Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Kombucha: Myths vs. Truths | Phoenix Helix

Kombucha: Myths vs. Truths | Phoenix Helix



“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius
What is that thing?


It’s a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), a term coined by kombucha enthusiast Len Porzio
in the mid-1990′s. It may not look appetizing, but it creates a very
popular fermented beverage that goes for $4 a bottle in the health food
stores. Luckily, you can make it very inexpensively at home. You just
need 6 simple ingredients: a SCOBY like the one pictured above, tea,
sugar, clean water, a warm place, and time. The final product contains a
blend of beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics) as well as certain
acids and enzymes that aid digestion, detoxify the body, and promote
health. However, with popularity sometimes comes infamy, and a number of
myths have cropped up surrounding kombucha over the years. Let’s
separate the myths from the truths.


Kombucha History & Science


Kombucha has been around for thousands of years, believed to have
originated in China, traveled throughout Asia and Russia and eventually
became a health craze in the US over the past two decades. Legend has it
that it was named after a Korean physician Kombu who healed the
Japanese Emperor Inyko with the tea, and the tea was then named after
him: “Kombu” + “cha” (which means tea.)


The science of fermentation is one practiced in homes, rather than
laboratories, and for that reason it has an air of mystery. These living
foods change from batch to batch, and since they can’t be patented or
highly controlled,  there’s no real incentive for the science community
to spend resources in research. Therefore, health claims tend to be
anecdotal, and certain assumptions about the “science” behind the
process get spread with no real evidence to support those assumptions.
We know fermented foods are powerful in their ability to support a
healthy body, and restore balance to an unhealthy one. We don’t really
know the fine details of how this occurs.


Well, Michael Roussin, a kombucha lover, decided he wanted to know what exactly was in this drink that made him feel so good. With the help of a professional lab,
he spent 18 months testing 1103 samples of kombucha, from batches all
over North America and parts of Europe, with different teas, sugars,
temperatures and brewing times, and he discovered some surprising
things. The complete report of his research is for sale through his website. Here are some highlights:


Busting the Myths




  • Although kombucha is made with caffeinated tea, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    Roussin found that the caffeine content doesn’t reduce at all. This
    myth might have started because only 6-8 teabags are used to brew a
    gallon of kombucha tea, which is half the strength of a normal cup of
    tea. The good news is that kombucha doesn’t need caffeine to thrive. If
    you want to remove even more of the caffeine, simply pre-steep the tea
    bags for 30 seconds and throw that water away. Then steep these teabags
    again in fresh hot water, for the kombucha brew. The majority of the
    caffeine is dispersed in the pre-steeping.
    Update: You cannot decaffeinate tea at home. Thanks to Mari in the comments below for busting the myth of pre-steeping tea to remove caffeine. Lab testing shows this eliminates only a small amount of caffeine. If you can’t have caffeine, buy tea that has been decaffeinated by the CO2 method (a healthier choice, compared to the more common chemical decaffeination.)
  • Although kombucha is made with sugar, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    There will always be a little sugar remaining, and the amount depends
    on how long the tea is fermented. Generally, people brew the tea
    according to their taste. A 5-day brew is going to have a high quantity
    of sugar remaining. A 30-day brew is going to have very little remaining
    (yet still some). Most people brew the tea for 7-12 days, when it has a
    tangy sour flavor with a touch of sweetness remaining; on average, the
    amount of sugar at this point is 16 grams per 8 oz. cup. This is equal
    to 4 teaspoons of sugar. You could brew the full 30 days to minimize the
    sugar, but at that point, the drink is so sour, people usually add
    juice to make it palatable. If you do this, you’re going to get 12-20
    grams of sugar from the juice. This is why many people call it a healthy
    soda-pop. The “healthy” part comes from the high amount of probiotics
    and beneficial acids it contains, and rest assured the sugar content is
    much lower than regular soda. You may feel tempted to try to make your
    kombucha with less sugar or no sugar at all, but sugar is the food your
    SCOBY needs to create the probiotics and acids you seek. It will become
    malnourished and eventually die without it. If you want to know the
    sugar content of your home brew, you can use sugar test strips. Update:
    Silvia (in the comments below) did the math and noted that 16 grams per
    cup is the amount of sugar added when you begin the kombucha brew, so
    how is it possible that it’s still that concentrated at the 7-15 day
    mark? Here’s why: In the first stage of fermentation, the yeast uses the
    minerals from the tea to produce enzymes that separate sugar into
    glucose and fructose. At the 7-day mark, that’s as far as the process
    has gone. The sugar is easier to digest, but hasn’t yet diminished in
    concentration. By the 15-day mark, it is just starting to eat/diminish
    the sugar content (3.3 teaspoons of sugar per cup remaining at that
    point.) The sour flavor comes from the acids that are forming, but that
    sweet tone is still the sugar, unless you brew it a full 30 days. A
    study done by Cornell University confirmed these results.

