August 1, 2023 – People with type 2 diabetes who drank the fermented tea beverage kombucha for a month lowered their blood sugar from dangerous to protected levels, a small recent pilot study from Georgetown University shows.
Kombucha is created from tea that’s fermented with bacteria and yeast. The drink's history dates back to 200 BC in China, and it has develop into so popular lately that it is out there in major grocery stores and fast food outlets. This latest study, published Monday in Limits of nutritionrecorded the blood sugar levels of 12 individuals who drank 230 ml of ginger kombucha every day for 4 weeks. These data were in comparison with blood sugar levels during one other 4-week period wherein the people drank a similar-tasting placebo drink.
The average age of the study participants was 57 years. Nine were women, six of the participants were black and the opposite six were white. Nine were receiving insulin therapy.
On average, their fasting blood sugar levels dropped from 164 milligrams to 116 milligrams per deciliter after drinking kombucha. The American Diabetes Association recommends a pre-meal blood sugar level of between 70 and 130 milligrams per deciliter, in keeping with a summary of the study published by the university.
“Some laboratory and rodent studies on kombucha have shown promising results, and a small study in people without diabetes showed that kombucha lowered blood sugar, but to our knowledge, this is the first clinical trial to examine the effects of kombucha in people with diabetes,” said researcher Dan Merenstein, MD, a Georgetown professor of human sciences and family medicine, in a opinion“There is still a lot more research to be done, but this is very promising.”
One strength of the study is that participants weren’t told that that they had to alter their weight loss plan in the course of the study, Merenstein said.
The kombucha utilized in the study was made by Washington, DC-based manufacturer Craft Kombucha, which is being rebranded as Brindle Boxer Kombucha. The researchers said the important thing bacteria and yeast in kombucha are likely similar across different brands and batches.
More than 33 million people within the United States suffer from type 2 diabetes, in keeping with the CDCIf the disease isn’t treated, it results in high blood sugar levels, which could cause heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease.