The History and Hepatoprotective and curative propertiesof Kombucha Tea and

History
1. First developed in Manchuria, kombucha spread throughout the Far East. The ancient Chinese consumed the fermented tea as a health remedy as far back as 220 B.C, according to "Better Nutrition for Today's Living." The word itself comes from a fifth-century Korean doctor named Kombu, who brought the drink to Japan. It wasn't until the 1960s that the drink was popularized in the United States by counterculture hippies in search of alternative means to good health.
Uses
2. Kombucha is a folk remedy used to treat a wide range of health ailments, including lethargy, acne, gastrointestinal distress, weak libido, PMS, high cholesterol, obesity, lung problems, wrinkles, cancer and MS.
Active Ingredients
3. Kombucha contains lactic acid and glucuronic acid. Lactic acid, an antibiotic, is especially good at combating putrefactive bacteria in the intestines. Glucuronic acid is a potent detoxifier. It binds with poisons and toxins in the body, causing them to be excreted instead of absorbed. The only other place to find glucuronic acid is in the liver, according to "Better Nutrition for Today's Living."
How Kombucha Is Made
4. Kombucha tea is made by allowing a starter culture to ferment (grow) in a mixture of tea, sugar and water. The fermentation process is what produces the health benefits in the tonic, and no benefit can be gained from consuming the culture itself, according to "Coffee and Tea Trader Journal." Starter cultures can be purchased online, but there are many precautions for successful home-brewing of Kombucha tea

more ....

Hepatoprotective and curative properties of Kombucha tea against carbon tetrachloride-induced toxicity.
Murugesan GS, Sathishkumar M, Jayabalan R, Binupriya AR, Swaminathan K, Yun SE.

Department of Biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.

Kombucha tea (KT) is sugared black tea fermented with a symbiotic culture of acetic acid bacteria and yeasts, which is said to be tea fungus. KT is claimed to have various beneficial effects on human health, but there is very little scientific evidence available in the literature. In the present study, KT along with black tea (BT) and black tea manufactured with tea fungus enzymes (enzyme-processed tea, ET) was evaluated for hepatoprotective and curative properties against CCl4-induced toxicity, using male albino rats as an experimental model by analyzing aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase in plasma and malondialdehyde content in plasma and liver tissues. Histopathological analysis of liver tissue was also included. Results showed that BT, ET, and KT have the potential to revert the CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity. Among the three types of teas tried, KT was found to be more efficient than BT and ET. Antioxidant molecules produced during the fermentation period could be the reason for the efficient hepatoprotective and curative properties of KT against CCI4-induced hepatotoxicity.