  • Kombucha is rich in B vitamins. MYTH. Although it does contain these vitamins, the amounts are so small they are almost immeasurable. This was confirmed by the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.
  • Kombucha is rich in glucuronic acid, a powerful detoxifier of the liver. MYTH. There is no glucuronic acid in kombucha. Ironically, Roussin began his experiments intending to prove otherwise. He read a book
    by Harald Tietze in 1995, who said no reputable lab had ever found
    glucuronic acid in kombucha, so Roussin hired a reputable lab to prove
    him wrong. When he confirmed its absence instead, that got him curious
    about the other assumptions people had about kombucha, and his
    experiments continued. Roussin believes the glucuroinc acid myth was
    born of research from the 1940s, where researchers tested the urine of
    people who drank kombucha and found high levels, and therefore assumed
    the kombucha was providing it. Instead, Roussin’s lab found that
    kombucha contains a different acid that is a synergist to glucuronic
    acid. Glucuronic acid is made naturally by the liver and works by
    binding to a toxic molecule and carrying it out of the body. The high
    levels of glucuronic acid in the urine could have been due to the other
    acids in kombucha helping the glucuronic acid in the body do its job.
    So, kombucha is indeed detoxifying, but we are continuing to learn
    exactly how.
  • Kombucha contains hyaluronic acid and glucosamine, which is why it’s so effective in relieving joint pain. MYTH.
    Kombucha contains neither of these compounds. However, it does seem to
    have a positive effect on the joints. Roussin’s theory is that it
    contains the building blocks for these compounds.
  • Kombucha contains over 50 different kinds of probiotics, organic enzymes, amino acids and vitamins. MYTH. Every batch of kombucha is different. The only things every
    batch contains are: (1) at least one beneficial yeast, (2) acetobacter
    (the beneficial bacteria in the SCOBY), (3) gluconic acid (a pH
    regulator) – note: this is not the same thing as glucuronic acid
    referenced above, and (4) acetic acid (an anti-microbial acid, which
    also stabilizes blood sugar) . Most batches of kombucha will also
    contain an analgesic (pain reliever), an anti-arthritic compound, an
    anti-spasmodic compound, a liver-protective compound, and several
    anti-bacterial compounds. The blend varies from batch to batch. See why
    this elixir can’t be patented? It embodies change.
  • Kombucha can cure everything from arthritis to gout to HIV to cancer. MYTH. As Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp says, “Kombucha
    is not a panacea – it doesn’t cure anything! It brings the body back
    into balance so that it may heal itself naturally. That is how it is
    able to do so much.”
    Results vary from person to person. Many
    people do say it helps their joint pain, keeps them from getting sick,
    gives them energy, aids their digestion, clears their sinuses, reduces
    their blood pressure, clears their eczema, alleviates their headaches,
    and the list goes on. Then there are other people who say they enjoy the
    taste, but don’t really notice any effect. The only way to know what it
    can do for you, is to try it.
  • Kombucha is dangerous and has been linked to deaths. MYTH.
    This one is repeated a lot, and it usually starts with a sentence like
    this: “There is no scientific evidence that kombucha promotes health,
    just anecdotal reports. However, it has been linked to both illness and
    death.” (With never an acknowledgement that the last sentence is an
    anecdotal report, and there’s no scientific evidence that kombucha is
    harmful.) Let’s clear up that report, though, because it’s scary.
    Fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz sums it up nicely: “In
    1995 the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publication Morbidity and
    Mortality Weekly Report ran a story headlined, ‘Unexplained Severe
    Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea,’ with
    possibly being the operative word. In two separate incidents, weeks
    apart, two women in Iowa had very different unexplained acute health
    episodes. One of them died. Both drank kombucha daily and made it from
    the same original SCOBY. The Iowa Department of Public Health
    immediately issued a warning to stop drinking kombucha ‘until the role
    of the tea in the two cases of illness has been evaluated fully.’ But
    they were never able to explain how kombucha may have been related to
    the illnesses, and 115 other people were identified who drank kombucha
    from the same mother without problems. When the mothers and the kombucha
    that possibly made the women sick were subjected to microbial analysis,
    ‘no known human pathogens or toxin-producing organisms were
    identified.’”
  • Kombucha is an alcoholic drink. TRUE.
    However, it’s a very small amount, usually between .5 and 3%, depending
    on length of fermentation. (Beer contains 4-6%.) Single fermentation
    home brews of kombucha usually contain only .5% alcohol. If you do a
    second fermentation in a bottle, to flavor it and increase the
    carbonation, the alcohol content will increase slightly. Store bought
    brands were found to contain more, because the product is still
    fermenting in the bottle, and a long time can pass between bottling and
    purchase. For this reason, kombucha was temporarily pulled from store shelves in 2010, while the federal alcohol trade bureau tested numerous samples and developed guidelines
    for kombucha manufacturers. Now, all store bought brands are supposed
    to have taken steps to prevent fermentation from continuing in the
    bottle. Sadly, this often means pasteurization, which limits the
    benefits of the drink.
  • If you ferment more than one kind of food or beverage
    (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc.) you need to keep them away from each
    other, for fear of cross-contamination: MYTH.
    Sandor Ellix Katz addressed this in his book, The Art of Fermention:While
    different cultures may subtly influence one another through the air
    over time, typically this is not an issue….Betty Stechmeyer, who
    co-founded a starter culture business, GEM cultures, with her late
    husband Gordon and spent 30 years growing and selling fermentation
    starters, reports that for all those years she propagated several
    different sourdoughs, several different milk cultures, tempeh starter
    and more, in one 12×12 foot kitchen. ‘Pretty primitive and simple, eh?’
    She never experienced cross-contamination. I cannot guarantee that
    cross-contamination among cultures is impossible, but it is not a likely
    occurrence, and I encourage enthusiastic experimentalists to ferment to
    your heart’s content without worry.”
  • Kombucha can make you feel worse. TRUE. While
    most people feel benefits from drinking kombucha, some people’s
    symptoms worsen. There are a few potential reasons for this: (1) Healing Crisis: Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of the GAPS Diet, says: “Apart
    from good bacteria a healthy body is populated by beneficial yeasts
    which normally protect the person from pathogenic (bad) yeasts, such as
    candida albicans. Kefir (and kombucha) contain these beneficial yeasts
    (as well as the beneficial bacteria) which help to take pathogenic
    yeasts under control.” 
    This is a good thing, but sometimes the body
    goes through a reaction to the mass die-off of bad bacteria and yeast,
    and temporarily symptoms worsen. This can last from a few days to a few
    weeks, but when the symptoms pass, people’s health improves
    dramatically. (2) Gluten Cross-Reaction: Update: Gluten Cross-Reaction has proven to be a myth. Thanks to reader Sarah for this new information. (3) Histamine or Yeast Intolerance:
    Fermented foods contain beneficial bacteria which improve the health of
    most people, with the exception of those who are yeast or histamine
    intolerant. In those cases, negative symptoms from drinking kombucha
    don’t improve with time, like they do with a healing crisis. So what do
    you do if you feel like kombucha is making you feel worse? First, lower
    the amount of kombucha you are drinking, and only increase as your body
    is able to handle it without discomfort. If you are experiencing a
    healing crisis, lower doses should slow down the die-off reaction and
    alleviate your symptoms. If you continue to have discomfort at small
    doses, stop drinking it altogether and try again in 6 months. (Food
    intolerances often disappear as we heal.)
Conclusion


Now, you know what’s true and what’s not. Leaving the myths behind,
this traditional fermented beverage can still be a wonderful health
tonic. We don’t need exaggerated claims, and we don’t even need to know
how it works (although we’ll keep searching). Paleo guru Mark Sisson
talks a lot about the N=1
(an experiment of one). That simply means that you try something
yourself, and see if adds to, or detracts from, your health. Paleo
leaders Dr. Terry Wahls and Robb Wolf drink kombucha themselves. Robyn Latimer,
who put her lupus into remission through the paleo diet, also drinks it
daily. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends it for the Full GAPS Diet. Her only caveat is that people should avoid it on the more restricted Introduction Diet due to the fluctuating sugar content. My next post will tell you everything you need to make a successful brew, and my final post in this series will give you the recipes. Stay tuned!


