What impact does kombucha have on the body?
The KBrain project - Impact of kombucha on Brain - developed in a partnership between the Human Neurobehavioral Laboratory (HNL) of the Faculty of Education and Psychology of the Porto Regional Centre, of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, and the Living Food company, stems from the joint interest in understanding the impact of kombucha on the body, as well as the need for intelligent scientific knowledge for the validation of this beverage of Chinese origin with more than 2000 years of bittersweet and vinegar taste.
KBrain is part of the HNL's "Microbiota and Brain Functioning" research line, which aims to study the effect of probiotics, prebiotics and symbiotics on modulation of the intestinal microbiota and its impact on brain functioning. The study is being carried out by Patrícia Oliveira-Silva, director of HNL, and by Patrícia Batista, HNL researcher, together with researchers from the Centre for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry of the Faculty of Biotechnology and some MSc students.
"Studying the individual and the consumer is challenging, as is connecting different scientific areas, such as psychology, neuroscience and biotechnology with the business world," says Patrícia Oliveira-Silva.
Living Food explains that "the main motivation of consumers in consuming kombucha is related to its beneficial effects on health. In this sense, the collaboration with the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto is extremely important to us: allowing the demystification of this drink as a miracle beverage and the credibility of kombucha and its benefits."
Fostering collaboration between several research centres and the business world, understanding the interactions nutrition-microorganisms-intestine-brain, with specific focus on the analysis and evaluation of cognitive functions; establishing an interconnection between academia and business, through knowledge transfer and in favour of a healthy society and enhancing the development of neurosciences in an innovative and multidisciplinary perspective are some of the main objectives of the project.