- Kombucha is a fermented tea that has benefits such as improving gut health.
- Researchers were curious whether the probiotic beverage could be helpful in lowering blood sugar and conducted a study with people with type 2 diabetes.
- The scientists gave two groups of people with type 2 diabetes either kombucha or a placebo drink that tasted similar for 4 weeks and then tested their blood sugar levels. After a break, they switched the groups and tested the participants after another 4 weeks.
- The findings showed that kombucha for 4 weeks significantly decreased fasting blood glucose levels compared to baseline whereas placebo did not.
- According to the researchers, this is the first study testing kombucha in people with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body struggles to either make or manage insulin effectively. Millions of people in the United States have diabetes, and according to the
As type 2 diabetes rates increase, scientists are interested in finding different methods to lower blood sugar, including through diet choices.
Researchers from Georgetown University’s School of Health in Washington D.C. wanted to learn whether
After comparing blood sugar averages between drinking kombucha or a placebo, they learned that just 4 weeks of drinking kombucha lowered fasting blood sugar levels before meals from 164 to 116 milligrams per deciliters (mg/dL) on average.
For comparison, the American Diabetes Association says normal fasting glucose before meals is 80–130 mg/dL.
The study is published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
The researchers recruited participants from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s General Internal Medicine Clinic, a facility the authors note has “a strong interest in diabetes…
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