Other Articles in the Kombucha Series


Kombucha Supplies


Update: After writing this series of articles on
kombucha, a number of people asked where they could buy quality
supplies. Not everyone has a friend to lend them a SCOBY and tutor them
through the process. So, I decided to become an affiliate of Kombucha Kamp. Hannah Crum has been brewing kombucha for over a decade and sells everything from quality SCOBYs to continuous brew systems. Whatever you need, she’s got you covered.

~~~

The following websites were very helpful in my research:


- See more at: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/03/25/kombucha-myths-vs-truths/#sthash.Qa0gwpGt.dpuf
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius
What is that thing?


It’s a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), a term coined by kombucha enthusiast Len Porzio
in the mid-1990′s. It may not look appetizing, but it creates a very
popular fermented beverage that goes for $4 a bottle in the health food
stores. Luckily, you can make it very inexpensively at home. You just
need 6 simple ingredients: a SCOBY like the one pictured above, tea,
sugar, clean water, a warm place, and time. The final product contains a
blend of beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics) as well as certain
acids and enzymes that aid digestion, detoxify the body, and promote
health. However, with popularity sometimes comes infamy, and a number of
myths have cropped up surrounding kombucha over the years. Let’s
separate the myths from the truths.


Kombucha History & Science


Kombucha has been around for thousands of years, believed to have
originated in China, traveled throughout Asia and Russia and eventually
became a health craze in the US over the past two decades. Legend has it
that it was named after a Korean physician Kombu who healed the
Japanese Emperor Inyko with the tea, and the tea was then named after
him: “Kombu” + “cha” (which means tea.)


The science of fermentation is one practiced in homes, rather than
laboratories, and for that reason it has an air of mystery. These living
foods change from batch to batch, and since they can’t be patented or
highly controlled,  there’s no real incentive for the science community
to spend resources in research. Therefore, health claims tend to be
anecdotal, and certain assumptions about the “science” behind the
process get spread with no real evidence to support those assumptions.
We know fermented foods are powerful in their ability to support a
healthy body, and restore balance to an unhealthy one. We don’t really
know the fine details of how this occurs.


Well, Michael Roussin, a kombucha lover, decided he wanted to know what exactly was in this drink that made him feel so good. With the help of a professional lab,
he spent 18 months testing 1103 samples of kombucha, from batches all
over North America and parts of Europe, with different teas, sugars,
temperatures and brewing times, and he discovered some surprising
things. The complete report of his research is for sale through his website. Here are some highlights:


Busting the Myths




  • Although kombucha is made with caffeinated tea, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    Roussin found that the caffeine content doesn’t reduce at all. This
    myth might have started because only 6-8 teabags are used to brew a
    gallon of kombucha tea, which is half the strength of a normal cup of
    tea. The good news is that kombucha doesn’t need caffeine to thrive. If
    you want to remove even more of the caffeine, simply pre-steep the tea
    bags for 30 seconds and throw that water away. Then steep these teabags
    again in fresh hot water, for the kombucha brew. The majority of the
    caffeine is dispersed in the pre-steeping.
    Update: You cannot decaffeinate tea at home. Thanks to Mari in the comments below for busting the myth of pre-steeping tea to remove caffeine. Lab testing shows this eliminates only a small amount of caffeine. If you can’t have caffeine, buy tea that has been decaffeinated by the CO2 method (a healthier choice, compared to the more common chemical decaffeination.)
  • Although kombucha is made with sugar, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    There will always be a little sugar remaining, and the amount depends
    on how long the tea is fermented. Generally, people brew the tea
    according to their taste. A 5-day brew is going to have a high quantity
    of sugar remaining. A 30-day brew is going to have very little remaining
    (yet still some). Most people brew the tea for 7-12 days, when it has a
    tangy sour flavor with a touch of sweetness remaining; on average, the
    amount of sugar at this point is 16 grams per 8 oz. cup. This is equal
    to 4 teaspoons of sugar. You could brew the full 30 days to minimize the
    sugar, but at that point, the drink is so sour, people usually add
    juice to make it palatable. If you do this, you’re going to get 12-20
    grams of sugar from the juice. This is why many people call it a healthy
    soda-pop. The “healthy” part comes from the high amount of probiotics
    and beneficial acids it contains, and rest assured the sugar content is
    much lower than regular soda. You may feel tempted to try to make your
    kombucha with less sugar or no sugar at all, but sugar is the food your
    SCOBY needs to create the probiotics and acids you seek. It will become
    malnourished and eventually die without it. If you want to know the
    sugar content of your home brew, you can use sugar test strips. Update:
    Silvia (in the comments below) did the math and noted that 16 grams per
    cup is the amount of sugar added when you begin the kombucha brew, so
    how is it possible that it’s still that concentrated at the 7-15 day
    mark? Here’s why: In the first stage of fermentation, the yeast uses the
    minerals from the tea to produce enzymes that separate sugar into
    glucose and fructose. At the 7-day mark, that’s as far as the process
    has gone. The sugar is easier to digest, but hasn’t yet diminished in
    concentration. By the 15-day mark, it is just starting to eat/diminish
    the sugar content (3.3 teaspoons of sugar per cup remaining at that
    point.) The sour flavor comes from the acids that are forming, but that
    sweet tone is still the sugar, unless you brew it a full 30 days. A
    study done by Cornell University confirmed these results.

  • Kombucha is rich in B vitamins. MYTH. Although it does contain these vitamins, the amounts are so small they are almost immeasurable. This was confirmed by the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.
  • Kombucha is rich in glucuronic acid, a powerful detoxifier of the liver. MYTH. There is no glucuronic acid in kombucha. Ironically, Roussin began his experiments intending to prove otherwise. He read a book
    by Harald Tietze in 1995, who said no reputable lab had ever found
    glucuronic acid in kombucha, so Roussin hired a reputable lab to prove
    him wrong. When he confirmed its absence instead, that got him curious
    about the other assumptions people had about kombucha, and his
    experiments continued. Roussin believes the glucuroinc acid myth was
    born of research from the 1940s, where researchers tested the urine of
    people who drank kombucha and found high levels, and therefore assumed
    the kombucha was providing it. Instead, Roussin’s lab found that
    kombucha contains a different acid that is a synergist to glucuronic
    acid. Glucuronic acid is made naturally by the liver and works by
    binding to a toxic molecule and carrying it out of the body. The high
    levels of glucuronic acid in the urine could have been due to the other
    acids in kombucha helping the glucuronic acid in the body do its job.
    So, kombucha is indeed detoxifying, but we are continuing to learn
    exactly how.
  • Kombucha contains hyaluronic acid and glucosamine, which is why it’s so effective in relieving joint pain. MYTH.
    Kombucha contains neither of these compounds. However, it does seem to
    have a positive effect on the joints. Roussin’s theory is that it
    contains the building blocks for these compounds.
  • Kombucha contains over 50 different kinds of probiotics, organic enzymes, amino acids and vitamins. MYTH. Every batch of kombucha is different. The only things every
    batch contains are: (1) at least one beneficial yeast, (2) acetobacter
    (the beneficial bacteria in the SCOBY), (3) gluconic acid (a pH
    regulator) – note: this is not the same thing as glucuronic acid
    referenced above, and (4) acetic acid (an anti-microbial acid, which
    also stabilizes blood sugar) . Most batches of kombucha will also
    contain an analgesic (pain reliever), an anti-arthritic compound, an
    anti-spasmodic compound, a liver-protective compound, and several
    anti-bacterial compounds. The blend varies from batch to batch. See why
    this elixir can’t be patented? It embodies change.
  • Kombucha can cure everything from arthritis to gout to HIV to cancer. MYTH. As Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp says, “Kombucha
    is not a panacea – it doesn’t cure anything! It brings the body back
    into balance so that it may heal itself naturally. That is how it is
    able to do so much.”
    Results vary from person to person. Many
    people do say it helps their joint pain, keeps them from getting sick,
    gives them energy, aids their digestion, clears their sinuses, reduces
    their blood pressure, clears their eczema, alleviates their headaches,
    and the list goes on. Then there are other people who say they enjoy the
    taste, but don’t really notice any effect. The only way to know what it
    can do for you, is to try it.
  • Kombucha is dangerous and has been linked to deaths. MYTH.
    This one is repeated a lot, and it usually starts with a sentence like
    this: “There is no scientific evidence that kombucha promotes health,
    just anecdotal reports. However, it has been linked to both illness and
    death.” (With never an acknowledgement that the last sentence is an
    anecdotal report, and there’s no scientific evidence that kombucha is
    harmful.) Let’s clear up that report, though, because it’s scary.
    Fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz sums it up nicely: “In
    1995 the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publication Morbidity and
    Mortality Weekly Report ran a story headlined, ‘Unexplained Severe
    Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea,’ with
    possibly being the operative word. In two separate incidents, weeks
    apart, two women in Iowa had very different unexplained acute health
    episodes. One of them died. Both drank kombucha daily and made it from
    the same original SCOBY. The Iowa Department of Public Health
    immediately issued a warning to stop drinking kombucha ‘until the role
    of the tea in the two cases of illness has been evaluated fully.’ But
    they were never able to explain how kombucha may have been related to
    the illnesses, and 115 other people were identified who drank kombucha
    from the same mother without problems. When the mothers and the kombucha
    that possibly made the women sick were subjected to microbial analysis,
    ‘no known human pathogens or toxin-producing organisms were
    identified.’”
  • Kombucha is an alcoholic drink. TRUE.
    However, it’s a very small amount, usually between .5 and 3%, depending
    on length of fermentation. (Beer contains 4-6%.) Single fermentation
    home brews of kombucha usually contain only .5% alcohol. If you do a
    second fermentation in a bottle, to flavor it and increase the
    carbonation, the alcohol content will increase slightly. Store bought
    brands were found to contain more, because the product is still
    fermenting in the bottle, and a long time can pass between bottling and
    purchase. For this reason, kombucha was temporarily pulled from store shelves in 2010, while the federal alcohol trade bureau tested numerous samples and developed guidelines
    for kombucha manufacturers. Now, all store bought brands are supposed
    to have taken steps to prevent fermentation from continuing in the
    bottle. Sadly, this often means pasteurization, which limits the
    benefits of the drink.
  • If you ferment more than one kind of food or beverage
    (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc.) you need to keep them away from each
    other, for fear of cross-contamination: MYTH.
    Sandor Ellix Katz addressed this in his book, The Art of Fermention:While
    different cultures may subtly influence one another through the air
    over time, typically this is not an issue….Betty Stechmeyer, who
    co-founded a starter culture business, GEM cultures, with her late
    husband Gordon and spent 30 years growing and selling fermentation
    starters, reports that for all those years she propagated several
    different sourdoughs, several different milk cultures, tempeh starter
    and more, in one 12×12 foot kitchen. ‘Pretty primitive and simple, eh?’
    She never experienced cross-contamination. I cannot guarantee that
    cross-contamination among cultures is impossible, but it is not a likely
    occurrence, and I encourage enthusiastic experimentalists to ferment to
    your heart’s content without worry.”
  • Kombucha can make you feel worse. TRUE. While
    most people feel benefits from drinking kombucha, some people’s
    symptoms worsen. There are a few potential reasons for this: (1) Healing Crisis: Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of the GAPS Diet, says: “Apart
    from good bacteria a healthy body is populated by beneficial yeasts
    which normally protect the person from pathogenic (bad) yeasts, such as
    candida albicans. Kefir (and kombucha) contain these beneficial yeasts
    (as well as the beneficial bacteria) which help to take pathogenic
    yeasts under control.” 
    This is a good thing, but sometimes the body
    goes through a reaction to the mass die-off of bad bacteria and yeast,
    and temporarily symptoms worsen. This can last from a few days to a few
    weeks, but when the symptoms pass, people’s health improves
    dramatically. (2) Gluten Cross-Reaction: Update: Gluten Cross-Reaction has proven to be a myth. Thanks to reader Sarah for this new information. (3) Histamine or Yeast Intolerance:
    Fermented foods contain beneficial bacteria which improve the health of
    most people, with the exception of those who are yeast or histamine
    intolerant. In those cases, negative symptoms from drinking kombucha
    don’t improve with time, like they do with a healing crisis. So what do
    you do if you feel like kombucha is making you feel worse? First, lower
    the amount of kombucha you are drinking, and only increase as your body
    is able to handle it without discomfort. If you are experiencing a
    healing crisis, lower doses should slow down the die-off reaction and
    alleviate your symptoms. If you continue to have discomfort at small
    doses, stop drinking it altogether and try again in 6 months. (Food
    intolerances often disappear as we heal.)
Conclusion


Now, you know what’s true and what’s not. Leaving the myths behind,
this traditional fermented beverage can still be a wonderful health
tonic. We don’t need exaggerated claims, and we don’t even need to know
how it works (although we’ll keep searching). Paleo guru Mark Sisson
talks a lot about the N=1
(an experiment of one). That simply means that you try something
yourself, and see if adds to, or detracts from, your health. Paleo
leaders Dr. Terry Wahls and Robb Wolf drink kombucha themselves. Robyn Latimer,
who put her lupus into remission through the paleo diet, also drinks it
daily. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends it for the Full GAPS Diet. Her only caveat is that people should avoid it on the more restricted Introduction Diet due to the fluctuating sugar content. My next post will tell you everything you need to make a successful brew, and my final post in this series will give you the recipes. Stay tuned!


Other Articles in the Kombucha Series


Kombucha Supplies


Update: After writing this series of articles on
kombucha, a number of people asked where they could buy quality
supplies. Not everyone has a friend to lend them a SCOBY and tutor them
through the process. So, I decided to become an affiliate of Kombucha Kamp. Hannah Crum has been brewing kombucha for over a decade and sells everything from quality SCOBYs to continuous brew systems. Whatever you need, she’s got you covered.

