Just a few years ago, kombucha was a drink reserved for fitness gurus and wellness influencers. But nowadays, it seems like it’s everywhere. Not only are there tons of brands of the drink in the supermarket, but so many people are brewing it themselves.
Homemade kombucha is a fermented, probiotic drink that has a base of tea. It can be green or black. To make the kombucha, a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, or “SCOBY,” is added to tea with sugar. The drink is fermented for 10 to 14 days. The SCOBY grows over the fermentation period, growing more helpful bacteria, with the sugar acting as food for the bacteria. It creates a fermented, carbonated drink.
When brewed correctly, the sugar in kombucha is almost completely eaten by the yeast in the production of the drink. But that is why we don’t recommend drinking homebrewed kombucha.
We are usually all for eating and drinking things made at home, specifically because you know what went into them, and you can control the nutrition. But with homemade kombucha, you can end up with something with more sugar than you realize. Fermenting the drink also creates small amounts of alcohol. Usually, it’s so slight that the drink isn’t classified as alcoholic. It’s less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). But even some store-bought brands have been recalled for having an ABV of three percent. If it’s made at home, testing it can be more difficult.
There have been other health concerns around homebrewed kombucha. We think being overly cautious about them is mostly fearmongering. There has been one case of cardiac arrest, one death, one case of inflammation of the heart muscle and several cases of hepatitis or liver inflammation. Those are all very serious problems. They’re also highly unlikely to happen to you. When a problem is so rare that we don’t like to stress it, because then it makes the more serious concerns seem trivial. We’re worried about how much sugar and alcohol might be in the drink, not other health concerns.
Kombucha is a healthy drink that many people love. The acetic acid in the drink can aid insulin sensitivity and slow the absorption of sugar. The probiotics in the drink help gut health that, in turn, can also benefit blood sugar health. It can be a wonderful part of a blood sugar-friendly diet. But we recommend drinking a recognized brand with a clearly written nutrition label, not something homebrewed. It is your safest option.
