Is Kombucha a miracle immune booster? Discover the facts and myths surrounding Kombucha's immune-boosting properties. Learn more here.
People everywhere are increasingly becoming health-conscious and looking for ways to improve their body's natural capacities and abilities. Whether you’re a new or seasoned kombucha drinker, you might wonder "does kombucha boost your immune system?" We’ll get to that. Choosing the right foods as part of your diet can go a long way toward helping you control inflammation, boost your microbiome, and help you stay healthier. Research shows that fermented foods like kombucha may indeed be a key part of that healthy diet.
Are you looking for strategies that can help you improve your overall immune health? Does kombucha boost immune systems? You may have done some research into fermented foods like kombucha and how they can help you achieve your goals. So let’s look at how kombucha, as part of your healthy diet, can help decrease inflammation and improve immunity.
Kombucha has a number of key ingredients.
Making kombucha is a science, but it’s also relatively simple. Those basic ingredients can be combined in many different ways, providing you with a variety of potential flavors to explore.
Can those simple ingredients really provide health benefits? Does kombucha boost immune systems? Simply put: yes! The familiar ingredients in kombucha can mean considerable health impact—and simply adding kombucha as part of an overall healthy diet can help improve your immune system because of its status as a fermented, probiotic-rich (and delicious!) beverage.
Just how does kombucha boost immune systems? To answer that question, let’s look at the bigger picture: your gut health and microbiome diversity.
Fermented foods, including kimchi and kombucha, are known to help increase overall microbiome diversity. The gut microbiome is responsible for a number of important tasks across the human body, including:
Your microbiome can impact your overall health and wellness. If your microbiome is out of whack, which may occur due to excess sugar consumption, eating unhealthy foods, or even illness and common medications, you may find that your overall health decreases. In fact, you may have a higher overall risk of getting sick, and it may take you longer to recover from even common illnesses.
Consuming foods that have gone through the fermentation process, on the other hand, helps boost microbiome diversity. During the fermentation process for kombucha, a specific mix of yeast and healthy bacteria are added to the kombucha mix. The sugar from the tea base acts to feed the yeast and bacteria, which will continue to grow beneficial colonies of bacteria that can offer benefits throughout your body.
As a result, you will have a more diverse group of bacteria within your body, which may ultimately contribute to improving your immune system.
Inflammation is your immune system's natural response to encountering any kind of pathogen. That inflammation helps fight the pathogen, making your body an inhospitable environment. However, inflammation can also have a damaging impact across your body.
High levels of inflammation may lead to heart problems, kidney problems, weight gain, joint pain, and lack of motivation. It may also be linked to conditions like depression and anxiety. Chronic inflammation can cause your immune system to start to attack healthy tissue and may increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and arthritis.
Over time, an elevated inflammatory response can decrease your immune system function and make it harder for you to fight off damaging pathogens.
On the other hand, the fermentation process may introduce substances that can decrease the inflammatory proteins present in your body, which may, in turn, lead to lower levels of inflammation and higher overall levels of immunity.
A gut microbiome with little diversity may lead to an increased risk of obesity. Due to inadequate diversity in the gut microbiome, many people cannot fully process the foods they consume on a regular basis. As a result, they may have a much harder time losing weight.
Obesity is considered a state of malnutrition. Like other cases when the body does not get adequate nutrients, obesity may lead to a decline in immune function. Obesity may also lead to higher levels of body inflammation due to greater stress on the body as a whole, which can also lead to a decline in overall immune function.
While adding kombucha to your diet alone probably will not decrease your weight, when you use it in conjunction with a healthy diet and regular physical activity, you may find that it can help you feel better and contribute to your weight loss. As a result, you will be more likely to maintain a healthy immune system.
Probiotics, including the ones found in kombucha, can help increase your overall immune response, including your antibody protections. Probiotics serve several basic functions. They activate the regulatory cells that produce immune-responding cells, including T-cells, which help lead the immune response.
T-cells may help fight off pathogens in the body, often before people realize they're sick. The T-cell response can also help with acquired immunity: as your body learns how to fight off a specific infection better, it can respond more effectively to it in the future.
Consuming probiotics can help your body naturally produce more of those vital cells. Thanks to that increased production, you may be better able to manage exposure to potential pathogens, which can help prevent you from getting sick.
While kombucha can aid in your immune response, it is, of course, not a catch-all for ensuring that you never get sick. Kombucha alone should not be used to treat any medical condition. You may also want to talk to your doctor to discuss adding kombucha to your diet and how adding it may help you improve your overall immune health. Your doctor or a nutritionist can help you incorporate kombucha as part of a healthy diet and exercise plan, which may help you improve your immune function and overall health.
While kombucha can have a number of immune-regulating benefits, it's important to ensure that you introduce it into your diet correctly to maximize your benefits. As you ask, "Does kombucha boost immune systems?" keep in mind that it’s a small piece of the puzzle, and make sure you consider how to include it as part of your healthy diet and lifestyle. Here are some ways you can do this:
A variety of the substances you consume on a regular basis, from excess sugar to over-the-counter medications intended to help manage pain or fight cold and flu symptoms, can all interfere with your gut microbiome. If you want to experience the full health benefits of kombucha, consume it regularly a part of your efforts to increase your intake of fermented foods.
Many foods and beverages, many of which may already be a popular part of your diet, can interfere with your gut microbiome and overall health. Avoiding those foods can help you remain healthier and support your gut microbiome. You may want to avoid:
You may also want to avoid things like fried foods or foods that lack beneficial nutrients since all of those foods may decrease your gut health and lead to decreased immunity.
In order to be sure that you're getting the best possible benefit to your gut health, try incorporating foods that can help boost immunity into your overall diet. You may want to incorporate citrus fruits, ginger, red bell peppers, spinach, and garlic on a regular basis to help improve your overall immune functioning.
Make a habit of "eating the rainbow." While it's not a perfect science, the color of your fruits and vegetables will often reflect the nutrients contained by that particular food. When you eat foods from all colors of the rainbow—foods that occur naturally, rather than those that have been dyed to match those colors—you can feel more confident that you're getting an array of healthy foods that can help support your diet and overall immune function.
Oily fish, for example, can have a number of health-boosting benefits, including improved immune health. Red meat, on the other hand, can be harder for your body to break down. You may also benefit from seeking out plant-based sources of protein when possible.
If you've been looking for a delicious daily beverage that can help improve the diversity of your gut microbiome, adding kombucha to your diet could be the option you've been looking for. Check out the array of flavors and options available at Brew Dr, or contact us to learn more about the potential benefits of kombucha.