~~~

The following websites were very helpful in my research:


~~~

- See more at: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/03/25/kombucha-myths-vs-truths/#sthash.ZiC4GLDi.dpuf


“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius
What is that thing?


It’s a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), a term coined by kombucha enthusiast Len Porzio
in the mid-1990′s. It may not look appetizing, but it creates a very
popular fermented beverage that goes for $4 a bottle in the health food
stores. Luckily, you can make it very inexpensively at home. You just
need 6 simple ingredients: a SCOBY like the one pictured above, tea,
sugar, clean water, a warm place, and time. The final product contains a
blend of beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics) as well as certain
acids and enzymes that aid digestion, detoxify the body, and promote
health. However, with popularity sometimes comes infamy, and a number of
myths have cropped up surrounding kombucha over the years. Let’s
separate the myths from the truths.


Kombucha History & Science


Kombucha has been around for thousands of years, believed to have
originated in China, traveled throughout Asia and Russia and eventually
became a health craze in the US over the past two decades. Legend has it
that it was named after a Korean physician Kombu who healed the
Japanese Emperor Inyko with the tea, and the tea was then named after
him: “Kombu” + “cha” (which means tea.)


The science of fermentation is one practiced in homes, rather than
laboratories, and for that reason it has an air of mystery. These living
foods change from batch to batch, and since they can’t be patented or
highly controlled,  there’s no real incentive for the science community
to spend resources in research. Therefore, health claims tend to be
anecdotal, and certain assumptions about the “science” behind the
process get spread with no real evidence to support those assumptions.
We know fermented foods are powerful in their ability to support a
healthy body, and restore balance to an unhealthy one. We don’t really
know the fine details of how this occurs.


Well, Michael Roussin, a kombucha lover, decided he wanted to know what exactly was in this drink that made him feel so good. With the help of a professional lab,
he spent 18 months testing 1103 samples of kombucha, from batches all
over North America and parts of Europe, with different teas, sugars,
temperatures and brewing times, and he discovered some surprising
things. The complete report of his research is for sale through his website. Here are some highlights:


Busting the Myths




  • Although kombucha is made with caffeinated tea, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    Roussin found that the caffeine content doesn’t reduce at all. This
    myth might have started because only 6-8 teabags are used to brew a
    gallon of kombucha tea, which is half the strength of a normal cup of
    tea. The good news is that kombucha doesn’t need caffeine to thrive. If
    you want to remove even more of the caffeine, simply pre-steep the tea
    bags for 30 seconds and throw that water away. Then steep these teabags
    again in fresh hot water, for the kombucha brew. The majority of the
    caffeine is dispersed in the pre-steeping.
    Update: You cannot decaffeinate tea at home. Thanks to Mari in the comments below for busting the myth of pre-steeping tea to remove caffeine. Lab testing shows this eliminates only a small amount of caffeine. If you can’t have caffeine, buy tea that has been decaffeinated by the CO2 method (a healthier choice, compared to the more common chemical decaffeination.)
  • Although kombucha is made with sugar, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    There will always be a little sugar remaining, and the amount depends
    on how long the tea is fermented. Generally, people brew the tea
    according to their taste. A 5-day brew is going to have a high quantity
    of sugar remaining. A 30-day brew is going to have very little remaining
    (yet still some). Most people brew the tea for 7-12 days, when it has a
    tangy sour flavor with a touch of sweetness remaining; on average, the
    amount of sugar at this point is 16 grams per 8 oz. cup. This is equal
    to 4 teaspoons of sugar. You could brew the full 30 days to minimize the
    sugar, but at that point, the drink is so sour, people usually add
    juice to make it palatable. If you do this, you’re going to get 12-20
    grams of sugar from the juice. This is why many people call it a healthy
    soda-pop. The “healthy” part comes from the high amount of probiotics
    and beneficial acids it contains, and rest assured the sugar content is
    much lower than regular soda. You may feel tempted to try to make your
    kombucha with less sugar or no sugar at all, but sugar is the food your
    SCOBY needs to create the probiotics and acids you seek. It will become
    malnourished and eventually die without it. If you want to know the
    sugar content of your home brew, you can use sugar test strips. Update:
    Silvia (in the comments below) did the math and noted that 16 grams per
    cup is the amount of sugar added when you begin the kombucha brew, so
    how is it possible that it’s still that concentrated at the 7-15 day
    mark? Here’s why: In the first stage of fermentation, the yeast uses the
    minerals from the tea to produce enzymes that separate sugar into
    glucose and fructose. At the 7-day mark, that’s as far as the process
    has gone. The sugar is easier to digest, but hasn’t yet diminished in
    concentration. By the 15-day mark, it is just starting to eat/diminish
    the sugar content (3.3 teaspoons of sugar per cup remaining at that
    point.) The sour flavor comes from the acids that are forming, but that
    sweet tone is still the sugar, unless you brew it a full 30 days. A
    study done by Cornell University confirmed these results.

  • Kombucha is rich in B vitamins. MYTH. Although it does contain these vitamins, the amounts are so small they are almost immeasurable. This was confirmed by the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.
  • Kombucha is rich in glucuronic acid, a powerful detoxifier of the liver. MYTH. There is no glucuronic acid in kombucha. Ironically, Roussin began his experiments intending to prove otherwise. He read a book
    by Harald Tietze in 1995, who said no reputable lab had ever found
    glucuronic acid in kombucha, so Roussin hired a reputable lab to prove
    him wrong. When he confirmed its absence instead, that got him curious
    about the other assumptions people had about kombucha, and his
    experiments continued. Roussin believes the glucuroinc acid myth was
    born of research from the 1940s, where researchers tested the urine of
    people who drank kombucha and found high levels, and therefore assumed
    the kombucha was providing it. Instead, Roussin’s lab found that
    kombucha contains a different acid that is a synergist to glucuronic
    acid. Glucuronic acid is made naturally by the liver and works by
    binding to a toxic molecule and carrying it out of the body. The high
    levels of glucuronic acid in the urine could have been due to the other
    acids in kombucha helping the glucuronic acid in the body do its job.
    So, kombucha is indeed detoxifying, but we are continuing to learn
    exactly how.
  • Kombucha contains hyaluronic acid and glucosamine, which is why it’s so effective in relieving joint pain. MYTH.
    Kombucha contains neither of these compounds. However, it does seem to
    have a positive effect on the joints. Roussin’s theory is that it
    contains the building blocks for these compounds.
  • Kombucha contains over 50 different kinds of probiotics, organic enzymes, amino acids and vitamins. MYTH. Every batch of kombucha is different. The only things every
    batch contains are: (1) at least one beneficial yeast, (2) acetobacter
    (the beneficial bacteria in the SCOBY), (3) gluconic acid (a pH
    regulator) – note: this is not the same thing as glucuronic acid
    referenced above, and (4) acetic acid (an anti-microbial acid, which
    also stabilizes blood sugar) . Most batches of kombucha will also
    contain an analgesic (pain reliever), an anti-arthritic compound, an
    anti-spasmodic compound, a liver-protective compound, and several
    anti-bacterial compounds. The blend varies from batch to batch. See why
    this elixir can’t be patented? It embodies change.
  • Kombucha can cure everything from arthritis to gout to HIV to cancer. MYTH. As Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp says, “Kombucha
    is not a panacea – it doesn’t cure anything! It brings the body back
    into balance so that it may heal itself naturally. That is how it is
    able to do so much.”
    Results vary from person to person. Many
    people do say it helps their joint pain, keeps them from getting sick,
    gives them energy, aids their digestion, clears their sinuses, reduces
    their blood pressure, clears their eczema, alleviates their headaches,
    and the list goes on. Then there are other people who say they enjoy the
    taste, but don’t really notice any effect. The only way to know what it
    can do for you, is to try it.
  • Kombucha is dangerous and has been linked to deaths. MYTH.
    This one is repeated a lot, and it usually starts with a sentence like
    this: “There is no scientific evidence that kombucha promotes health,
    just anecdotal reports. However, it has been linked to both illness and
    death.” (With never an acknowledgement that the last sentence is an
    anecdotal report, and there’s no scientific evidence that kombucha is
    harmful.) Let’s clear up that report, though, because it’s scary.
    Fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz sums it up nicely: “In
    1995 the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publication Morbidity and
    Mortality Weekly Report ran a story headlined, ‘Unexplained Severe
    Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea,’ with
    possibly being the operative word. In two separate incidents, weeks
    apart, two women in Iowa had very different unexplained acute health
    episodes. One of them died. Both drank kombucha daily and made it from
    the same original SCOBY. The Iowa Department of Public Health
    immediately issued a warning to stop drinking kombucha ‘until the role
    of the tea in the two cases of illness has been evaluated fully.’ But
    they were never able to explain how kombucha may have been related to
    the illnesses, and 115 other people were identified who drank kombucha
    from the same mother without problems. When the mothers and the kombucha
    that possibly made the women sick were subjected to microbial analysis,
    ‘no known human pathogens or toxin-producing organisms were
    identified.’”
  • Kombucha is an alcoholic drink. TRUE.
    However, it’s a very small amount, usually between .5 and 3%, depending
    on length of fermentation. (Beer contains 4-6%.) Single fermentation
    home brews of kombucha usually contain only .5% alcohol. If you do a
    second fermentation in a bottle, to flavor it and increase the
    carbonation, the alcohol content will increase slightly. Store bought
    brands were found to contain more, because the product is still
    fermenting in the bottle, and a long time can pass between bottling and
    purchase. For this reason, kombucha was temporarily pulled from store shelves in 2010, while the federal alcohol trade bureau tested numerous samples and developed guidelines
    for kombucha manufacturers. Now, all store bought brands are supposed
    to have taken steps to prevent fermentation from continuing in the
    bottle. Sadly, this often means pasteurization, which limits the
    benefits of the drink.
  • If you ferment more than one kind of food or beverage
    (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc.) you need to keep them away from each
    other, for fear of cross-contamination: MYTH.
    Sandor Ellix Katz addressed this in his book, The Art of Fermention:While
    different cultures may subtly influence one another through the air
    over time, typically this is not an issue….Betty Stechmeyer, who
    co-founded a starter culture business, GEM cultures, with her late
    husband Gordon and spent 30 years growing and selling fermentation
    starters, reports that for all those years she propagated several
    different sourdoughs, several different milk cultures, tempeh starter
    and more, in one 12×12 foot kitchen. ‘Pretty primitive and simple, eh?’
    She never experienced cross-contamination. I cannot guarantee that
    cross-contamination among cultures is impossible, but it is not a likely
    occurrence, and I encourage enthusiastic experimentalists to ferment to
    your heart’s content without worry.”
  • Kombucha can make you feel worse. TRUE. While
    most people feel benefits from drinking kombucha, some people’s
    symptoms worsen. There are a few potential reasons for this: (1) Healing Crisis: Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of the GAPS Diet, says: “Apart
    from good bacteria a healthy body is populated by beneficial yeasts
    which normally protect the person from pathogenic (bad) yeasts, such as
    candida albicans. Kefir (and kombucha) contain these beneficial yeasts
    (as well as the beneficial bacteria) which help to take pathogenic
    yeasts under control.” 
    This is a good thing, but sometimes the body
    goes through a reaction to the mass die-off of bad bacteria and yeast,
    and temporarily symptoms worsen. This can last from a few days to a few
    weeks, but when the symptoms pass, people’s health improves
    dramatically. (2) Gluten Cross-Reaction: Update: Gluten Cross-Reaction has proven to be a myth. Thanks to reader Sarah for this new information. (3) Histamine or Yeast Intolerance:
    Fermented foods contain beneficial bacteria which improve the health of
    most people, with the exception of those who are yeast or histamine
    intolerant. In those cases, negative symptoms from drinking kombucha
    don’t improve with time, like they do with a healing crisis. So what do
    you do if you feel like kombucha is making you feel worse? First, lower
    the amount of kombucha you are drinking, and only increase as your body
    is able to handle it without discomfort. If you are experiencing a
    healing crisis, lower doses should slow down the die-off reaction and
    alleviate your symptoms. If you continue to have discomfort at small
    doses, stop drinking it altogether and try again in 6 months. (Food
    intolerances often disappear as we heal.)
Conclusion


Now, you know what’s true and what’s not. Leaving the myths behind,
this traditional fermented beverage can still be a wonderful health
tonic. We don’t need exaggerated claims, and we don’t even need to know
how it works (although we’ll keep searching). Paleo guru Mark Sisson
talks a lot about the N=1
(an experiment of one). That simply means that you try something
yourself, and see if adds to, or detracts from, your health. Paleo
leaders Dr. Terry Wahls and Robb Wolf drink kombucha themselves. Robyn Latimer,
who put her lupus into remission through the paleo diet, also drinks it
daily. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends it for the Full GAPS Diet. Her only caveat is that people should avoid it on the more restricted Introduction Diet due to the fluctuating sugar content. My next post will tell you everything you need to make a successful brew, and my final post in this series will give you the recipes. Stay tuned!


Other Articles in the Kombucha Series


Kombucha Supplies


Update: After writing this series of articles on
kombucha, a number of people asked where they could buy quality
supplies. Not everyone has a friend to lend them a SCOBY and tutor them
through the process. So, I decided to become an affiliate of Kombucha Kamp. Hannah Crum has been brewing kombucha for over a decade and sells everything from quality SCOBYs to continuous brew systems. Whatever you need, she’s got you covered.

