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
I recently read an article that talked about the myths surrounding kombucha. One myth, that the SCOBY eats all the sugar in the tea, is not true. When analyzed, the brew still had significant amounts of sugar left by the time it was ready to drink. I am in the process of overcoming candida and once I eliminated kombucha from my diet, I saw results right away.
Here is the link to the article I referenced above:
http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2013/03/25/kombucha-myths-vs-truths/
Same for me. I just started thinking about what feeds cancer and what feeds kombucha and it is the same thing – sugar and acidic envornment. I have had neglected in the kitchen for 7 months and it is so happy – thriving in it’s own acids. Creepy. Anyway, when I stopped taking it (for cancer reasons) the itchy area on my neck just went away. Nice. That ichy spot had been there on and off for a year or more. Bye bye kombucha. Never to return to my life.
We started drinking homemade kombucha about 5 months ago. One month ago both my husband and I started to have muscles that did not want to work at all. We went off of the kombucha and immediately the next day the muscles no longer ached and felt lifeless. Recently my husband went back on kombucha and is now having the same effects. Could we have been drinking too much? Say 20 oz a day each?
Nice post and very good and informative discussion, i wish anyone could tell me if using Kombucha has some effects on pregnancy? Can we use it during pregnancy?
You’re so cool! I don’t think I’ve truly read anything like this before.
So great to find somebody with genuine thoughts on this subject matter.
Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This web site is
one thing that is needed on the internet, someone with a little originality!
First off I want to say that I love your website and your youtube videos : ) So much info, and the video on bone broth simmering helped me to perfect my own.
My question: I recently had skin scratch allergy testing done and I was positive for yeast. I’m wondering if fermented foods like kombucha, knifer and fermented veggies still ok to eat? I gave up bread and wine quite awhile ago.
Thanks again for all you do.
I didn’t know fruits were bad for you with candida until my DR told me. This is the program he recommended, and it got rid of my y infection in 2 days.
Lady Soma Advance Candida Supplement
with Distilled watter (with added minerals)
organic beans
garlic
onions
ginger
avacado
olive oil
Now that I have my diet straight, I take the lady soma candida supplement, and going to the gym every day I am yeast free!
Thank you so much for this! I have another question: I have A LOT of metal fillings (currently researching what to do about that). Could that be why I got HORRIBLLY sick from drinking bucha everyday for a month? My symptoms went away when I stopped drinking it. I did test positive for candidia toxins in my blood work, too. So maybe that’s why? I plan on taking the meds then starting up the bucha again. Maybe drink a smaller amount at first.
I have been drinking Kombucha for two weeks now. I started drinking it because my heartburn was not responding to my regular treatment (e.g., Zegrid and Robunol). I don’t usually take medication (only as needed), but I was having a lot of pain. I went to my GI and he did nothing, so I went to my naturopath and she recommended Kombucha. I felt amazing the first week on Kombucha and was able to cut down on my medication from twice a day to once a day. I also suffer from IBS-C and it really helped with my symptoms of constipation and bloating. Week two I started to exhibit the following side effects:
– Sinus congestion
– Acne
– Nighttime urination (I woke up four times during the night to pee)
– Cold sore
I chickened out and stopped drinking the Kombucha. That was yesterday, and today I am feeling the IBS-C symptoms returning. Nonetheless, I decided I did not want to deal with the die-off issues and said no more Kombucha. Now, I’m thinking I should just be patient and wait it out and I drank my 2 oz. after my coffee ( I know that I suppose to take it on an empty stomach). Will it work if I did not take it on empty stomach? Do I give Kombucha another chance? I loved how it helped with my IBS-C and heartburn, but hate the die-off. I now I am vacillating a bit, but I’m sick and confused.
From what I understand Kombcha’s are a powerful candida killer. As they kill the yeast/Candida they will release tons of toxins and heavy metals(if you have them) and they may be redistributed back into the body. So what you need is to take something that will bind to those toxins and remove them out of the body.
That’s Where Spanish Black Radish comes in. It can do the job,so every time you drink a kombucha take the Spanish Black Radish..
Where do I get Spanish Black radish you may ask? A company called Standard Process sells an organic Spanish Black radish Tablets(they taste good in my opinion but have a slightly bitter after taste).
https://www.standardprocess.com/Products/Standard-Process/Spanish-Black-Radish
Yes exactly.^^ Another easy to take and side-effect free (except for the die off) binder is activated charcoal. For me noticeable improvement immediately in energy & brain fog. The dosage I started with was 2x 280mg capsules (solaray brand) nightly. Then I thought more may be better and doubled the dosage. Die off increased significantl, so dosed back down. In reading this, I’m both drinking kombucha (synergy guava goddess) and re-upping my AC.
Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to understand so much about this, such as you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you just could do with some p.c. to drive the message house a little bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog. A fantastic read. I will definitely be back.