About Kombucha Tea & Weight Loss

Kombucha tea can be found in many health food stores. Kombucha can be home brewed just like beer, but many prefer to buy the pre-made tea. According to kombucha.com, there is no documented health benefits of kombucha tea, but it has been consumed for many years and samples of the culture have been passed along for generations to create the tea.

History

• Seedsofhealth.com tells us of a long history of kombucha, starting in the Far East around 200 BC. It was named the "tea of immortality" and has been consumed for over 2,000 years. In eastern Europe, Russia and Japan, kombucha has been used since 400 AD. It's thought the name "kombucha" originated in Japan from a Korean physician named Kombu who used the concoction to treat the emperor. It has spread over the years from Russia to Germany and Denmark, but interest in kombucha was lost during World War II. Dr. Rudolph Skelner renewed interest in kombucha when he used it in treatments for cancer patients, metabolic disorders, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Weight Loss

• Thehappyherbalist.com finds kombucha tea is beneficial to helping with weight loss. It created a Tibetan mushroom kombucha that is specifically formulated to aid in losing weight. Kombucha is alkaline, which helps to balance the body. When the body is at a proper pH, it's able to process food better and put digestion in a healthy state. It also assists in raising energy levels, encouraging more activity.

Considerations

• In a survey conducted by Bev Ferguson, owner of Kombucha Manna International, she discovered kombucha is beneficial in many ways. The results were from 600 kombucha users from around the world. Of the 600, 27 percent of those polled drink kombucha for general health. Eighty-one percent felt better from drinking kombucha, and 30 percent experienced weight loss.

Expert Insight

• Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., of the Mayo Clinic, said there hasn't been enough research to prove any direct evidence that kombucha tea provides any health benefits. She found there are potential risks with home brewing that could link kombucha to contamination, and that it was linked to several cases of cutaneous--or skin based--anthrax in one community where a tainted batch was made. One should be cautious of allergic reactions and potential lead poisoning if lead pots were used to make kombucha.

How Kombucha is Made

• Kombucha is made from a culture, or a scoby, which stands for a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. The culture is added to tea and sweetener. As the culture digests the sweet tea, it produces various acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and probiotics. The fermented tea does produce a small amount of alcohol but is only about 1 percent per serving. After about a week, a new scoby forms on the top of the brewed kombucha. When the scoby is about 1/8th of an inch thick, the kombucha is ready to drink. Some of the acids found in kombucha include glucuronic, lactic, acetic, usnic, oxalic, malic, gluconic and butyric. Black, oolong, green and white teas are commonly used in making kombucha.