~~~

The following websites were very helpful in my research:


- See more at: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/03/25/kombucha-myths-vs-truths/#sthash.Qa0gwpGt.dpuf
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius
What is that thing?


It’s a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), a term coined by kombucha enthusiast Len Porzio
in the mid-1990′s. It may not look appetizing, but it creates a very
popular fermented beverage that goes for $4 a bottle in the health food
stores. Luckily, you can make it very inexpensively at home. You just
need 6 simple ingredients: a SCOBY like the one pictured above, tea,
sugar, clean water, a warm place, and time. The final product contains a
blend of beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics) as well as certain
acids and enzymes that aid digestion, detoxify the body, and promote
health. However, with popularity sometimes comes infamy, and a number of
myths have cropped up surrounding kombucha over the years. Let’s
separate the myths from the truths.


Kombucha History & Science


Kombucha has been around for thousands of years, believed to have
originated in China, traveled throughout Asia and Russia and eventually
became a health craze in the US over the past two decades. Legend has it
that it was named after a Korean physician Kombu who healed the
Japanese Emperor Inyko with the tea, and the tea was then named after
him: “Kombu” + “cha” (which means tea.)


The science of fermentation is one practiced in homes, rather than
laboratories, and for that reason it has an air of mystery. These living
foods change from batch to batch, and since they can’t be patented or
highly controlled,  there’s no real incentive for the science community
to spend resources in research. Therefore, health claims tend to be
anecdotal, and certain assumptions about the “science” behind the
process get spread with no real evidence to support those assumptions.
We know fermented foods are powerful in their ability to support a
healthy body, and restore balance to an unhealthy one. We don’t really
know the fine details of how this occurs.


Well, Michael Roussin, a kombucha lover, decided he wanted to know what exactly was in this drink that made him feel so good. With the help of a professional lab,
he spent 18 months testing 1103 samples of kombucha, from batches all
over North America and parts of Europe, with different teas, sugars,
temperatures and brewing times, and he discovered some surprising
things. The complete report of his research is for sale through his website. Here are some highlights:


Busting the Myths




  • Although kombucha is made with caffeinated tea, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    Roussin found that the caffeine content doesn’t reduce at all. This
    myth might have started because only 6-8 teabags are used to brew a
    gallon of kombucha tea, which is half the strength of a normal cup of
    tea. The good news is that kombucha doesn’t need caffeine to thrive. If
    you want to remove even more of the caffeine, simply pre-steep the tea
    bags for 30 seconds and throw that water away. Then steep these teabags
    again in fresh hot water, for the kombucha brew. The majority of the
    caffeine is dispersed in the pre-steeping.
    Update: You cannot decaffeinate tea at home. Thanks to Mari in the comments below for busting the myth of pre-steeping tea to remove caffeine. Lab testing shows this eliminates only a small amount of caffeine. If you can’t have caffeine, buy tea that has been decaffeinated by the CO2 method (a healthier choice, compared to the more common chemical decaffeination.)
  • Although kombucha is made with sugar, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    There will always be a little sugar remaining, and the amount depends
    on how long the tea is fermented. Generally, people brew the tea
    according to their taste. A 5-day brew is going to have a high quantity
    of sugar remaining. A 30-day brew is going to have very little remaining
    (yet still some). Most people brew the tea for 7-12 days, when it has a
    tangy sour flavor with a touch of sweetness remaining; on average, the
    amount of sugar at this point is 16 grams per 8 oz. cup. This is equal
    to 4 teaspoons of sugar. You could brew the full 30 days to minimize the
    sugar, but at that point, the drink is so sour, people usually add
    juice to make it palatable. If you do this, you’re going to get 12-20
    grams of sugar from the juice. This is why many people call it a healthy
    soda-pop. The “healthy” part comes from the high amount of probiotics
    and beneficial acids it contains, and rest assured the sugar content is
    much lower than regular soda. You may feel tempted to try to make your
    kombucha with less sugar or no sugar at all, but sugar is the food your
    SCOBY needs to create the probiotics and acids you seek. It will become
    malnourished and eventually die without it. If you want to know the
    sugar content of your home brew, you can use sugar test strips. Update:
    Silvia (in the comments below) did the math and noted that 16 grams per
    cup is the amount of sugar added when you begin the kombucha brew, so
    how is it possible that it’s still that concentrated at the 7-15 day
    mark? Here’s why: In the first stage of fermentation, the yeast uses the
    minerals from the tea to produce enzymes that separate sugar into
    glucose and fructose. At the 7-day mark, that’s as far as the process
    has gone. The sugar is easier to digest, but hasn’t yet diminished in
    concentration. By the 15-day mark, it is just starting to eat/diminish
    the sugar content (3.3 teaspoons of sugar per cup remaining at that
    point.) The sour flavor comes from the acids that are forming, but that
    sweet tone is still the sugar, unless you brew it a full 30 days. A
    study done by Cornell University confirmed these results.

  • Kombucha is rich in B vitamins. MYTH. Although it does contain these vitamins, the amounts are so small they are almost immeasurable. This was confirmed by the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.
  • Kombucha is rich in glucuronic acid, a powerful detoxifier of the liver. MYTH. There is no glucuronic acid in kombucha. Ironically, Roussin began his experiments intending to prove otherwise. He read a book
    by Harald Tietze in 1995, who said no reputable lab had ever found
    glucuronic acid in kombucha, so Roussin hired a reputable lab to prove
    him wrong. When he confirmed its absence instead, that got him curious
    about the other assumptions people had about kombucha, and his
    experiments continued. Roussin believes the glucuroinc acid myth was
    born of research from the 1940s, where researchers tested the urine of
    people who drank kombucha and found high levels, and therefore assumed
    the kombucha was providing it. Instead, Roussin’s lab found that
    kombucha contains a different acid that is a synergist to glucuronic
    acid. Glucuronic acid is made naturally by the liver and works by
    binding to a toxic molecule and carrying it out of the body. The high
    levels of glucuronic acid in the urine could have been due to the other
    acids in kombucha helping the glucuronic acid in the body do its job.
    So, kombucha is indeed detoxifying, but we are continuing to learn
    exactly how.
  • Kombucha contains hyaluronic acid and glucosamine, which is why it’s so effective in relieving joint pain. MYTH.
    Kombucha contains neither of these compounds. However, it does seem to
    have a positive effect on the joints. Roussin’s theory is that it
    contains the building blocks for these compounds.
  • Kombucha contains over 50 different kinds of probiotics, organic enzymes, amino acids and vitamins. MYTH. Every batch of kombucha is different. The only things every
    batch contains are: (1) at least one beneficial yeast, (2) acetobacter
    (the beneficial bacteria in the SCOBY), (3) gluconic acid (a pH
    regulator) – note: this is not the same thing as glucuronic acid
    referenced above, and (4) acetic acid (an anti-microbial acid, which
    also stabilizes blood sugar) . Most batches of kombucha will also
    contain an analgesic (pain reliever), an anti-arthritic compound, an
    anti-spasmodic compound, a liver-protective compound, and several
    anti-bacterial compounds. The blend varies from batch to batch. See why
    this elixir can’t be patented? It embodies change.
  • Kombucha can cure everything from arthritis to gout to HIV to cancer. MYTH. As Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp says, “Kombucha
    is not a panacea – it doesn’t cure anything! It brings the body back
    into balance so that it may heal itself naturally. That is how it is
    able to do so much.”
    Results vary from person to person. Many
    people do say it helps their joint pain, keeps them from getting sick,
    gives them energy, aids their digestion, clears their sinuses, reduces
    their blood pressure, clears their eczema, alleviates their headaches,
    and the list goes on. Then there are other people who say they enjoy the
    taste, but don’t really notice any effect. The only way to know what it
    can do for you, is to try it.
  • Kombucha is dangerous and has been linked to deaths. MYTH.
    This one is repeated a lot, and it usually starts with a sentence like
    this: “There is no scientific evidence that kombucha promotes health,
    just anecdotal reports. However, it has been linked to both illness and
    death.” (With never an acknowledgement that the last sentence is an
    anecdotal report, and there’s no scientific evidence that kombucha is
    harmful.) Let’s clear up that report, though, because it’s scary.
    Fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz sums it up nicely: “In
    1995 the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publication Morbidity and
    Mortality Weekly Report ran a story headlined, ‘Unexplained Severe
    Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea,’ with
    possibly being the operative word. In two separate incidents, weeks
    apart, two women in Iowa had very different unexplained acute health
    episodes. One of them died. Both drank kombucha daily and made it from
    the same original SCOBY. The Iowa Department of Public Health
    immediately issued a warning to stop drinking kombucha ‘until the role
    of the tea in the two cases of illness has been evaluated fully.’ But
    they were never able to explain how kombucha may have been related to
    the illnesses, and 115 other people were identified who drank kombucha
    from the same mother without problems. When the mothers and the kombucha
    that possibly made the women sick were subjected to microbial analysis,
    ‘no known human pathogens or toxin-producing organisms were
    identified.’”
  • Kombucha is an alcoholic drink. TRUE.
    However, it’s a very small amount, usually between .5 and 3%, depending
    on length of fermentation. (Beer contains 4-6%.) Single fermentation
    home brews of kombucha usually contain only .5% alcohol. If you do a
    second fermentation in a bottle, to flavor it and increase the
    carbonation, the alcohol content will increase slightly. Store bought
    brands were found to contain more, because the product is still
    fermenting in the bottle, and a long time can pass between bottling and
    purchase. For this reason, kombucha was temporarily pulled from store shelves in 2010, while the federal alcohol trade bureau tested numerous samples and developed guidelines
    for kombucha manufacturers. Now, all store bought brands are supposed
    to have taken steps to prevent fermentation from continuing in the
    bottle. Sadly, this often means pasteurization, which limits the
    benefits of the drink.
  • If you ferment more than one kind of food or beverage
    (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc.) you need to keep them away from each
    other, for fear of cross-contamination: MYTH.
    Sandor Ellix Katz addressed this in his book, The Art of Fermention:While
    different cultures may subtly influence one another through the air
    over time, typically this is not an issue….Betty Stechmeyer, who
    co-founded a starter culture business, GEM cultures, with her late
    husband Gordon and spent 30 years growing and selling fermentation
    starters, reports that for all those years she propagated several
    different sourdoughs, several different milk cultures, tempeh starter
    and more, in one 12×12 foot kitchen. ‘Pretty primitive and simple, eh?’
    She never experienced cross-contamination. I cannot guarantee that
    cross-contamination among cultures is impossible, but it is not a likely
    occurrence, and I encourage enthusiastic experimentalists to ferment to
    your heart’s content without worry.”
  • Kombucha can make you feel worse. TRUE. While
    most people feel benefits from drinking kombucha, some people’s
    symptoms worsen. There are a few potential reasons for this: (1) Healing Crisis: Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of the GAPS Diet, says: “Apart
    from good bacteria a healthy body is populated by beneficial yeasts
    which normally protect the person from pathogenic (bad) yeasts, such as
    candida albicans. Kefir (and kombucha) contain these beneficial yeasts
    (as well as the beneficial bacteria) which help to take pathogenic
    yeasts under control.” 
    This is a good thing, but sometimes the body
    goes through a reaction to the mass die-off of bad bacteria and yeast,
    and temporarily symptoms worsen. This can last from a few days to a few
    weeks, but when the symptoms pass, people’s health improves
    dramatically. (2) Gluten Cross-Reaction: Update: Gluten Cross-Reaction has proven to be a myth. Thanks to reader Sarah for this new information. (3) Histamine or Yeast Intolerance:
    Fermented foods contain beneficial bacteria which improve the health of
    most people, with the exception of those who are yeast or histamine
    intolerant. In those cases, negative symptoms from drinking kombucha
    don’t improve with time, like they do with a healing crisis. So what do
    you do if you feel like kombucha is making you feel worse? First, lower
    the amount of kombucha you are drinking, and only increase as your body
    is able to handle it without discomfort. If you are experiencing a
    healing crisis, lower doses should slow down the die-off reaction and
    alleviate your symptoms. If you continue to have discomfort at small
    doses, stop drinking it altogether and try again in 6 months. (Food
    intolerances often disappear as we heal.)
Conclusion


