Kombuch in NYTimes

[kl5]

Interesting article today in the New York Times about kombucha. Of course there are the warnings from Dr. Weil about how unsafe it is. I was surprised to hear that Red Bull and Honest Tea were selling kombucha! Not something I would be interested in spending money on...

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by kl5

Interesting article today in the New York Times about kombucha. Of course there are the warnings from Dr. Weil about how unsafe it is. I was surprised to hear that Red Bull and Honest Tea were selling kombucha! Not something I would be interested in spending money on...

I'm thrilled to see kombucha getting national press And not just for selfish reasons

[CeciMami]

Why would anyone think it was unsafe? I thought it was a traditional fermented drink and had been around forever?

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by CeciMami

Why would anyone think it was unsafe? I thought it was a traditional fermented drink and had been around forever?

I think there are a couple of issues. Primarily, it's not well studied/understood (like many traditional foods) so it suffers from a lot of anecdotal claims. Some people claim it's literally a cure all for everything from weight loss to nausea from chemotherapy (I'm not saying this--I'm just giving examples of some of the things I've seen)--a few people out there even credit it for curing their cancer. Obviously extreme claims often attract negative attention--too good to be true and all that. On the flip side, there are some people who claim severe negative reactions (liver failure showed up on the internet awhile back). Of course none of this, positive or negative, has been conclusively tied to kombucha but it does raise suspicions on both sides.