Kombucha: Health or Hype?

As the hype surrounding probiotics continues to soar so does our appetite for bug-laced fermented foods and drinks. This of course includes trendy kombucha. As a bevy of brands has muscled their way onto beverage shelves with a rainbow of colors and enticing flavors, this probiotic-rich fermented tea has become more visible in recent years

Here’s the thing: I adore kombucha. The first time I sipped the vinegary drink after a hard-charging bike ride, I was smitten. It contains the perfect blend of tang, sweetness and effervescence. I also convinced myself that it’s gotta be relatively healthy. After all, it has probiotics, right? Marketing words like “detox” and “renew” made it even easier to swallow the high price tag. It offered a much more interesting way to stay hydrated than yawning tap water.

Adherents and wellness gurus are quick to position the drink as a healthier alternative to soda. They trumpet its legitimate health benefits all over social media. Believe the hype and you’d think kombucha has the power to do everything. From improving digestion, easing anxiety, fending off cancer, detoxing the body and even helping zap your belly fat, it seems kombucha can do it all.

All this has helped sales of the ancient brew skyrocket and transcend hipster status. (The worldwide kombucha market is expected to hit $2.4 billion by 2027, according to a 2020 market analysis report by Grand View Research.) All the cool kids are strolling around farmers’ markets and finish lines with the flashy glass bottles. Hard kombucha is now a thing too, so you can get a fizz and buzz at once. Really, it’s only a matter of time until we have alcoholic sports drinks.

But is this bracing brew the health elixir that it’s hyped to be? Or is it just another wellness trend that is bound to fizzle out? Read on as we try to separate the science from the sales pitch to help you (and me!) decide if you need more of the fizzy pop in your life. 

What Exactly Is Kombucha?

Kombucha is thought to have originated in China or Japan. It’s made by adding certain strains of bacteria and yeast along with sugar to tea. Then, it ferments for a week or more. The SCOBY — which resembles a jelly-like pancake (yum!) and stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast — sits at the top of the brew. It feeds on the sugar and traps in air, which allows the fermentation process to occur. It has a slightly sour, almost vinegar-like taste. Most brands will include other flavorings such as hibiscus, ginger or lime. 

Is It as Healthy as They Say?

The positive swell behind this fizzy drink is largely owing to its probiotics. Once consumed, the drink can fertilize your digestive tract with beneficial bacteria that may play a role in digestive health and immune system regulation. Researchers have speculated that our gut microbiome is also involved in brain health, weight loss, and digestion, and can maybe even play a role in athletic performance.

So proponents say that a daily kombucha habit can help tilt the balance in our guts in favor of the beneficial microorganisms. This can lead to better health including a few lofty claims that make the drink seem like the ultimate panacea. The truth will be a bit of a gut punch for anyone who believes kombucha is a miracle beverage.

Indeed, kombucha can be a convenient way to welcome more probiotics into your life, especially if you don’t eat much yogurt and other fermented foods. You just need to keep in mind that there’s a chance that the strains of microorganisms in the drink aren’t the ones you need most — or are present at levels shown to be beneficial in research papers. There are countless strains of probiotics out there. So perhaps your microbiome could use an extra hit of the bugs shown to help bolster immunity in athletes. But how can you be sure you’re getting those in your kombucha of choice?

It’s also hard to know how many live probiotics you’re getting in that pricey bottle of ginger kombucha. Some reports say it typically contains about a billion or so, but it can certainly be more or less depending on the brand. (Some brands may add in more probiotics after the fermentation period.) That sounds like plenty, but you should know that certain probiotic supplements claim they contain up to 400 billion. Milk kefir likely contains not only a denser population of bacteria, but also a greater diversity. And if you just consume a bottle or two a week it might not be enough to make any noticeable difference to your microbiome. Plus, the probiotics that are alive at the time of bottling might be dead by the time you twist the cap off a bottle of kombucha.

