Kombucha tea is one of the healthiest beverages in the world. Being one of the oldest beverages, it is widely appreciated by a lot of people. It has been popular for a long time in Europe and Russia. But in recent years, it gained popularity among people.
Kombucha tea is prepared by fermentation of black or green sugared tea using a symbiotic culture between bacteria and yeast. Fermentation helps in the growth of a plethora of good bacteria. It is a rich source of probiotics and antioxidants.
Developing a regular habit of drinking kombucha tea adds up to several health benefits. It helps to build immunity and fight against several diseases like liver and kidney diseases, cancer, heart diseases, diabetes type 2, and many more.
What is Kombucha Tea?
Kombucha is a traditional tea. It was first originated in China. Obtained from a symbiotic culture of acetic acid bacteria (for example, Komagataeibacter, Gluconobacter), lactic acid bacteria (lactobacillus and Lactococcus), and yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Saccharomycodes ludwigii, Kloeckera apiculate, etc), it works as an add up to the health benefits. These bacteria and yeast are characterized as good microorganisms that are known to promote health.
Kombucha recently gained popularity. More and more people have come to know about its health benefits. It has a number of nutrients like vitamins B, vitamin C, ethanol, glucuronic acid, glycerol, usnic acid, and minerals. Kombucha is rich in antioxidants and probiotics. And as we all know, fermentation is one of the best methods of preservation. It proves to be a rich source of useful bacteria.
A symbiotic relationship is one of the most beautiful relations in this world where two organisms from two completely different backgrounds support each other to exist in the world. Kombucha is an excellent example of this relationship. It is prepared through a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Overall, Kombucha is a wonderful example of the co-existence of thousands of good microorganisms.
History of Kombucha tea
Though no one knows where Kombucha was first originated, most people believe that it was first prepared in the Bohai district of China. Originated almost 5000 years back, this is one of the oldest teas existing today. Tea is an important part of the beverages of China, and Kombucha has always remained an important part of the culture of China. From China, it was spread in Russia where it was loved by village people. Finally, Kombucha travelled to Europe where it was welcomed and loved by everyone. In this way, it reached European countries.
Earlier, Kombucha was prepared only at home. But back in 2015, it was started developing commercially as well. And it gained popularity when it was advertised as an alternative for beer and other alcoholic products. According to the report of Grand View Research, the market of kombucha tea has reached US$ 1.67 billion, which is estimated to reach US$ 2.4 billion by 2027.
How to Make Kombucha Tea?
Kombucha is a fermented tea prepared by sugared black and green tea, and by a symbiotic relationship of yeast and bacteria, popularly known as SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and yeast). It can easily be prepared in homes as well as industries.
To prepare the kombucha tea, first of all, boil water with sugar and then add your desired tea, black or green. This tea is cooled down completely, and SCOBY culture is added. Now, this mixture is kept in a sterilized beaker with previously fermented Kombucha to adjust the pH. Then, cover the beaker with a paper towel and breathable fabric. Leave this mixture for a period of up to 10 to 14 days. After 10 to 14 days, a daughter layer is formed on the surface of the mixture. This daughter can be used to make another cup of kombucha tea. Keep the remaining Kombucha in the bottle for a secondary ferment for a few days at a temperature of 4 C.
Once the tea is ready, you can have it directly or add some fruit juice and spices to enhance the taste. This kombucha tea contains 0.5% of alcohol. But in recent times, a few commercial companies increased the level of alcohol to make it widely popular as an alternative for beer in restaurants and pubs. However, when marketers came to know about it, they removed the section of Kombucha from their shop. Then, companies had to decrease the alcohol content.
10 Health Benefits of Kombucha Tea
Kombucha is considered one of the healthiest beverages in the world. Prepared from green tea, it is rich in antioxidant that helps to maintain the metabolism of the body. Apart from this, Kombucha is also beneficial for heart, liver, stomach, kidney health. It helps to build immunity. Reports have shown that it helps to reduce aging effects. Let us know about other benefits of kombucha tea with proven pieces of evidence.
Extensive research has been carried out to understand the significance of kombucha tea. However, all these experiments are carried out in vitro. No practical tests have been done on human beings. The results that came through in vitro are proven and highly satisfactory.
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Keeps your Gut Healthy
Kombucha tea is prepared through fermentation. Various bacteria and yeast combine to build a symbiotic culture that ferments the tea. This promotes the growth of a lot of probiotics.
We all know that digestion is important to keep us healthy. And to keep our digestion healthy and regulated, various factors play a key factor. One of those major factors is probiotics. A number of good bacteria stay in our stomach that play a key role in various digestion processes like the breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates, fat, and fibre digestion.
During fermentation, various acids like acetic acid, lactic acid, gluconic acid, glucuronic acid, etc. that are essential for our health are produced in the solution. These acids add up to the nutrition of our body.
Beware! the body has a maximum level of direct acid limit. Exceeding this limit may cause harmful effects to society. As per the research, fermenting the Kombucha for more than ten days increases the acid concentration in the liquid. Also, it should be taken care that these organisms don't cause any biochemical changes as they may cause adverse effects.
