Important tips for consuming kombucha to avoid candida flare-ups and why some people who drink it experience worsened symptoms temporarily.
I’ve been asked more than once recently if kombucha is beneficial for those who are battling candida overgrowth. There is evidently a school of thought making the rounds that candida sufferers best avoid this healthful, traditionally fermented beverage.
Is avoidance truly a good course of action? Or, can this probiotic rich beverage actually help gut healing?
What Exactly Is Kombucha?
For those of you new to this delicious beverage, kombucha is a traditional Russian drink that is made from fermenting plain black tea (or a combination of black and green tea) and sugar. It has been consumed for hundreds of years and, through extensive testing in Russia, proven to be an effective overall detoxifier through the binding of the organic acids to toxins present in the body.
Once tightly bound to the organic acids, the toxins are then rushed to the kidneys for excretion.
Russian communities that drink a lot of kombucha do not suffer from cancer at the high rates that plague folks who live near that country’s toxin spewing factories — even when the local flora and fauna are dying!
During the years of the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union used kombucha as one of its secret weapons in the training of its Olympic athletes — the athletes would drink up to 1 quart of kombucha per day to help them train harder.
The popularity of kombucha in North America has been steadily growing for the past 20 years or so. I’ve been brewing kombucha in our home since 2001, and it has proved to be an integral part of our family’s overall wellness strategy.
Do Kombucha and Candida Mix?
We’ve established that kombucha is a healthy, traditional beverage. But, what if a person has candida overgrowth? Will the fact that kombucha contains beneficial yeasts as well as bacteria in the final brew aggravate the situation?
The key is that kombucha contains beneficial yeasts, not pathogenic ones like candida.
Therefore, when someone with candida starts drinking kombucha for the first time, there may indeed be a flare up of symptoms that may confuse the person into thinking that the kombucha is actually making the problem worse.
In fact, this flare up of candida symptoms is more than likely only temporary as the beneficial yeasts and probiotics in this traditional fermented drink begin to rebalance the gut environment.
Rebalancing of the gut environment involves die off of possibly large amounts of pathogens which causes symptoms to flare up temporarily.
How Fermented Tea Discourages Yeast Overgrowth
This short term aggravation of symptoms is sometimes referred to as “a healing crisis” and is necessary if improvement in the gut environment is to occur over the long term.
A healing crisis can occur not only with kombucha, but with other fermented beverages such as kefir or even yogurt.
A friend of mine noticed when she started drinking kefir awhile back that her eczema flared up. I told her to keep on with it and it would eventually go away on its own as the die of symptoms from the aggressive probiotics in the kefir lessened. Sure enough, her eczema went away and her overall health improved considerably from the introduction of raw kefir into her diet.
Even though kombucha can be enjoyed by candida sufferers, it is certainly possible for some folks to not react well to kombucha regardless of whether they suffer from gut imbalance or not. There is no food or drink even if traditional and nourishing that works well for absolutely everyone.
On a personal note, my husband and I both used to suffer from candida overgrowth years ago prior to our introduction to Traditional Foods and kombucha in particular. We have found over the years that drinking kombucha on a daily basis does in fact help considerably in keeping the problem at bay by working to maintain a balanced gut environment.
So drink up and enjoy your kombucha even if candida is something you are working to resolve at the moment. Just be aware that you may get worse before you ultimately get better.
Watch Out for Commercial Brands!
Please note that the kombucha that is safe to drink if you have candida is only plain kombucha ideally brewed yourself. Watch out for commercial kombucha, however!
Store kombucha consumption presents a very real candida flare-up risk. Many if not most commercial brands are loaded with sugar. Definitely avoid them if you have candida issues!
More Information
Want to know more about kombucha and candida? These articles provide more detail for your research.
Fluoride in Kombucha
Does Kombucha Prevent Grey Hair?
Jun Tea: Kombucha Champagne
Batch vs Continuous Brew Kombucha
Have You Tried Kombucha?
Safe Traveling with Kombucha
Kombucha: Drink It and Wear It?
Pau d’Arco: Best Herb for Treating Candida
Biofilms: Overlooked Step in Treating Candida
ahmed esam
i love kombucha tea
Katie J
Hi there,
Great article, so interesting. I recently purchased kombucha from my local farmer’s market and fell in love immediately. Drinking about a glass a day I noticed far less bloating and generally more energy 🙂 However within a week, boom, my eczema completely flared up, more than it had in a long time. All around my eyes, bright red, itchy and really inflamed as well as on the palms of my hands. I thought this may have been a healing crisis as I have had a history of bacterial parasites in my gut, however I was far too stressed at uni to continue. I stopped drinking it and in a matter of days my eczema completely subsided.
The only thing is I miss the kombucha, and know how wonderful the health benefits are. How long would a healthy crisis go for? I would like to give it another go. It seems there isn’t a condition kombucha isn’t go.
Thanks again 🙂
Jeff
Mary Ann, I’m not an expert by any means, but could it be that your kombucha was not brewed long enough and still had a decent amount of sugar left? As the kombucha brews, the sugar should turn into alcohol, and then the bacteria convert the alcohol into vinegar, at least according to books I have read. So once brewed long enough, there should be very little sugar (or alcohol) left. But at the same time, if you don’t brew it long enough, and there is significant amount of sugars still left, to me it would seem that it could feed an already-existing overgrowth of fungi/yeast (say in your mouth/throat area or something). But I’m not an expert by any means, just sharing my thoughts here. This stuff does get confusing.
Mary Ann
Hi! Question about the candida…I just fasted all day yesterday and only drank kombucha. I woke up this morning to a very white tongue. Can you explain if the white tongue is not a flare up of candida, what else causes this to occur?
I love kombucha! It is filling and satisfying and I have felt better while drinking it. However, the fact that kombucha is FULL of sugar does concern me. I know you will not be giving me medical advice, but I am wondering what your take is on the white tongue experience. Thank you.
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Albina
If you love Kombucha, I recommend drinking coconut water kefir instead. Coconut water kefir is very easy to brew and provides high levels of antifungal probiotics. It is a much better option than Kombucha. 5 tips to Cure yeast infection
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EducatedGranny
I was just wondering where you found kombucha that contained only helpful yeasts. As a project for my microbiology class, we tested several over the shelf and one from my local health food store that sells it in the deli, and we found that all of them had several pathogenic yeasts in them. I would be interested in isolating the good yeasts so that a safer kombucha can be made, but I can’t seem to find any clean cultures or drinks over the counter or from hippie types I know that make their own. I find it odd that this hasn’t been more regulated considering how many bad things we found floating around in the concoctions, but I thoroughly enjoy the flavor so I would really like to see progress in the kombucha brewing.
Bonnie
I had problems with constipation with Kombucha. Has anyone had problems like that??