Now, you know what’s true and what’s not. Leaving the myths behind,
this traditional fermented beverage can still be a wonderful health
tonic. We don’t need exaggerated claims, and we don’t even need to know
how it works (although we’ll keep searching). Paleo guru Mark Sisson
talks a lot about the N=1
(an experiment of one). That simply means that you try something
yourself, and see if adds to, or detracts from, your health. Paleo
leaders Dr. Terry Wahls and Robb Wolf drink kombucha themselves. Robyn Latimer,
who put her lupus into remission through the paleo diet, also drinks it
daily. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends it for the Full GAPS Diet. Her only caveat is that people should avoid it on the more restricted Introduction Diet due to the fluctuating sugar content. My next post will tell you everything you need to make a successful brew, and my final post in this series will give you the recipes. Stay tuned!


Other Articles in the Kombucha Series


Kombucha Supplies


Update: After writing this series of articles on
kombucha, a number of people asked where they could buy quality
supplies. Not everyone has a friend to lend them a SCOBY and tutor them
through the process. So, I decided to become an affiliate of Kombucha Kamp. Hannah Crum has been brewing kombucha for over a decade and sells everything from quality SCOBYs to continuous brew systems. Whatever you need, she’s got you covered.

~~~

The following websites were very helpful in my research:


- See more at: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/03/25/kombucha-myths-vs-truths/#sthash.Qa0gwpGt.dpuf
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius
What is that thing?


It’s a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), a term coined by kombucha enthusiast Len Porzio
in the mid-1990′s. It may not look appetizing, but it creates a very
popular fermented beverage that goes for $4 a bottle in the health food
stores. Luckily, you can make it very inexpensively at home. You just
need 6 simple ingredients: a SCOBY like the one pictured above, tea,
sugar, clean water, a warm place, and time. The final product contains a
blend of beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics) as well as certain
acids and enzymes that aid digestion, detoxify the body, and promote
health. However, with popularity sometimes comes infamy, and a number of
myths have cropped up surrounding kombucha over the years. Let’s
separate the myths from the truths.


Kombucha History & Science


Kombucha has been around for thousands of years, believed to have
originated in China, traveled throughout Asia and Russia and eventually
became a health craze in the US over the past two decades. Legend has it
that it was named after a Korean physician Kombu who healed the
Japanese Emperor Inyko with the tea, and the tea was then named after
him: “Kombu” + “cha” (which means tea.)


The science of fermentation is one practiced in homes, rather than
laboratories, and for that reason it has an air of mystery. These living
foods change from batch to batch, and since they can’t be patented or
highly controlled,  there’s no real incentive for the science community
to spend resources in research. Therefore, health claims tend to be
anecdotal, and certain assumptions about the “science” behind the
process get spread with no real evidence to support those assumptions.
We know fermented foods are powerful in their ability to support a
healthy body, and restore balance to an unhealthy one. We don’t really
know the fine details of how this occurs.


Well, Michael Roussin, a kombucha lover, decided he wanted to know what exactly was in this drink that made him feel so good. With the help of a professional lab,
he spent 18 months testing 1103 samples of kombucha, from batches all
over North America and parts of Europe, with different teas, sugars,
temperatures and brewing times, and he discovered some surprising
things. The complete report of his research is for sale through his website. Here are some highlights:


Busting the Myths




  • Although kombucha is made with caffeinated tea, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    Roussin found that the caffeine content doesn’t reduce at all. This
    myth might have started because only 6-8 teabags are used to brew a
    gallon of kombucha tea, which is half the strength of a normal cup of
    tea. The good news is that kombucha doesn’t need caffeine to thrive. If
    you want to remove even more of the caffeine, simply pre-steep the tea
    bags for 30 seconds and throw that water away. Then steep these teabags
    again in fresh hot water, for the kombucha brew. The majority of the
    caffeine is dispersed in the pre-steeping.
    Update: You cannot decaffeinate tea at home. Thanks to Mari in the comments below for busting the myth of pre-steeping tea to remove caffeine. Lab testing shows this eliminates only a small amount of caffeine. If you can’t have caffeine, buy tea that has been decaffeinated by the CO2 method (a healthier choice, compared to the more common chemical decaffeination.)
  • Although kombucha is made with sugar, by the end of the fermentation cycle, none remains. MYTH.
    There will always be a little sugar remaining, and the amount depends
    on how long the tea is fermented. Generally, people brew the tea
    according to their taste. A 5-day brew is going to have a high quantity
    of sugar remaining. A 30-day brew is going to have very little remaining
    (yet still some). Most people brew the tea for 7-12 days, when it has a
    tangy sour flavor with a touch of sweetness remaining; on average, the
    amount of sugar at this point is 16 grams per 8 oz. cup. This is equal
    to 4 teaspoons of sugar. You could brew the full 30 days to minimize the
    sugar, but at that point, the drink is so sour, people usually add
    juice to make it palatable. If you do this, you’re going to get 12-20
    grams of sugar from the juice. This is why many people call it a healthy
    soda-pop. The “healthy” part comes from the high amount of probiotics
    and beneficial acids it contains, and rest assured the sugar content is
    much lower than regular soda. You may feel tempted to try to make your
    kombucha with less sugar or no sugar at all, but sugar is the food your
    SCOBY needs to create the probiotics and acids you seek. It will become
    malnourished and eventually die without it. If you want to know the
    sugar content of your home brew, you can use sugar test strips. Update:
    Silvia (in the comments below) did the math and noted that 16 grams per
    cup is the amount of sugar added when you begin the kombucha brew, so
    how is it possible that it’s still that concentrated at the 7-15 day
    mark? Here’s why: In the first stage of fermentation, the yeast uses the
    minerals from the tea to produce enzymes that separate sugar into
    glucose and fructose. At the 7-day mark, that’s as far as the process
    has gone. The sugar is easier to digest, but hasn’t yet diminished in
    concentration. By the 15-day mark, it is just starting to eat/diminish
    the sugar content (3.3 teaspoons of sugar per cup remaining at that
    point.) The sour flavor comes from the acids that are forming, but that
    sweet tone is still the sugar, unless you brew it a full 30 days. A
    study done by Cornell University confirmed these results.

  • Kombucha is rich in B vitamins. MYTH. Although it does contain these vitamins, the amounts are so small they are almost immeasurable. This was confirmed by the International Journal of Food Science and Technology.
  • Kombucha is rich in glucuronic acid, a powerful detoxifier of the liver. MYTH. There is no glucuronic acid in kombucha. Ironically, Roussin began his experiments intending to prove otherwise. He read a book
    by Harald Tietze in 1995, who said no reputable lab had ever found
    glucuronic acid in kombucha, so Roussin hired a reputable lab to prove
    him wrong. When he confirmed its absence instead, that got him curious
    about the other assumptions people had about kombucha, and his
    experiments continued. Roussin believes the glucuroinc acid myth was
    born of research from the 1940s, where researchers tested the urine of
    people who drank kombucha and found high levels, and therefore assumed
    the kombucha was providing it. Instead, Roussin’s lab found that
    kombucha contains a different acid that is a synergist to glucuronic
    acid. Glucuronic acid is made naturally by the liver and works by
    binding to a toxic molecule and carrying it out of the body. The high
    levels of glucuronic acid in the urine could have been due to the other
    acids in kombucha helping the glucuronic acid in the body do its job.
    So, kombucha is indeed detoxifying, but we are continuing to learn
    exactly how.
