The chronic effect of Kombucha Tea consumption on weight loss in diabetic rats

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease with a relatively high prevalence in many populations throughout the world. Despite the availability of many synthetic drugs many diabetic patients are seeking herbal medications to relieve the symptoms of the disease. Kombucha tea is a fermented remedy which is produced by cultivation of Kombucha mushroom in sweet black tea solution and is consumed by many diabetic patients, but its efficacy and safety has not been scientifically evaluated. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted to assess the chronic effect of Kombucha Tea consumption on weight loss in diabetic Rats. 42 male diabetic Wistar rats were divided into six groups. DM was induced by streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). Animals in 1st group (control) had free access to tap water the 2nd group (sham) consumed sweet black tea solution and the remaining 4 groups (test) received different dilutionts of Kombucha tea (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) for 15 days instead of tap water. Animals in all groups were weighted before DM induction and in days 1, 3, 7 and 15 post DM inductions. The data were analyzed as Mean ± SEM of weights in different days and in different groups by using T-test and one way ANOVA. Results: Our results showed that all groups had a significant weight loss due to DM induction (p< 0.05) which continued progressively in control group but in the sham and test groups there was a progressive weight gain during the 15 days of remedy consumption, so there was no significant difference between the weight of animals at the end of experiment and their weight before DM induction (p > 0.05). There was also not significant difference between the animal’s weight in sham and test groups at the end of this period (p > 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion our findings indicate that both black tea and Kombucha tea prevent weight loss in diabetic rats which may be due to some active agents in black tea itself.