Bottom Line - Kombucha tea is an amazing source of probiotics and acids that play a significant role in the digestion of food. This helps to keep our gut healthy and happy. However, proper care should be taken of the level of fermentation before consumption.
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Reduces the Risk of Heart Diseases
An experiment was carried out in the laboratory in which the protective effects of Kombucha on different organs were tested. Bhattacharya, Gochhui, and Sil carried out this experiment in the year 2013 and the results showed that the kombucha tea has significant antidiabetic potential. This research was carried out on the kidney, heart, and liver diabetic rat model.
As per the research, kombucha tea significantly decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Research also shows that kombucha tea has the potential to decrease cholesterol levels that work as an addition to the heart's health.
Bottom Line - Kombucha tea promotes the health of the heart. It decreases the level of cholesterol.
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Kills Harmful Bacteria
Bacteria are both harmful and useful, and our body is a massive store for both types of bacteria. The key is that we need to reduce harmful bacteria and add up useful bacteria.
Kombucha tea is made of green tea, which is a great source of antibacterial bodies. It helps to kill harmful bacteria in our bodies.
Acetic acid is an important component of kombucha tea. It plays a significant role in killing harmful bacteria inside our bodies at a given concentration. Experiments have been carried out on chicken to check out if it kills the bacteria, and the results we get were highly satisfactory.
Bottom Line - Components of kombucha tea like green tea and acetic acid have antibacterial properties that help to reduce the number of harmful bacteria inside our bodies.
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Beneficial for Mental Health
There is a strong link between inflammation and depression. So, an anti-inflammatory body present in fermented tea helps in tackling depression. Kombucha tea is a rich source of anti-inflammatory factors that directly connect with mental health. Drinking kombucha helps to tackle depression and reduces anxiety.
Besides, Kombucha is an adaptogen that is produced from natural plant materials. Thus, kombucha tea has a lot of antioxidants that help to reduce oxidation stress.
Apart, people are crazy a lot about beverages. But maximum beverages contain caffeine and nicotine that are harmful to the health. Kombucha tea is made of green tea, hence it doesn't contain any caffeine or nicotine. This property also adds up to the mental health benefits because it protects from the caffeine and nicotine adverse effects of caffeine and nicotine on mental health.
Bottom Line - Kombucha tea contains antioxidants and anti-inflammatory bodies that help to reduce depression and anxiety. Also, being a healthy drink promotes the health of our nervous system.
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Promotes the Growth of Friendly Bacteria
Kombucha tea is a rich source of useful bacteria. Many of the known examples of useful bacteria are acetic acid bacteria (AAB; Komagataeibacter, Gluconobacter, and Acetobacter species) lactic acid bacteria (LAB; Lactobacillus, Lactococcus).
Useful bacteria are an important part of our body system. It supports our life system and helps in carrying out our day-to-day work. However, it sometimes gets affected by harmful bacteria or gets decreases in number due to our bad food habits.
According to an experiment carried out by Roos and Vyust in the year 2018 on acetic acid bacteria, it was proven that Kombucha is a rich source of probiotics. It helps to keep our gut and intestine healthy and happy.
Kombucha tea is made of green tea that adds up to the benefits. It carries out all the benefits of green tea. And it is a proven fact that green tea helps to manage metabolism and health properties.
Bottom Line - To sum up, kombucha tea is one of the good sources of probiotics and hence useful bacteria. In addition, it is made from green tea which works as an additional factor.
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Reduces Type 2 Diabetes
Almost one-fourth of the population of the world, especially senior citizens are suffering from type 2 diabetes. A huge sum of money is spent every year to maintain the sugar level. It is one of the biggest concerns of people all over the world. Thousands of researchers are engaged in research to find a cure for this disease.
Various researches have been done and, in the end, they concluded that certain food helps a lot in controlling the level of type 2 diabetes. And, regular consumption of these food items may help you out to get out of this problem. Kombucha is one of those.
The research was conducted on a diabetic rat to evaluate the antihyperglycaemic efficacy of kombucha tea in the year 2013. Different concentration of kombucha tea was given to the rat for 45 days. And the result was that by administering the rat by 6 mg/kg BW daily, the glycosylated haemoglobin was decreased, and the plasma insulin was increased. In simple terms, it significantly decreases the sugar level of type 2 diabetes.
Bottom Line - Kombucha is an ideal solution to manage type 2 diabetes. It significantly decreases glycosylated haemoglobin and increases plasma insulin when consumed every day.
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Therapeutic for Kidney and Liver Toxicities
The kidney and liver are essential parts of the body of people. Want to keep it healthy? What can be a good solution except for kombucha tea? Kombucha works as a therapeutic for kidney and liver toxicities.
The kidney and liver are like waste management systems of our body. But sometimes, because of our unhealthy habits, these mechanisms fail to excrete all waste material. These waste materials take the form of toxic substances in the liver and kidney. We must remove these toxic substances.
An experiment was carried out by bellassoued et al. in the year 2015 in which rats were fed with cholesterol-rich diets and high thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels. The result was that Kombucha worked as therapeutics for the liver and kidney. It significantly reduced the concentration of TBARS levels. Thus, fermented tea also works as an amazing therapeutic agent.
