Kevita is one of the most popular kombucha brands out there. But while it’s tasty, many people have concerns about whether or not kevita is good for you.
Kevita kombucha provides the health benefits of probiotics and tea such as improved digestive function, increased antioxidants, and lower risk of diarrhea, however the drink has come under scrutiny for whether or not the probiotics in it are a natural result of the fermentation process or added as a supplement afterwords.
In this article I’ll cover the aspects of Kevita kombucha that are healthy, those that aren't, and then compare these things to find out whether or not Kevita is good for you.
What is Kevita Kombucha?
Kevita is a kombucha brand founded in California in 2009 by a winemaker named Bill Moses and a holistic nutritionist named Chakra Earthsong. It has since been acquired by PepsiCo, who have made it a staple in the kombucha business. Today you can find Kevita on the shelves of almost any grocery store.
Why Kevita is Good for You
Probiotics
Let’s first go over some of the things that make Kevita good for you.
The biggest health benefit of Kevita kombucha is the good bacteria and yeast or “probiotics” that it contains. Probiotics are found in a lot of other fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi, and some cheeses.
Your body, especially your gut, is filled with good and bad bacteria. And it’s believed that the modern diet which is so full of sugar and processed foods harms the good bacteria leading to digestive problems, diarrhea, and infections such as candida.
Fermented foods with probiotics replace and replenish these beneficial bacteria, and may
Kombucha Has the Benefits of Tea
Because all kombucha, including Kevita, is made from tea, you can get all the benefits that you would normally get from drinking tea when you drink kombucha.
Most store bought booch is made with a combination of green and black tea, which according to Healthline.com may:
Lower the risk of breast prostate, and colorectal cancer.
Have antioxidant properties
Why Kevita Isn't Good for You
Lack of Probiotics
While probiotics can be super good for you and are a big part of why kombucha is seen as healthy, there has been some concern about whether or not Kevita’s kombucha actually has probiotics in it.
There was a lawsuit filed in 2017 against Kevita that claimed that the probiotics and health benefits that Kevita says are in their kombucha aren't actually there.
The main argument this lawsuit made was that Kevitas kombucha doesn’t have any probiotics in it because it’s pasteurized after fermentation.
Pasteurization is a common process in the food industry that involves treating foods with heat in order to eliminate bacteria and pathogens in them and extend their shelf life. Most store bought milk and fruit juice is pasteurized to ensure that it’s safe to drink.
Pasteurizing kombucha, which is not part of the traditional brewing process, treats the brew with heat to kill off all the naturally occurring bacteria in an attempt to keep the kombucha from contamination. Many pasteurized kombucha manufacturers, after pasteurizing their brew and killing the natural probiotics, will then replace them with probiotic supplements.
Although pasteurizing kombucha prevents it from becoming contaminated, it completely goes against the entire purpose of the drink! Yes kombucha does taste good, but most people who drink it do so at least partially for its probiotic benefits.
It seems that Kevita kombucha does have beneficial probiotics in it, but they are added after the naturally occurring bacteria from fermentation are pasteurized.
This is a good thing because it means that Kevita does have probiotics in it, but also a bad thing because it turns out that these unnatural supplemented probiotics are not nearly as beneficial, numerous, or diverse as the probiotics that naturally develop in raw kombucha.
In fact, one study testing the difference between naturally occuring probiotics and those in supplements found that there are nearly 100x more beneficial bacteria in fermented foods like kombucha than in probiotic supplements.
Kombucha can Be Dangerous for Pregnant and Nursing Women
All types of Kombucha contain a small amount of alcohol that results naturally from the fermentation process. The alcohol content in store bought kombucha is required to be less than 0.5% in order for it to be sold and marketed to minors according to federal regulations, but home brewed booch can get as high as 3% due to the lack of regulation and consistency.
For reference the average beer is 4.5% alcohol.
Although the 0.5% alcohol content of store bought booch is about the same amount of alcohol as is in a ripe banana or grape juice, I would still recommend pregnant women avoid drinking kombucha.
They should definitely avoid home brewed booch, since its alcohol content is usually not measured and can get up to an amount of alcohol close to that of a beer, but even store bought booch isn’t perfect.
Although it’s tightly regulated, there still is a small chance that a bottle of kombucha at the store hasn’t been stored properly and could contain more than 0.5% alcohol content, putting the health of the baby in danger.
In the past there have even been lawsuits against kombucha brands because their kombucha was found at times to have over 0.5% alcohol.
I don’t think it’s worth it for pregnant women to risk the health of their baby on the promise of one of these kombucha brands that their booch is below a certain alcohol level, especially since they have been wrong in the past.
If you’re pregnant or nursing and still want to enjoy kombucha, there are non alcoholic kombucha options. My favorite non-alcoholic booch is made by a brand called Humm Kombucha. I reviewed Humm in my Top 5 Best Kombuchas on Amazon article if you’d like to learn more about it. Or, you can check it out for yourself on Amazon here
Kombucha can Cause Stomach Aches and Nausea
The probiotics and acids in Kevita kombucha are normally really good for your gut health and digestion. However some people, especially when they’re new to the drink, can get stomach aches or nausea from drinking them.
Kombucha stomach aches are usually from the acidity, yeast, and carbonation of kombucha. And most of the time happens when someone is drinking it too fast, or is new to the drink and their body has a hard time processing it.
If you’re new to kombucha and are getting bloated, stomach aches, or nausea, I recommend slowing down and only drinking a quarter of a bottle of Kevita at a time to allow your body to get acclimatized. You can then move to drinking half a bottle when comfortable, and after that a full bottle.
Kombucha can be Dangerous for People with Weak Immune Systems
If you have HIV, AIDS, are on chemotherapy, are taking immunosuppressants, or have any other condition that weakens your immune system, your body could be vulnerable to infection from the bacteria and yeast in Kevita kombucha and you should probably avoid drinking it without consulting a doctor.
So Is Kevita Kombucha Good For You?
Deciding whether something is “good for you” is a pretty subjective matter since a food may be good for you in some ways but bad for you in others.
For example a cookie is good for you in the way that it tastes good and makes you happy, but bad for you in that it is full of refined sugars that are unhealthy.
While I do think there are healthier and better tasting kombucha brands out there (such as Brew Dr and Humm Kombucha), I do believe that Kevita kombucha overall is good for you. With its probiotics (even if they aren't natural), antioxidants, and low sugar, drinking it is definitely better for your health than sodas or high sugar fruit juices. Plus with how many flavor choices there are it’s pretty easy to find one that tastes good.
If you’d like to learn more about Kevita, other kombucha brands, and even how to brew kombucha yourself, be sure to check out the rest of my website! Hope to see you again!