![]() ![]() The yeast consumes the sugar, fermenting it into carbon dioxide and ethanol. In other words, kombucha contains alcohol. And if there is one claim that seems to have merit, it’s GT Dave’s insistence that kombucha “makes your spirits fly. Such claims have not born out in clinical studies while gut microbes are vital to health, maintaining them isn’t necessarily best approached by introducing random microbial colonies floating in fermented tea.Īll of this I know, and yet I buy kombucha occasionally, because I started to like the flavor, which is sometimes worth the financial regret. GT came to believe that kombucha “played a strong role in helping her to overcome the breast cancer.” Other kombucha producers-and consumers-have made claims about improved liver function, weight loss, improved complexion, and reduced hair loss. The ethereally young-looking founder, GT Dave, describes himself as “a lifelong practitioner of health” whose bottled microbial product “bolsters immunity.” In 1994, GT’s mother, Laraine (who inspired the brand’s logo when she conceived GT in the lotus position), was diagnosed with breast cancer. ![]() The company’s mission is to “combine the wisdom of ancient medicinal foods with the resources of the modern day to create products that uplift and enlighten the health of all those who enjoy them.” These beliefs are at the center of the marketing strategy by the largest producer of kombucha in the U.S., GT’s Kombucha (“Living Food for the Living Body”). Part of the idea is that ingesting life microorganisms is good for the balance of the ecosystems that live in our guts, commonly known as the gut microbiome. As the importance of gut microbes in health has come to light, sales of live-bacterial products like kombucha suddenly have seemed to offer some explanation for long-held health beliefs. ![]() boom has really come in the last decade, increasing more rapidly year over year. The drink has been around in some form for between 2000 and 200 years-its history is shrouded in mystery, but it does involve transport out of Asia by German World War I POWs, and then seeding in California during the AIDS epidemic. It is alive and self-perpetuating-new starter colonies (sometimes known as “daughters”) typically come from other kombucha (“big momma”). The entity looks like a pallid slab of human subcutaneous tissue, or a shiny undercooked pancake. The microbes are together known as a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). Kombucha is a sugar-sweetened tea (black or green) that has been mixed with yeast and bacteria and then given time to ferment. It’s a short chapter space can be filled with illustrations. So chapter one of your fermented-health book would be “What is kombucha?” That idea has brought the centuries-old drink roaring into upper-middle class consciousness at $5 per bottle in New York bodegas. The recent spike in popular awareness that not all bacteria are evil-and that many are good and necessary to human health-has created a sort of fascination with live cultures and fermented products. ![]() The unique functional ingredient, meanwhile, is microbes. At least in that way, the drink is functional. Last month, PepsiCo acquired the small kombucha company Kevita for around $200 million. this year will be around $600 million, with projections for 25 percent annual growth. Or, used in a sentence: “Kombucha now occupies about one-third of our refrigerated functional-beverage shelf.” Kombucha is a smart choice, because the drink has the fastest-growing segment of the “functional beverage” market in the U.S.-a category vaguely defined by one industry publication as “drinks with added functionality, such as ingredients and associated health benefits and functional positioning.” As in, water isn’t functional. The cover could be you and Gwyneth surrounded by honey and dirt, applying probiotic ointments, eating kimchi and smile-laughing over a cauldron of home-brewed kombucha. That’s a rule from a best-selling diet book that a health guru-maybe you, or Gwyneth Paltrow-could write. ![]()
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