Cassia Egerdahl makes milk kefir for her young children to enjoy the health benefits associated with the probiotic-rich dairy drink.
However, she’s been personally avoiding milk kefir since childhood because she doesn’t like the flavor.
“I’m the kind of person who won’t eat something if I don’t like it,” Egerdahl told The Epoch Times. “I thought I should get some of these probiotics for myself, too, so I got online to look for other probiotic drinks.”
As a busy mom, she wanted something simple with as few steps as possible that would taste pleasant. She discovered kefir soda, a type of probiotic fermented drink with a sweet, tangy flavor and a slightly carbonated touch—easy to make at home.
Kefir soda, also called water kefir or fermented soda, is becoming more popular among vegans and those who cannot tolerate dairy. Unlike milk kefir, kefir soda’s fermentation doesn’t start with milk but with water kefir grains.
With a few supplies and a little time, you can create endless flavored, bubbly drinks in your own kitchen. Water kefir offers health benefits without the additives and sugars in most fizzy drinks on grocery store shelves.
Get to Know Kefir Grains
Water kefir grains are a clump of soft, jelly-like translucent white or grey grains made up of healthy bacteria and yeast. You can use them for multiple fermentations to create healthy water. Most people flavor the microbe-rich water with fresh fruit or fruit juice in a second fermentation.
During fermentation, the microbes eat the sugar, turning it into lactic acid and making carbon dioxide. This process significantly reduces the sugar content in the water.
Water kefir grains are different from milk kefir grains, which resemble cauliflower and need a dairy medium to ferment. Besides taste, water kefir soda differs in being more bubbly than its dairy counterpart.
You can buy water kefir grains raw or dehydrated. In many cases, the precise microbes in the finished drink can sometimes be a mystery. Not all products label the specific bacteria and yeast in their ingredients, and even if they do, the exact amounts in the final composition are difficult to determine.
Common probiotics that have been isolated from kefir water include strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, Lactobacillus mali, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, according to a review in Processes.
Bubbly and Beneficial
According to the review authors, water kefir contains compounds with proven health benefits for preventing, managing, and treating chronic disease symptoms. Studies, however, are sparse.
- Antidiabetic effects were noted in rats with improved glucose levels, less insulin intolerance, and altered genes that balance glucose levels.
- Antioxidant activity was identified in enzyme activity that reduced gastric ulcers in mice and improved oxidation.
- Antimicrobial effects were noted in the compounds produced during water kefir fermentation, such as organic acids, which inhibit the growth of disease-causing microorganisms.
- Anti-inflammatory benefits were discovered in rats that made more short-chain fatty acids that help exert a protective, anti-inflammatory effect on the intestinal barrier.
Such effects could improve the intestinal mucosal barrier, decreasing or stopping potentially toxic molecules from passing through it into the bloodstream. Some research shows that supplementation with some of the probiotics found in water kefir can lower production of Immunoglobulin E (IgE) associated with allergic reactions.
“Given the possible evidence of water kefir in relation to various pathological clinical conditions, water kefir may be classified as a probiotic food in the future. It could be utilized to prevent and treat various diseases,” the authors wrote.
Although commercial kefir sodas contain live microbes, they can’t be labeled as probiotics, as fermenting is not a uniform process. Probiotic labels must specify exact colonies and strains, which would require further testing of the sodas.
Commercial kefir sodas may have additives, including high amounts of sugar, which is why Egerdahl prefers to make her own.