the fermentation of wine. All told, the combinations of bacterial and yeast species should have little negative effect on a healthy individual, and in fact more and more research suggests that ingestion of so-called pro-biotics might actually be beneficial.
Ok, so Kombucha has been around a while. Since 250 BC or so. It was first used by the Chinese, and made its way into Russia in the 1800’s. Since then it has grown in popularity, mostly as a home-brewed concoction. However, more recently it has become a commercially distributed product, which has allowed it to reach a wider segment of the population.
Most of the health benefits of Kombucha are not clinically supported in humans, but rather anecdotal. There has been limited conflicting research in mice and rats. While the fermented tea seems to have antioxidant and immunomodulatory activity in rats (likely due to the polyphenols present in the tea used to create the Kombucha), it has also been shown to increase the size of both the liver and spleen in mice. Significantly, the home-brewed variety has been linked with several health issues in people, ranging from bacterial infections to liver damage and to death. That said, Kombucha sold commercially is probably safer than homemade. However, due to processing differences, commercial Kombucha isn’t likely to have as wide a variety of bacterial and/or yeast species making up its zooglea.
In conclusion, the research and evidence that is available to date is not sufficient for the medical community to endorse the consumption of Kombucha for health related purposes. Until the proper studies are done, Kombucha will simply remain an interesting drink with a serious cult following.