Trendy Drinks: Are They Healthy or Not?

When it comes to nutrition, people are always looking for the healthiest options. In a perfect world, there would be one drink that can help you live longer, cure ailments and taste good all at the same time. As various scientific studies are released, attention turns from one drink to another. Drinks that were once thought of as healthy are now deemed unhealthy. After all, people originally thought Coke was a medicine. With all of this information available, it's hard to know which drinks are actually healthy.

Kombucha and charcoal drinks are two of the most popular health drinks at the moment. Many people maintain that they can prevent diseases and improve your overall wellbeing. But are these claims true? Luckily, we're here to help with an inside look at how truly healthy these drinks are.

Kombucha

Kombucha, one of the trendiest drinks around, has been around since 220 B.C. and is made by mixing tea, yeast, bacteria and sugar together and letting it ferment. People swear by kombucha, and all of the health claims associated with the drink make it seem like a magical elixir. They declare that kombucha aids digestion, prevents cancer and boosts your immune system.

Is this fermented drink really as healthy as people think? The claims around good digestion come from the probiotics found in kombucha. These probiotics add good bacteria to your stomach, helping your digestive tract run smoother. However, when kombucha is pasteurized and bottled, it loses all of its probiotics.

Although you can drink unpasteurized kombucha, it carries some risks. Unpasteurized kombucha is more likely to become contaminated and can lead to an upset stomach and allergic reactions. Unfortunately, the other health benefits of kombucha are based on only a few animal studies and personal accounts. No real scientific research exists that can substantiate these claims.

Charcoal Drinks

Charcoal drinks are currently being hailed as the best detox on the market. These black drinks are made by adding activated charcoal to a beverage, typically some variation of pressed juice. So why is this drink so popular across the globe? People maintain that activated charcoal detoxes your body by absorbing toxins and aids digestion by fixing impurities within your digestive tract. However, these claims are only partially supported by science.

It's true that doctors often use charcoal to treat patients who have been poisoned. Activated charcoal is sticky enough that it will absorb the poison, but limited research has been conducted about the benefits for the average healthy person. Experts speculate that there likely aren't many benefits to drinking charcoal.

The bottom line is that charcoal drinks won't harm your body, but they probably won't help it much either. Experts recommend drinking activated charcoal in moderation. Since the substance's binding is non-specific, drinking too much charcoal could strip your body of essential nutrients.

The upshot? Although trendy health drinks may not be as healthy as them seem, they're still a better alternative to soda and other high-sugar beverages.