  • Kombucha contains hyaluronic acid and glucosamine, which is why it’s so effective in relieving joint pain. MYTH.
    Kombucha contains neither of these compounds. However, it does seem to
    have a positive effect on the joints. Roussin’s theory is that it
    contains the building blocks for these compounds.
  • Kombucha contains over 50 different kinds of probiotics, organic enzymes, amino acids and vitamins. MYTH. Every batch of kombucha is different. The only things every
    batch contains are: (1) at least one beneficial yeast, (2) acetobacter
    (the beneficial bacteria in the SCOBY), (3) gluconic acid (a pH
    regulator) – note: this is not the same thing as glucuronic acid
    referenced above, and (4) acetic acid (an anti-microbial acid, which
    also stabilizes blood sugar) . Most batches of kombucha will also
    contain an analgesic (pain reliever), an anti-arthritic compound, an
    anti-spasmodic compound, a liver-protective compound, and several
    anti-bacterial compounds. The blend varies from batch to batch. See why
    this elixir can’t be patented? It embodies change.
  • Kombucha can cure everything from arthritis to gout to HIV to cancer. MYTH. As Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp says, “Kombucha
    is not a panacea – it doesn’t cure anything! It brings the body back
    into balance so that it may heal itself naturally. That is how it is
    able to do so much.”
    Results vary from person to person. Many
    people do say it helps their joint pain, keeps them from getting sick,
    gives them energy, aids their digestion, clears their sinuses, reduces
    their blood pressure, clears their eczema, alleviates their headaches,
    and the list goes on. Then there are other people who say they enjoy the
    taste, but don’t really notice any effect. The only way to know what it
    can do for you, is to try it.
  • Kombucha is dangerous and has been linked to deaths. MYTH.
    This one is repeated a lot, and it usually starts with a sentence like
    this: “There is no scientific evidence that kombucha promotes health,
    just anecdotal reports. However, it has been linked to both illness and
    death.” (With never an acknowledgement that the last sentence is an
    anecdotal report, and there’s no scientific evidence that kombucha is
    harmful.) Let’s clear up that report, though, because it’s scary.
    Fermentation expert Sandor Ellix Katz sums it up nicely: “In
    1995 the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) publication Morbidity and
    Mortality Weekly Report ran a story headlined, ‘Unexplained Severe
    Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea,’ with
    possibly being the operative word. In two separate incidents, weeks
    apart, two women in Iowa had very different unexplained acute health
    episodes. One of them died. Both drank kombucha daily and made it from
    the same original SCOBY. The Iowa Department of Public Health
    immediately issued a warning to stop drinking kombucha ‘until the role
    of the tea in the two cases of illness has been evaluated fully.’ But
    they were never able to explain how kombucha may have been related to
    the illnesses, and 115 other people were identified who drank kombucha
    from the same mother without problems. When the mothers and the kombucha
    that possibly made the women sick were subjected to microbial analysis,
    ‘no known human pathogens or toxin-producing organisms were
    identified.’”
  • Kombucha is an alcoholic drink. TRUE.
    However, it’s a very small amount, usually between .5 and 3%, depending
    on length of fermentation. (Beer contains 4-6%.) Single fermentation
    home brews of kombucha usually contain only .5% alcohol. If you do a
    second fermentation in a bottle, to flavor it and increase the
    carbonation, the alcohol content will increase slightly. Store bought
    brands were found to contain more, because the product is still
    fermenting in the bottle, and a long time can pass between bottling and
    purchase. For this reason, kombucha was temporarily pulled from store shelves in 2010, while the federal alcohol trade bureau tested numerous samples and developed guidelines
    for kombucha manufacturers. Now, all store bought brands are supposed
    to have taken steps to prevent fermentation from continuing in the
    bottle. Sadly, this often means pasteurization, which limits the
    benefits of the drink.
  • If you ferment more than one kind of food or beverage
    (sauerkraut, kefir, kombucha, etc.) you need to keep them away from each
    other, for fear of cross-contamination: MYTH.
    Sandor Ellix Katz addressed this in his book, The Art of Fermention:While
    different cultures may subtly influence one another through the air
    over time, typically this is not an issue….Betty Stechmeyer, who
    co-founded a starter culture business, GEM cultures, with her late
    husband Gordon and spent 30 years growing and selling fermentation
    starters, reports that for all those years she propagated several
    different sourdoughs, several different milk cultures, tempeh starter
    and more, in one 12×12 foot kitchen. ‘Pretty primitive and simple, eh?’
    She never experienced cross-contamination. I cannot guarantee that
    cross-contamination among cultures is impossible, but it is not a likely
    occurrence, and I encourage enthusiastic experimentalists to ferment to
    your heart’s content without worry.”
  • Kombucha can make you feel worse. TRUE. While
    most people feel benefits from drinking kombucha, some people’s
    symptoms worsen. There are a few potential reasons for this: (1) Healing Crisis: Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of the GAPS Diet, says: “Apart
    from good bacteria a healthy body is populated by beneficial yeasts
    which normally protect the person from pathogenic (bad) yeasts, such as
    candida albicans. Kefir (and kombucha) contain these beneficial yeasts
    (as well as the beneficial bacteria) which help to take pathogenic
    yeasts under control.” 
    This is a good thing, but sometimes the body
    goes through a reaction to the mass die-off of bad bacteria and yeast,
    and temporarily symptoms worsen. This can last from a few days to a few
    weeks, but when the symptoms pass, people’s health improves
    dramatically. (2) Gluten Cross-Reaction: Update: Gluten Cross-Reaction has proven to be a myth. Thanks to reader Sarah for this new information. (3) Histamine or Yeast Intolerance:
    Fermented foods contain beneficial bacteria which improve the health of
    most people, with the exception of those who are yeast or histamine
    intolerant. In those cases, negative symptoms from drinking kombucha
    don’t improve with time, like they do with a healing crisis. So what do
    you do if you feel like kombucha is making you feel worse? First, lower
    the amount of kombucha you are drinking, and only increase as your body
    is able to handle it without discomfort. If you are experiencing a
    healing crisis, lower doses should slow down the die-off reaction and
    alleviate your symptoms. If you continue to have discomfort at small
    doses, stop drinking it altogether and try again in 6 months. (Food
    intolerances often disappear as we heal.)
Conclusion


Now, you know what’s true and what’s not. Leaving the myths behind,
this traditional fermented beverage can still be a wonderful health
tonic. We don’t need exaggerated claims, and we don’t even need to know
how it works (although we’ll keep searching). Paleo guru Mark Sisson
talks a lot about the N=1
(an experiment of one). That simply means that you try something
yourself, and see if adds to, or detracts from, your health. Paleo
leaders Dr. Terry Wahls and Robb Wolf drink kombucha themselves. Robyn Latimer,
who put her lupus into remission through the paleo diet, also drinks it
daily. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends it for the Full GAPS Diet. Her only caveat is that people should avoid it on the more restricted Introduction Diet due to the fluctuating sugar content. My next post will tell you everything you need to make a successful brew, and my final post in this series will give you the recipes. Stay tuned!


Other Articles in the Kombucha Series


Kombucha Supplies


Update: After writing this series of articles on
kombucha, a number of people asked where they could buy quality
supplies. Not everyone has a friend to lend them a SCOBY and tutor them
through the process. So, I decided to become an affiliate of Kombucha Kamp. Hannah Crum has been brewing kombucha for over a decade and sells everything from quality SCOBYs to continuous brew systems. Whatever you need, she’s got you covered.

~~~

The following websites were very helpful in my research:


- See more at: http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/03/25/kombucha-myths-vs-truths/#sthash.Qa0gwpGt.dpuf