Bottom Line - Kombucha excellently fulfils the task of a therapeutic agent to remove lung and liver toxicities. Research has shown this.
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Reduces the Risk of Cancer
Cancer is one of the deadly known diseases on the earth. Technology has developed a lot, but it is still timid when it comes to developing medicines for deadly diseases. Though cancer can be cured in the initial stage, no cure is known when it reaches the last stage.
Several types of research have been carried out to find precautions and cures for cancer, and some research has shown that consumption of certain food items can significantly reduce the risk of cancer. Kombucha is one such item.
Kombucha has higher antioxidant and tea polyphenols that work against cancer. However, there is no proven fact that Kombucha directly reduces the risk of cancer, but test-tube studies show that Kombucha reduces the development of cancer tissues.
Many people believe that it reduces the risk of cancer because it is rich in antioxidants and tea polyphenol. It is believed that polyphenol blocks gene mutation and, ultimately the growth of cancer tissues.
Bottom Line - Test-tube studies have shown that kombucha tea effectively reduces the growth of cancer tissues. It is also consumed as a preventive diet. Thus, if you want to remain away from any vital diseases, regularly having a cup of kombucha tea might be a solution.
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Helpful in Treating AIDS
When it comes to the most dangerous diseases in the world, AIDS is bound to come. It is communicable, and our medical field doesn't have any key solution for it. And, if a disease is not curable, it is best to prevent it as much as possible.
As we have discussed earlier, kombucha tea is prepared from green tea and thus, it is rich in antioxidants. Some researchers have shown that antioxidants might be an important key in curing AIDS. Thus, various researches are going on to make a potential medicine from kombucha tea.
Apart from this, it is beneficial to drink kombucha tea every day in order to reduce the risk of these diseases as much as possible.
Bottom Line - Sipping kombucha tea every day reduces the risk of AIDS because Kombucha is rich in antioxidants.
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Excellent Alternative for Harmful Beverages
Beverages have a huge market all over the world. whether it is coffee, tea, soft drinks, hard drink, and many more, people love them a lot. However, many of them cause an adverse effect on our bodies. Looking at the obsession of people towards these drinks, it's hard to avoid them.
In recent times, the scenario has changed a little bit. Many people are getting serious about their health, and now they want to avoid high caffeine-containing beverages. But beverages have been with us since ancient times. It is hard to avoid them in our culture. Thus, people are looking for healthier alternatives.
This research of healthy beverages by people ends up finding a few options like green tea, black tea, chamomile tea, kombucha tea. Though they are a part of the beverages family they are known for their health benefits. Kombucha tea serves as an excellent alternative for beverages. where other beverages are known for their health hazards, kombucha tea has made its different identity as the healthiest beverage.
Bottom Line - If you are looking for an alternative for your high caffeine-containing beverage, kombucha tea is an excellent option. It is rich in antioxidants, probiotics, and a plethora of organic acids.
Extensive research has been done in the field of kombucha tea and its benefits yet there is a long mile to go. Research said that kombucha tea is still like a treasure for us that still need to be explored.
Cons of Kombucha Tea
Though there are no specific consequences of kombucha tea, reports have once said that kombucha tea is not good enough to completely ignore its negative sides.
Since kombucha tea has 0.5% of alcohol, it is advisable not to give it to pregnant and breastfeeding women, children below 4 years, and a person suffering from chronic diseases.
It is sometimes reported that kombucha tea causes stomach problems, yeast infections, allergic reactions, yellow skin, nausea, and many more. The most severe side effect of kombucha tea may even lead to death.
However, these conditions only occur when over-fermentation, the acidity of the tea, bacterial or fungal contamination. Proper care should be taken while preparing and fermentation of kombucha tea.
As per the 2019 systematic review, consumption of 4 oz per day of kombucha tea is not harmful to a healthy individual.
Conclusion
Kombucha is like a treasure of health benefits. Despite its sour and fermented taste, it is getting widely popular among people. It provides a good source of essential elements. Recent reports have shown that its market has exceptionally increased in recent years and will continue to grow thereafter. Apart from this, several research is also being carried out to increase the nutrition value of Kombucha.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can consume Kombucha Tea?
Though anyone can drink kombucha tea it contains 0.5% alcohol, it is advisable not to be consumed by pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and a person suffering from serious health problems.
Is Kombucha Tea harmful to health?
Kombucha tea is beneficial for health until it is consumed without exceeding the limit. Consumption of 4 oz per day kombucha tea is normal for a healthy person.
How many times should we drink Kombucha Tea in a day?
Times don't matter as far as amount is concerned. However, drinking fermented tea three times a day is thought to be okay.
What Kombucha Tea is made of?
Kombucha tea is made of sugar, black or green tea, bacteria, and yeast. Bacteria and yeast are added for the fermented process.
How much time is required to make Kombucha Tea?
Time in making kombucha tea is mainly consumed in the fermented process and the fermented process depends on several factors like temperature, weather, supply of oxygen, amount of carbon dioxide present, and many more. However, on average, a normal cup of kombucha tea takes 10 to 14 days to get prepared.
