The Russians call it Tea Kvass
Russia serves as backdrop for one of the most common Legends of Kombucha. (Note: I call these stories “Legends” not because I think they are false but because they come to us largely without proof, in a modern day sense.)
The Russians, concerned with an increase in cancer rates post WWII, launched a full scale investigation. While increased pollution from industrialization was determined the likely culprit, there were two regions that were discovered to be nearly cancer free.
Upon further study, it was determined that the people of these regions (the Solikamsk & Berezniki districts) had been drinking Tea Kvass (Kombucha) ever since the Czar had introduced it hundreds of years before.
Respected Kombucha author (and e-mail buddy) Günther Frank elaborates on another Russian legend:
It is well documented that there are pockets of people, who are centenarians, clustered not only in the mountainous Caucasia’s where they are most celebrated, but also in outer rural areas like Yakutia in Siberia, or the Poltaya District of the Ukraine, as well as Tibet and Spain…There is an area in Russia called Kargasok [ED: One of Kombucha’s many other names is “Kargasok Tea.”], where the people are a dairy and vegetable-eating populace who cherish family ideals and traditions.
They are a hearty outdoor folk who work hard as carpenters, bookkeepers, and farmers who usually live well over 100. These Elders are revered, as active and valued members of society and family…the Russian centenarians attribute their longevity not only to their work habits, but also to the Yeast Enzyme Tea which has been in their diet for hundreds of years.
Nobel-Prize winning Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn writes in his book “Cancer Ward” that Kombucha Tea cured his stomach cancer during his internment in Soviet labor camps. (Some claim he meant Chaga, however Günther Frank’s book states that Solzhenitsyn confirmed it was Kombucha in interviews after he defected to the U.S. in 1974.)
It is rumored that upon hearing of this remedy, President Ronald Regan began drinking Kombucha Tea and was cured of his own cancer.
Recent Scientific Studies
Again, just because the above legends have no scientific evidence to back them up does not mean I believe them to be false. On the contrary, I find collective wisdom to be just as important as scientific evidence. When both science and tradition point to the same answer, I am most satisfied.
Have you heard the rumor that there have never been studies about Kombucha done on people? Well, that’s incorrect. Two of the three studies quoted here used humans as subjects.
( To Be Continued )
Resources:
Does kombucha tea attenuate the hepato-nepherotoxicity induced by a certain environmental pollutant?
Possible Protective Effect of Kombucha Tea Ferment on Cadmium Chloride Induced Liver and Kidney Damage in Irradiated Rats
Protective effect of kombucha mushroom (KM) tea on chromosomal aberrations induced by gamma radiation in human peripheral lymphocytes in-vitro
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