Why Kombucha tea could be good for people with diabetes

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

A trendy fermented tea could lower the blood sugar levels of people with type two diabetes, according to new research.

Scientists believe that drinking kombucha could become an intervention to curb type two patients’ rising blood sugar levels.

Scientists from Georgetown University and the University of Nebraska joined researchers from non-profit health firm MedStar Health to discover that drinking a 236ml glass of the drink every day for four weeks lowered patients’ blood sugar.

Meanwhile, the blood sugar stayed the same among their diabetic peers who drank the same amount of a placebo beverage that tasted similar.

The bacteria and yeast-filled beverage originated in China as early as 200 BC, but took until the 1990s to become popular in the US.

Anecdotal claims it boosts immunity and energy levels propelled its Western appeal.

Americans and Britons have also flocked to the drink because it is believed to reduce food cravings and gut inflammation.

However, the rumors have not been widely proven.

Dr. Dan Merenstein, Georgetown’s School of Health, said: “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.”

One group drank eight ounces of kombucha for four weeks, while the others drank the placebo.

After a two-month rest period, allowing the biological effects to ‘wash out’, the teams switched drinks.

Neither knew which they were drinking at any point in the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

Kombucha appears to lower the average fasting blood glucose levels after four weeks, with 164 milligrams per decilitre decreasing to 116.

Meanwhile ingesting the placebo made no statistical difference.

American Diabetes Association guidelines recommended that pre-meal blood sugar levels should be between 70 and 130ml per decilitre.

RNA gene sequencing confirmed the drink was primarily, and in equal measure, made up of lactic and acetic acid bacteria, and a form of yeast called Dekkera.

The team picked Craft Kombucha, a commercial manufacturer in the Washington DC area, which re-branded its products as Brindle Boxer Kombucha.

Dr. Robert Hutkins, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the study’s senior author, said: “Different studies of different brands of kombucha by different manufacturers reveal slightly different microbial mixtures and abundances.

“However, the major bacteria and yeasts are highly reproducible and likely to be functionally similar between brands and batches, which was reassuring for our trial.”

Dr. Chagai Mendelson, a lead author from MedStar Health, said the blood sugar disorder is a major problem in the States and he hopes their work will be continued.

He said: “An estimated 96 million Americans have pre-diabetes -- and diabetes itself is the eighth leading cause of death in the US as well as being a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

“We were able to provide preliminary evidence that a common drink could have an effect on diabetes.

“We hope that a much larger trial, using the lessons we learned in this trial, could be undertaken to give a more definitive answer to the effectiveness of kombucha in reducing blood glucose levels, and hence prevent or help treat type-II diabetes.”