Kombucha, a fermented black tea, may help in lowering blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes, a new study has revealed. A team of researchers from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. conducted the study.
They found that people with type 2 diabetes who drank the fermented tea drink kombucha for four weeks had lower fasting blood glucose levels compared to when they consumed a similar-tasting placebo beverage.
During the study, 12 people with type 2 diabetes were involved, with half drinking eight ounces (236ml) of kombucha daily for four weeks and the others given a placebo drink.
“Researchers then swapped what the groups consumed – with the placebo sample getting kombucha and vice versa. The US-based scientists found that after a month the drink appeared to lower average fasting blood glucose levels, while those having a placebo showed no difference,” the university said in a statement.
The university also revealed that a larger project is now being called for to see if the results hold true over a bigger sample size.
“Some laboratory and rodent studies of kombucha have shown promise and one small study in people without diabetes showed kombucha lowered blood sugar, but to our knowledge this is the first clinical trial examining effects of kombucha in people with diabetes. A lot more research needs to be done but this is very promising. A strength of our trial was that we didn’t tell people what to eat because we used a crossover design that limited the effects of any variability in a person’s diet,” “Author Professor Dan Merenstein, from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington DC, said in a statement.
The findings of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition on August 1.
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a fermented drink made up of sweetened black or green tea. During the fermentation process, alcohol is also added which is below 0.5 percent. Studies suggest that people have consumed fermented tea for thousands of years.
Some studies reveal that Kombucha is rich in beneficial probiotics. Kombucha has been around for nearly 2,000 years. According to reports, it was first brewed in China and then spread to Japan and Russia.
What are the benefits of Kombucha?
There’s little scientific evidence to back up the claims of its benefits. However, there are some studies that highlight the following benefits:
- It may help in improving your digestion, rids your body of toxins, and boosts your energy.
- Kombucha contains several species of lactic-acid bacteria which may have a probiotic function.
- Kombucha made from green tea may offer health benefits such as weight loss and blood sugar management.
- Drinking kombucha regularly reduces liver toxicity caused by toxic chemicals, sometimes by at least 70%, as per some rat studies.
- Kombucha is rich in tea polyphenols and acetic acid that can suppress the growth of undesirable bacteria and yeasts.
- Studies show Kombucha has been shown to improve bad (LDL) and good (HDL) cholesterol levels in rats.
