Top 10 Kombucha Health Benefits | Part 3

Kombucha Benefits coming right up, but first a word from out sponsor the FDA… Shout out to the FDA and Lawyers: Information about the Benefits of Kombucha is for educational purposes only. These kombucha health benefts statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. It is not medical advice, nor is it intended to replace the advice or attention of heath-care professionals. Whew…
New Video… What Are The Benefits of Kombucha?

Quick, SMILE. Great, now you are fully prepared to learn about the benefits of drinking (and other uses – more on that later) K-Tea.
OK – So what exactly are the benefits of kombucha? I'm sure many of you were brought to GetKombucha to learn more about kombucha benefits because you heard about all the amazing benefits. Whether it was your friend who lost some weight, stories printed on commercial bottles claiming that it helped with cancer treatment, or recently the attention kombucha is getting in the media as a natural source of energy.

Kombucha Hype?

However, for every ten drinkers reporting how amazing this stuff is, there are one or two that say there is no scientific evidence and that it's Bologna.
As a kombucha company, it would be great to claim 101 things that kombucha health benefits can do without any research. However ethically we didn't think that was appropriate, plus so many other places are just putting up everything and the kitchen sink when it comes to the benefits of kombucha.

We thought we'd do something special here. Below you will find 3 sections that are all dedicated to sharing the benefits of kombucha in the most transparent way possible.
section 1 – my kombucha benefits experience.
The first is my personal experience with the benefits of drinking kombucha tea. It discusses how I first discovered it, my initial experiences with kombucha, and any associated benefits I continue to experience by brewing and drinking kombucha tea.
I feel very comfortable speaking about this because it is my personal experience and personal opinion, so I know it is true for me.
section 2 – top ten real booch benefits list 2011.
The second is a survey on our customers and their experience with kombucha. Once we began providing kombucha cultures and brewers, within weeks we received unsolicited testimonies. That encouraged us to send out a survey to document other personal experiences.
We feel it is doing a service to other kombucha drinkers or for those who are about to begin drinking kombucha to discover what other drinkers are reporting as benefits. This does not mean that you will have the same or different results, but it is a wonderful way to gauge the reported effects of this tea.
Before, the alternative was just unscientific claims (by some people who don't even drink kombucha!).
section 3 – how does kombucha benefit the body?.The final third section will discuss the general opinion of how kombucha is able to benefit so many different ailments. And why different drinkers enjoy different affects.

My Personal Story

A long time ago, I discovered the wonder of Kombucha while enjoying some lunch with a wonderful friend in a vegan restaurant and I was hooked. The taste was nothing I had ever experienced before. As soon as I drank the tea, I felt it go down into my stomach (kind of like drinking iced cold water on an empty stomach on a hot summer's day).
My friend was explaining to me that it was a mushroom tea (which we know from class one that it's not), and all the associated benefits. I thought it was all mumbo jumbo, but I didn't care this stuff tasted AMAZING! plus it had about 1/5 the calories of soda but it still had that fizzy carbonation of a soda.
The meal was done and about an hour passed by and that's when I realized it. I didn't have any acid reflux! This was nuts considering I have been on acid reflux medicine for years (Prilosec, Protonic, Acifex, you name I've taken it and paid up to $166 bucks a month for it).
Not only that, I also realized that I went to the bathroom about ten minutes after the meal. I also didn't have that "Just eaten let me sleep now like it's Thanksgiving" feeling.
In a word, I felt CLEAN. That's the only way I can describe it. I thought it was a fluke, so I bought a few more bottles over the next couple of days, and every time (with exception to the 2 apple pies I got at a famous fast food restaurant, nothing can save you from that), I felt CLEAN.
However, I was a little turned off by the price of Kombucha Tea at our local markets (some places chargeg up to 5 Bucks a Bottle!) and decided to enter the wonderful world of brewing my own Kombucha with a Kombucha Culture. After brewing hundreds of batches, do you know what I discovered? Well do you? I am a computer typed message, so I can wait if you are still in thought.
I discovered that brewing Kombucha IS EASY and FUN. That's right, if you can bake a cake, you can brew Kombucha. And not even a made from scratch, grandma cake. I'm talking about the pour and mix variety. I also began sharing the tea with my friends and family.
Soon, friends all around were stopping by just to say hi as an excuse to get a glass of my Kombucha Tea to get the same komnbucha benefits. Well as the saying goes:

Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day; teach him how to fish, he will eat everyday, and the rest is history.

We'll teach you how to fish in the next class.

So for me, the reason I drink kombucha (and I guess you can call these my kombucha benefits) is as follows:

Kombucha Tastes Amazing. With 1/5th the calories and sugar of soda why wouldn't you?
Kombucha Cured My Acid Reflux. I have not bought any acid reflux pharmaceuticals in over 5 years!
Kombucha Makes Me Feel Really Really Good. In a word kombucha makes me feel clean. I digest my food better, it gives me a little boost both in my mind and body, it helps me poop and pee (yep I said it.), and it really comes in handy after a heavy night of eating and drinking.

