If you suffer from bloating, it’s time to swap the booze for kombucha

If you suffer from bloating, it’s time to swap the booze for kombucha

More and more of us are taking time off from the hard stuff in order to give their livers a rest.

As health and fitness move further and further up the social agenda, getting hammered is falling out of fashion.

But protecting our waistlines isn’t the only reason for sobering up.

If you’re like me and thousands of other women, drinking beer and the like can leave you feeling awful.


Chronic bloating is horribly uncomfortable and because there’s little doctors are prepared to do about it (unless you’ve been diagnosed with an actual illness), you’ve often told to swerve inflammatories like gluten and alcohol in the hope of the body basically repairing itself.



So what’s a gal to drink?

Kombucha my friends, kombucha.

Kombucha is a fermented tea drink which sounds more vile than it is. In fact, it’s bloody delicious. Fizzy and tangy, you can get kombucha in a range of flavours.

Unlike traditional pop, it’s low in sugar. In fact, it’s actually really beneficial for gut health because it contains live bacteria.

David Begg set up Real Kombucha with Adrian Hodgson and Jon Wilkes, who has been teetotal for 10 years.

I met them at an alcohol-free beer dinner (more fun than it sounds, promise!) and got to sample each of their kombucha flavours – from the ‘champagne’ Royal Flush to the firey Smoke House.

And yes, if I had the option I’d drink them every day – they were that delicious and refreshing.

‘Once upon a time, every home in every part of the world had pots of different foods in various stages of fermentation,’ David – the foodie member of the team – tells Metro.co.uk.

‘But with the advent of food processing, the fridge and the vilification of bacteria, this tradition all but died out. Until recently, that is.

‘The re-emergence of fermentation as an art and interest has been ostensibly driven by our search for health elixirs. Even kombucha itself first gained momentum in the 1990s in the US with a wild suggestion that it could cure cancer (we’re certainly not suggesting that it can!) Although most of these claims are probably false, our increasing understanding of the powerful impact of our own microbiomes on our digestion, diseases and even mental health has begun to suggest that fermented foods might have a significant impact on our overall body health.’

But it’s not just physical health that has spurred companies like Real Kombucha to start supplying Londoners with fermented tea. There’s a mental health aspect to it.

‘Fermented foods are full of fabulous tart, sour flavours which make a great replacement for processed foods that require quantities of salt and sugar to bring out flavour,’ David explains.

‘Our own kombuchas pack a real punch, but with less than 2% sugar. Also, the pace of life has caused us to reflect on past slower times and spurred things like the Slow Food Movement. What method of cooking is slower than sitting waiting for three days, three weeks or three months for your food to cook? A great way to get mindful!’



But to back to backtrack for a minute: What was that about improving gut health?

‘The gut, or more accurately our digestive system, is sometimes known as “the forgotten organ”. Once thought to be little more than a reservoir for holding and digesting food, it is now known to be a highly intelligent and integrated system which is central to the health status of our body,’ says Adrian, who holds a PhD and is one of the few food scientists in the UK to have actually put kombucha under a microscope.

‘After all, what the gut digests and processes is what ends up being used by every other organ in the body.

‘The health status of our gut is determined by our microbiota – a community of bacteria that reside in our digestive system. This community of bacteria is greater than the total number of human cells we have in our bodies, so we as humans rely heavily on these foreign microorganisms settling and living in our digestive system.

‘The gut microbiota is determined by the number but also diversity of bacteria that reside in the gut. These bacteria have always been fed on foods that can fuel the growth of bacteria (known as prebiotics) as well as the introduction of bacterias that are found abundantly in nature. However, through the introduction of industrial food manufacturing, we now rarely forage for food, and we tend to eat very clean, prepared ingredients and foods.

‘This has meant our gut bacteria has reduced in number and diversity. In addition antibiotics and drugs have caused damage to our guts microbiota. This means that our gut microbiota is weaker and less diverse.’


Bad gut health is linked to poor digestion, IBS, a reduced immune system, low energy levels and an increased chance of developing chronic illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

So we really need to work on making out guts happy – especially if we’re doubled over with daily bloating.

‘Fermented foods are rich in two things: bacteria and organic acids’, Adrian explains.

‘These bacteria include acetobacter, gluconabacter, and lactobacillus, which act as probiotics to increase the number and diversity of bacteria found in our stomachs. The organic acids that are formed in fermented foods, bi-products of converting existent alcohol, are called acetic acid and gluconic acid. These acids not only give the sour vinegar taste to fermented foods, but they are known to interact with gastric enzymes in our digestive system to help regulate how we digest our food.

‘Kombucha is an example of a fermented food which relies on these bacteria to produce the sweet and sour taste profile.’

So, what does that mean for us?

‘Daily consumption of kombucha is known to improve gut bacteria and to help ensure that our digestive systems work properly, and that can be attributed to those organic acids.’

Real Kombucha is just one of loads of companies found in the UK offering a plethora of flavours. And increasingly, you can find bottles of the stuff in pubs, restaurants and bars across the country.

If you’re sick of ordering Diet Cokes or soda waters in the pub when you’re not drinking, kombucha is the alternative. Not only is it delicious but you’re actually doing something that will benefit your health rather than destroy it.


Oh, and it’s relatively straightforward to make it yourself. There are plenty of recipes online like this one but just be aware that it takes a while for it to be drinkable.

Food for thought before the festive season gets fully into swing.

MORE: Why do your eyes water more when it’s cold outside?

MORE: ‘Vegan-friendly’ Planet Organic are apparently using inhumane glue traps to catch mice

Advertisement Advertisement