Owing to its tea origins, kombucha may contain cell-protecting antioxidants including polyphenols. A recent investigation in the journal Antioxidants analyzed the chemical profiles of various types of kombucha made from various kinds of tea and fermented for different amounts of time. While levels of polyphenols and flavonoids varied significantly depending on what kind of tea the kombucha was made from (red and green tea had the most) and how long the kombucha fermented, all types did have significant levels of these antioxidants. These may confer some protection against certain health conditions and improve recovery from training.

The fermentation process produces acetic acid which is also found in vinegar. A new meta-analysis review study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that between 750 and 3600 milligrams of acetic acid consumed daily can help lower blood triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease, in overweight people and those with type 2 diabetes. It can also improve blood sugar control in diabetics. But many studies have suffered poor methodology and it’s not known what impact acetic acid has on normal-weight, healthy people or just how much acetic acid a typical kombucha contains.

We have to be upfront here. This is a case where the sales pitch has outpaced the science. To date, many of the scientific studies regarding the potential health impacts of kombucha have been conducted on rodents, not humans. So there is little in the way of any solid evidence to back up most of the grandiose health claims. Honestly, it would be pretty much impossible for any drink or food to live up to all the accolades bestowed upon kombucha. Sure, the drink might be pretty good for us but we just don’t have any randomized human studies to say how good. The benefits of probiotics and antioxidants, in general, may not apply to kombucha specifically. Most people who guzzle kombucha are already likely living healthier lifestyles so the chances that it’s going to make a major health impact are slight.

Potential Pitfalls

Kombucha can have a slightly sour, almost vinegar-like taste, so some brands add generous amounts of sugar and fruit juice to make it more palatable to the masses. This creates a drink much closer to soda. This is of concern because added sugars in our diets in liquid form appear to be especially detrimental to long-term health. For instance, research in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that women who had one or more sugar-sweetened beverages per day had an almost 20 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease. This is in comparison with women who did not consume or rarely consumed sugar-spiked drinks. (Though it is likely that the detrimental impact of sugary drinks is diminished if your overall diet is healthy and full of whole foods.) Brands may add sweeteners such as organic cane sugar post-fermentation, claiming this is better than the more highly refined stuff like high fructose corn syrup that you’ll find in many sodas. But on some level, sugar is sugar.

Not all the kombucha products on store shelves are sugar bombs, however. Ideally, you want to look for a drink with no more than 8 grams of sugar per serving (about 8 ounces). Keep in mind that some bottles base their nutrition facts on two servings. Chug back a whole bottle and you could be into the sugar red zone. Perhaps the best time to drink a sweetened kombucha is after a hard workout. During this time, the sugar will be used to help replace spent carbohydrate stores.

To be fair, the bubbly drink typically delivers fewer calories and sugar than soda or juice. A good chunk of the sweet stuff added at the beginning of production gets lost in the fermentation process. The real concern is the sugar added following fermentation.

A kombucha habit may drive up your dental bills. Dentists will caution that kombucha is nearly as acidic as soda pop, energy drinks and sports drinks. All three can upset the pH level of the saliva in your mouth. When the saliva level becomes more acidic, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria that can contribute to tooth enamel loss and decay. But it need not rot your teeth. A good guideline to follow is to rinse your mouth with water after drinking kombucha to help wash away acidic compounds and avoid eating. Alternatively, brush for at least 30 minutes afterward, allowing time for your tooth enamel to remineralize and reharden.

If you’re a kombucha newbie, it’s best to ease into it by sipping only about four ounces per day to get your digestive system used to it. Too much too fast can lead to stomach woes such as excessive gas, diarrhea or bloating. Also good to know: Because kombucha is fermented, it does contain small amounts of alcohol (some brands have more than others), so those with a history of alcoholism should steer clear. It goes without saying that this includes hard kombucha.

Kombucha’s Health Benefits: The Bottom Line

Though kombucha contains some good stuff like probiotics and antioxidants, many health claims surrounding the drink are suspect. It’s a good idea to drink it simply because you enjoy kombucha instead of treating it as the ultimate health tonic, no matter what influencers have to say. As always, a nutritious overall diet, not a single food or beverage, will deliver the most bang for your buck when it comes to health and performance.

From Triathlete