Top 10 Kombucha Benefits

Everyone wants to know… what are some Kombucha Benefits of drinking Kombucha Tea. I know for myself it was pretty apparent that it was helping my digestion and acid reflux, but the interesting thing was that several other Kombucha drinkers were experiencing different Kombucha health benefits from one another.
There was a trend, but I wanted to know exactly what these were and what were the most common kombucha benefits amongst REAL kombucha drinkers. For me it is more important talking to other drinkers than just relying on what a dude in a lab coat analysed from a petry dish (not knocking labs or lab coats for that matter as science is really
cool to back up your hunches and lab coats are damn sexy if accessorized correctly.. what?).
Well, rather then wait till a big drug company in the US was ready to fork over millions of bucks to research this stuff (ahem, by now you guys know that you can make kombucha at home for like pennies a serving so don't think the drug companies will be having too much interest in funding a study on kombucha health benefits for a looooooong time), I decided to simply ask our customers and readers of our Kombucha newsletter.
The original survey was back in 2006 (5 years ago!), we have since updated the survey for 2011 and we continue to ask and survey our subscribers!! Together we are compiling the biggest Kombucha Benefits REAL experiences on the internet.
We will be doing another round of surveys soon, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be included.
NOTE: Some people may experience some, all, or none of these Kombucha Benefits… and some kombucha drinkers have reported some slight kombucha side effects. Stay tuned for a kombucha video discussing both the Kombucha Tea Benefits and Kombucha Side Effects and what you can do if you do happen to experience a kombucha side effect… here's a hint; drink MORE WATER!
Also, sorry guys, the list got a little hard to maintain in terms of percentages as time went on so they are not in any particular order, however all have been reported in high enough numbers to be substantial… I am going to look into using a simple Face Book survey on our Facebooke Page so that it will keep count of everything… be sure to join our facebook page to get access to the always updating Kombucha Benefits Information!)

[editorial note] Reported by GetKombucha’s 9,300+ Kombucha Subscribers in Bold. I then add my two cents and a dime to why this might happen… again this is my insight of my research and personally drinking, making, and teaching kombucha for over 5 years. [dave]

#1 – Kombucha Improves Your Digestion. Kombucha is a probiotic which contributes to healthy digestive flora in your gut that can help break down foods and absorb the good stuff, while evacuating the bad stuff easier. Kombucha also is a alkalize forming food when ingested. Kombucha also contains sever beneficial organic acids that have been attributed to better digestion.
#2 – Kombucha Helps You Lose Weight. Going one step further with the digestive benefits of kombucha, the better we can digest our food (both absorb and evacuate), the better chance we have at losing excess weight. This weight loss is usually experienced only for people that are over weight. In fact we have seen the opposite in people that are under weight, as kombucha will also help these people absorb their food easier. A final thought though on the real reason why so many drinkers have reported weight loss, is that these drinkers are replacing their sugary sodas, coffees, and other soft drinks with Kombucha and water. That alone will show a huge success in weight loss.
Kombucha Weight Loss Benefits
#3 – Kombucha Reduces Your Stress Levels. Kombucha is usually made with tea, which contains the component theanine. Theanine promotes alpha wave (the in the zone waves) production in the brain as well as increases serotonin levels. Many other kombucha drinkers also mention that if you drink a little kombucha at night you will sleep better. For me I have not experienced this on a consistent basis (sigh). Now, you could take a theanine supplement or simply drink tea (green tea usually have the highest amount of theanine), but as I have discussed before, kombucha will "super charge" any individual component due to its synergistic delivery system.
#4 – Kombucha Gives You More Energy. As mentioned above, kombucha is usually made with tea which means

Just drank a kombucha

that in addition to the happy relaxed effects of theanine, it also contains the happy "in the zone" effects of caffeine. Typically tea has about a third the amount of caffeine that is found in coffee, and through the fermentation process the amount of caffeine decreases even more, however I would imagine that the caffeine does contribute to the reported energy. However there are several other things going on. Kombucha also has a natural supply of Vitamin B6 as well as other B Vitamins. Kombucha also cleanses and detoxes the liver, so another explanation could be that it is not "giving" you energy, but rather "restoring" your body to its natural state, which is an abundant energetic body. Finally, the small amount of sugar that is found in kombucha is already broken down (sucrose gets broken down into glucose and fructose during the fermentation process). When consumed after exercise or high stress levels, it will act like a Gatorade on steroids… uh, except that it is all natural and the vital minerals that kombucha also provides (we tend to sweat these out), are from natural sources like tea, etc instead of synthetics.
Kombucha Benefits #5 – Kombucha Increases Your Immune System. So, hopefully by now you are beginning to see a synergy going on. Let's put it all together b/c words like Immune System and Detox have been over used in my opinion to just say to cover all bases, but if you are digesting your food better, cleaning out your liver, reducing the amount of sugar intake due to drinking kombucha over soda, juice, etc, lowering your stress levels and getting micro nutrients delivered in a super charged way — obviously you are going to be and feel healthier. Another interesting observation is that I tend to get sick less during cold and flu season… now to be fair I live in California so it usually isn't so cold here, but I am curious to see what the direct effect is of kombucha's probiotics on people who have been taking antibiotics their whole life (perhaps we will be doing another survey soon!).
Video on Kombucha Benefits and Side Effects

