The role of your cancer health professional is to create an environment of openness and trust, and to help in making informed decisions about alternative/ complementary therapies. Collaboration will improve the safe integration of all therapies during your experience with cancer. The "Summary" and "Professional Evaluation/ Critique" sections of this Unconventional Therapies manual are cited directly from the medical literature, and are intended to help in the objective evaluation of alternative/ complementary therapies.

Summary

Due to the lack of scientific evidence, the general consensus of medical and scientific communities is to not recommend the use of kombucha tea. (Monson)

Reports of severe toxicity resulting from the ingestion of kombucha tea would suggest that ingestion of the tea is potentially dangerous and cannot, therefore, be recommended.

Description/ Source/ Components

Kombucha tea contains various bacterial/ yeast colonies, metabolites, B-vitamins, and up to 1.5% alcohol. (Monson) (Anonymous 1995)

Kombucha is a drink made by growing the "kombucha mushroom" (a symbiotic mixture of yeast and bacteria) in sugared black tea. (Monson) (Anonymous 1995)

The "kombucha mushroom" looks like a slippery, rubbery, brownish-gray "pancake" floating on top of the sugared tea. The tea tastes like sour cider. (Monson) (Wigod) (Webb)

Proponent/ Advocate Claims

Kombucha, an "ultimate elixir," is said to have a wide range of effects:

• acts as a prophylactic and therapeutic agent in cancer
• acts as an immune system booster
• positively benefits AIDS, multiple sclerosis
• improves digestion, metabolism, memory
• decreases inflammation, prostate size
• relieves arthritis, psoriasis, wrinkles, baldness, PMS, acne, insomnia (Monson) (Webb)

Professional Evaluation/ Critique

No scientific evidence exists to confirm the proclaimed beneficial and/or adverse effects of kombucha tea. (Anonymous, 1995)

Due to the lack of scientific evidence, the general consensus of medical and scientific communities is to not recommend the use of kombucha tea. (Monson)

To date, there is no evidence to confirm the safety of kombucha or to support the claim that kombucha tea is an effective treatment for cancer. (Hauser)

Toxicity/ Risks

"Kombucha tea made from mushroom culture (used as a cure-all), caused deaths from acidosis." (Cassileth)

There were reports from Iowa in 1995 about two women suffering severe metabolic acidosis from consuming kombucha tea. (Webb)

"We report two cases of symptomatic lead poisoning requiring chelation therapy in a married couple who had been drinking Kombucha tea for six months, brewing the tea in a ceramic pot. We postulate that acids in the tea eluted lead from the glaze pigment used in the ceramic pot, in a manner analogous to elution of lead from crystal decanters by wine and spirits." (Phan)

"Side effects probably related to consumption of Kombucha tea are reported in four patients. Two presented with symptoms of allergic reaction, the third with jaundice, and the fourth with nausea, vomiting, and head and neck pain. In all four, use of Kombucha tea in proximity to onset of symptoms and symptom resolution on cessation of tea drinking suggest a probable etiologic association." (Srinivasan)

Anecdotal side effects include nausea, nervousness, mouth sores, cramping, abdominal pain, yeast infections. (Monson) (Webb)

The mixture of sugar, tea, room temperature, and yeast/bacteria provides an ideal breeding ground for many micro-organisms (some pathogenic) and airborne fungi. (Monson)

"It has been associated with severe hepatotoxicity in at least two cases" (Ernst)

References

Anonymous. Unexplained severe illness possibly associated with consumption of kombucha tea-Iowa, 1995. MMWR 1995;44(48):892-900.

Cassileth BR. Alternative medicine handbook: a complete reference guide to alternative and complementary therapies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998:97.

Ernst E. Harmless herbs? A review of the recent literature. Am J Med 1998;104:170-178.

Hauser SP. [Dr. Sklenar's kombucha mushroom infusion--a biological cancer therapy. Documentation No. 18] (German). Schweizerische Rundschau fur Medizin Praxis 1990;79(9):243-246.

Monson N. Kombucha tea: a controversy brews among patients and physicians. Alternative & Complementary Therapies 1995 Sept/Oct:281-283.

Phan TG, et al. Lead poisoning from drinking Kombucha tea brewed in a ceramic pot. Medical Journal of Australia 1998;169:644-6.

Srinivasan R, et al. Probable gastrointestinal toxicity of Kombucha tea: is this beverage healthy or harmful? Journal of General Internal Medicine 1997;12:643-4.

Webb J. Kombucha tea--what's brewing? Drug Information Perspectives 1995;15(2):7-8.

Wigod R. Kombucha craze growing like fungus. The Vancouver Sun 1995 Jan 30:B1.

Revised February 2000