Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between fact and fiction on the Internet. Especially when it comes to Kombucha. Kombucha myths are easy to find.

“I don’t drink Kombucha because of the sugar.”

A properly fermented, home-made Kombucha will have little to no sugar. I don’t like to ferment mine so long that there’s no sugar left. At some point I’ll purchase a test kit to know how much sugar is in my kombucha. Be careful of commercial brands that add sugar after fermenting. If you can’t stand the taste of no-sugar-added Kombucha, it’s not a bad idea to start out with one with sugar added to get used to drinking it. You can always graduate slowly to one without the sugar. Not everyone will want to drink something as tart as Kombucha. 

“There are no probiotics in Kombucha.”

Probiotics are live organisms, such as yeasts and bacteria, that promote life. “Pro” means “for” and “biotic” means “life,” so probiotic means “for life.” Kombucha can’t be made without a SCOBY, which stands for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. A SCOBY is also known as a “mother,” “mushroom,” or “pancake.” To see if your store-bought Kombucha contains live cultures, try to grow your own SCOBY by putting some in a glass and leaving it on your counter for a week or so. You’ll see a film start to grow if it is alive.  Populating our guts with good yeasts and good bacteria promotes life.

A consensus definition of the term “probiotics,” based on the available information and scientific evidence, was adopted after a joint Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization expert consultation. In October 2001, this expert consultation defined probiotics as: “live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”

 “Kombucha isn’t good for us because tea contains lots of fluoride, so Kombucha has lots of fluoride in it”