The Question:
What are our thoughts on Kombucha tea? This question comes from one of our Facebook followers and we are happy to answer this question as Kombucha tea has become increasingly popular. For those of you who haven’t heard Kombucha tea is a type of fermented drink that has become hyped along the rest of the superfood craze we have seen over the last few years. Some of the supporters of Kombucha tea advocate that it can strengthen the immune system, prevent malignancy (cancer), and detoxify the body.
The Science:
When people make these claims they are doing so without strong scientific evidence. One claim that does have some merit is that Kombucha tea is a source of probiotics. Most fermented foods are produced by the bacteria Lactobacillus. Supplementing lactobacillus or other bacteria such as S. thermophiles has been studied for preventing diarrhea after antibiotic therapy. As some of you probably have heard antibiotics can cause diarrhea by indiscriminately killing both good and bacteria including the bacteria in our gut. This can lead to overgrowth of “bad bacteria” like Clostridium difficile.
There are a few good scientific studies on this particular health effect. Studies show a 4-22% decrease in instances of diarrhea following treatment with antibiotics in those treated with probiotics. So these studies align with the idea that eating yogurt or taking a probiotic may prevent diarrhea and yeast infections following antibiotic therapy since antibiotics often kill off too much of the bacteria in our digestive tracts. So essentially the science says it probably won’t make much of a difference on a daily basis but in the case of taking antibiotics you may want to supplement your body with some good bacteria such as that found in most probiotics, yogurt, or likely Kombucha tea (although it hasn’t been studied specifically). Some of the proposed mechanisms for benefit that probiotics have include suppressing growth and binding of “bad bacteria” and improving the intestinal barrier. Some probiotics produce protective cytokines that suppress inflammation and they can even change the way we experience bowel pain by changing the type of receptors in our gut.
We hope that helps! We are always here to answer your questions with scientific evidence so feel free to send them our way!
The High Yield:
- Kumbucha tea contains probiotics which are bacteria that can be helpful to our digestive system.
- Researchers have studied probiotic formulas that are available over the counter. They have found treatment with probiotics can be helpful during antibiotic therapy to help prevent diarrhea and yeast infections.
- Other products such as yogurt and over the counter probiotic supplements contain similar bacteria “probiotics” as Kumbucha.
Some options for probiotics similar to those found in Kombucha tea that have been researched include:
