Kombucha Tea: Drink with Health Benefits or Dangerous Beverage?

Kombucha tea has been touted as a drink with health benefits like strengthening immunity and improving digestion. But is this alternative medicinal drink actually a dangerous beverage that should be avoided?

What is Kombucha tea?

Originating from East Asia, Kombucha tea is a drink made from a colony of live bacteria and yeast mixed with sugar and black or green tea. As the mixture ferments, it begins to produce vinegar, alcohol, B vitamins, and other chemical compounds. Kombucha tea can be purchased in health food stores and some conventional grocers or home brewed.

What are the health benefits of Kombucha tea?

Supporters of Kombucha tea claim their drink has a variety of health benefits from treating cancer to slowing the aging process to improving digestion. They claim their drink fights aging because it contains antioxidants which block compounds known as 'free radicals' from causing cell damage. Proponents of Kombucha tea also claim it helps strengthen the immune system by detoxifying the body of harmful products, thus preparing it for successfully fighting off disease. It is important to note that do date, there are no scientific studies done on humans to support the health benefits of Kombucha tea..

Is Kombucha tea a dangerous beverage?

Some adverse effects have been reported in people drinking Kombucha tea, including digestive problems and allergic reactions. In 1995, the CDC reported two women developed severe acidosis (abnormal acid levels in the body) from drinking home brewed Kombucha tea. One woman died. The FDA warns Kombucha tea brewed at home can become contaminated by non-sterile conditions. And alternative medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil does not recommend Kombucha tea due to lack of scientific studies confirming the drink's health benefits.

Should you drink Kombucha tea?

Due to lack of scientific evidence proving its health benefits and the potential adverse side effects and dangers that have been associated with Kombucha tea, it may be best to avoid it all together.

Sources:

Brent A Bauer, MD What is Kombucha tea? What are the health benefits of Kombucha tea?, Mayo Clinic website, June 2009

Kombucha Tea, American Cancer Society website

Andrew Weil, MD website