#6 – Kombucha Relives Constipation. Digestion = Poop Easier; Acetic Acids = Pee Easier. BUT – the missing ingredient in both equations is…. (drum roll, or hand drum, please)… W-A-T-E-R. In fact water will help all of these reported kombucha benefits. A good rule of thumb is drink equal amounts of water for kombucha. This is in addition to the recommended 8 glasses of water a day (which by the way is only a general recommendation and would vary greatly based on individual, and of course their diet and lifestyle… more on that on another post). So if you have 16oz of kombucha a day… a rule would be have an additional 16oz of water a day. And the best time to do it is right after you drink the kombucha.
#7 – Kombucha Cures Your Hangovers. I wish I could say this benefit is something I experience everytime I drink… ha ha for me though, drinking less is still the best cure for a hangover

— BUT, if you can follow the kombucha protocol of drinking equal parts kombucha and water, kombucha should help. The reason why is plenty: kombucha cleanses the liver, it also has glucose and electrolytes which help blood sugar levels for as well as hydration… when drank with water! In other articles we will show you how to infuse kombucha with your favorite spirit. Hey, if you're gonna drink you mine as well add some stuff to you beverage that makes it taste better and is better for you… can you say Kombucharita?
#8 – Kombucha Cleanses Your Liver. Kombucha contains gluconic acid which continues to break down to caprylic acid a potent
anti-fungal and can immensely help those suffering from Candidiasis (fancy name for candida). Gluconic acid also works in the liver, possibly as part of a
detoxification pathway and why it is believed Kombucha can help the body
detoxify from heavy metals and toxins. I have also found that when taken with milk thistle and other already known and more common liver cleansing herbs it will assist the liver even more. And I know I sound like a broken records (or tape cassette), but all this must be accompanied with WATER!
#9 – Kombucha Makes Your Skin Look Younger and Heals Eczema. When we surveyed we did not have this as a question, but my guess would be it is two fold, both ingesting kombucha and applying the tea (and/or culture), externally to the skin. When applied to the skin it will act as an astringent cleansing out and balancing oily skin. If you do decided to use the culture, set it a aside as your designated external culture and do not use it for making k-tea that will be ingested. Drinking kombucha tea will benefit the skin, in my opinion, from the liver cleansing effects.
And Kombucha Benefit #10 – Kombucha Strengthens and Restores The Color Of Your Hair. Though there were some people that claimed kombucha grew back their hair, the majority of people that have noticed Kombucha hair benefits was that kombucha restored their hair color and strengthened their hair. Again, this is from both internal and external use. I created an instructional kombucha hair recipe video on how to make a kombucha hair rinse.. to this day it works better than any fancy shmancy over priced salon product.

Kombucha Benefits Explained

"The wide variety of complaints relieved by Kombucha is almost not
comprehensible. But it is explainable on the basis that Kombucha
does not target a specific body organ but, rather, influences the
entire organism positively by effecting a stabilization of the
metabolic situation and the detoxifying effect of its glucuronic
acid. In many people, this leads to a heightened endogenic defense
capacity against those toxic influences and environmental stresses
which inundate us from many sides. The result is the invigoration
of a damaged cellular metabolism, and the restoration and firming
up of one's well-being." -Gunther W Frank (leading authority on
kombucha tea, author of "Kombucha: Healthy beverage and natural
remedy from the Far East")

In other words, drinking kombucha lets your body heal itself. In my opinion this is the best general answer, however I would like to add the following. Kombucha, though acidic by itself, is alkalizing to the body when ingested. PH balance is extremely important, and more so than ever when you consider that coffee, caffeine, sugar, and all refined grain products (bread, crackers, cakes, etc), are all Acidic. I also have read the benefits of Apple Cider vinegar in healing with numerous ailments, one of whichbeing Acid reflux. Kombucha has many vinegar properties (though it is NOT apple cider vinegar, if over fermented, it resembles it).
If that is true GREAT, I most certainly would enjoy drinking an iced cold kombucha over apple cider vinegar!
There are some other benefits with Kombucha (specific hangover applications, advanced weight loss, curing athletes foot, etc), but you guys are