It’s tasty and sweet.
According to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, it also permanently drops blood sugar levels of diabetic patients by a whopping 30%.
Best of all, you can make this delicious drink at home or buy it in any supermarket.
The scientists recruited 12 adult diabetics from an urban hospital and instructed them to consume 240 milliliters of either a kombucha product or a placebo control every day for four weeks.
After an eight-week period during which neither group took any supplement drink, the two groups swapped drinks and took them for the next four weeks, thus allowing a comparison of the effects of both the kombucha and the placebo.
The primary focus of the study was the fasting blood glucose levels, measured at the beginning and then at one and four weeks during each treatment period.
Secondary health outcomes were also evaluated, including overall health, insulin requirement, gut health, skin health, mental health, and vulvovaginal health. Furthermore, the kombucha’s microbiota and fermentation end products were analyzed.
The main outcome of the study was the observation that kombucha lowered average fasting blood glucose levels significantly. In the beginning, the average glucose level for the participants was 164 mg/dL. After four weeks of drinking kombucha, it dropped to 116 mg/dL, resulting in a decrease of nearly 30% for the kombucha group.
In contrast, the placebo group showed a small but not statistically significant change in the participants’ baseline blood glucose levels, meaning that it was a random change and not due to the drink.
Kombucha is made by fermenting sugary black or green tea using a culture of bacteria and yeast. It consumes the sugars in the tea, transforming them into alcohol, carbon dioxide, and various acids, which give kombucha its characteristic taste.
It is rich in probiotics and antioxidants and has a unique taste that can be described as tangy, effervescent, and slightly sweet.