Unlocking the Secrets of Kombucha: A Comprehensive Guide to Health and Wellness.

What is Kombucha ?

A 2000 year old, fermented tea, Kombucha is a probiotic powerhouse. Known for its healing properties, this age-old Asian brew, was Called the - “Tea of immortality”. An all-natural drink, it contains probiotics and healthy organic acids, that aid digestion, and refresh the body and mind.

A naturally fermented, sweetened tea, Kombucha is made from four simple ingredients: tea, sugar, water, and SCOBY (stands for: Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast). A SCOBY is added to sweetened, brewed tea, and allowed to ferment. Fermentation is the process during which the friendly bacteria and yeast (probiotics), consume the sugar in sweetened tea and turn it into a tasty and slightly bubbly Kombucha. The sugar is the food for the probiotics, and its percentage keeps reducing as the probiotics multiply, along the fermentation process. With an all-natural process and ingredients, this healthy and yummy probiotic drink is your perfect low sugar and low calorie replacement to sugary sodas, pasteurised juices and caffeinated drinks.

At Go Grin’s, we infuse our Kombucha with fresh fruits and herbs, combining plant based nutrition with the goodness of probiotics. This refreshing, low calorie drink, is a curated blend that will tickle your taste buds and calm your gut.

Metabolic activity of Kombucha tea.

Why are probiotic foods important?

We have trillions of microorganisms living in our digestive system. Probiotics are good bacteria, (micro-organisms) that when consumed maintain and restore beneficial bacteria to the digestive tract. These good guys are not just important for our well-being but essential for our survival.

Constantly working on our behalf, these good guys a.k.a. probiotics, aid digestion, protect against certain infections and regulate our immune system and even our mood. However, modern lifestyle has depleted the diversity of our gut microbiome. Living in concrete jungles, our minimized interaction with nature (soil, animals, plants), has led to reduced bacterial exposure and dispersal. Leaving us more prone to allergies, infections, and chronic diseases.

Another major reason for our reduced exposure to bacteria is our mindless consumption of processed foods. Processed food, are sterile dead calories, saturated with preservatives and chemicals, minus the healthy bacteria.

One of the best ways to introduce healthy bacteria into your body is by eating a wide variety of probiotic living foods. Curd, kombucha, cheese, kefir, sauer­kraut, kanji, etc. are the best ways to top up and increase the variety of good bacteria in your gut. We encourage you to add both prebiotics (fiber) and probiotics to your diet, for a stronger gut.

What are the benefits of Kombucha?

A low-calorie, refreshing drink, Kombucha, is rich in probiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, organic acids, and enzymes. These elements combine to make Kombucha a healthy beverage that supports the gut, aids digestion, and boost immune health.

Kombucha, your pathway to good health.

• A probiotic powerhouse
  

• High in antioxidants
  

• Your vitamin B cocktail
  

• Rich in digestive enzymes
  

• Packed with Organic acids
  

Kombucha is a probiotic powerhouse, that restores and maintains beneficial gut bacteria.

Probiotics and Immunity:

With nearly 70 percent of your immune system housed in your gut, it’s surprising how little attention you pay it. The good bacteria in your digestive tract help protect you from harmful bacteria and fungi. When there is an imbalance in your gut, such as an overgrowth of ‘bad’ bacteria, it is not only easier for you to get sick but even harder for your body to recover. This is why maintaining the balance and health of your digestive system is important to protect your immune system.

The foods and beverages you consume affect how your digestive system operates and can disrupt the balance of the good and bad bacteria found in your gut. Whenever possible, you must avoid processed foods. They contain additives such as artificial sweeteners, salt, and saturated fats that can lead to digestive issues. Antibiotics also disrupt the balance in the gut bacteria. While antibiotics have benefits, the trouble with antibiotics is that they don’t just kill the ‘bad’ bacteria causing the infection but also kill the good bacteria that live in our gut. Thus, regularly supplementing your diet with probiotics is a must.

Probiotics and Digestion:

Kombucha naturally contains probiotics and healthy organic acids - that aid digestion, help break down the fiber in your body, provide important nutrition to the cells lining your digestive tract, and reduce indigestion symptoms including gas, bloating, and irritable bowel syndrome(IBS). One of the best ways to get more good guys (probiotics) working for your health is by eating fermented foods. Not only do they boost the nutritional benefit you get from food and aid with digestion, but they also increase the variety of probiotics that live in your gut. Probiotics are found in fermented foods such as yogurt, kombucha, cheese, kimchi, sauerkraut, etc. We encourage you to add both prebiotics (fiber) and probiotics to your diet, for a stronger gut.

Probiotics and mental well-being:

The gut, also called the second brain, not only houses 500 million neurons (the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system), but it also independently produces many major brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, etc, that regulate mood and boost memory. The general assumption is that neurotransmitters are produced and utilized only in the brain. However, the truth is your gut creates and uses more than 30 neurotransmitters. In fact, more than 50% of dopamine and 90% of serotonin are made in the gut. Dopamine affects your emotions and sensations of pleasure or pain, while serotonin—or the happy chemical—regulates mood and boosts memory. Whether your goal is to reduce anxiety, stress, mood swings, or brain fog or to enhance cognition, probiotics can help support mental clarity and gut health.

High on antioxidants:

Green and black tea are loaded with polyphenol antioxidants. Polyphenols are known to act as strong antioxidants in the body and decrease inflammation, which is the root cause of many diseases and conditions. So it comes as no surprise that Kombucha, a fermented tea, is also bursting with antioxidants. In fact, Kombucha has been found to have higher antioxidant activity than unfermented tea.

Your Vitamin-B cocktail:

Kombucha is a good source of B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, and B12, to be specific), that have a direct impact on your energy levels, brain function, and cell metabolism. Vitamin B12, a common deficiency, can leave you feeling tired, and weak, and lead to other negative symptoms. It’s often found in animal products, so topping up with this ‘vitamin B cocktail’ can be a good source of B12 for vegans and vegetarians.

Packed with Organic acids:

Many of the benefits of fermentation, come from the healthy organic acids - acetic acid, lactic acid, and glucuronic acid, produced by the probiotics, as they rapidly multiply consuming the sugar in the sweetened brewed tea.

Acetic acid: It is the one responsible for the vinegary flavor detected by many in Kombucha. Also found in Apple Cider, another healthy fermented beverage, Acetic acid is known to control blood sugar, decrease appetite and hunger, inhibit colonization of pathogenic bacteria in the gut, lower cholesterol, and triglycerides, prevent constipation, prevent and treat ulcers, and even increase the body’s absorption of vital minerals from the food we eat.

Lactic Acid: Lactic acid, another one of the healthy organic acids, also found in plenty in yogurt, improves digestion (especially of lactose), controls infection in the gut, and provides beneficial bacteria to support gut health, amongst a host of other benefits.

Glucuronic Acid: A very powerful detoxifier that cleanses the body and supports the liver. The cultured kombucha contains glucuronic acid, an organic acid that binds with toxins in the body and safely eliminates them. In this way, it helps promote detoxification and cleansing within the body. Many health practitioners utilize the detox components of kombucha for conditions like arthritis and joint ailments.