Hello. I'm Kev. I'm 46¾, with a partner who won't marry me, a daughter who finds me embarrassing, two cats, two guinea pigs and a kombucha shop in Otley. I'm not a doctor, a biohacker or an influencer. Just a normal bloke trying to look after my gut while social media tells me to rub butter in my eyes to see better.
This is my diary: what I've written, what I've been drinking, and the week's gut science, minus the hype. It lands in inboxes every Saturday at 11am. Want it? Sign up in the footer.
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Issue 4. In which it is seven weeks until Christmas and I am calm. (I am not calm.) Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday | ||
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New on the website · kombuchaclub.co.uk journal | ||
Can you drink kombucha every day? How much is right The short answer is yes, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. This covers how much to start with, how to build up, when to drink it, how to look after your teeth, and why you should rotate it with the other 4Ks: kefir, kimchi and kraut. No prize for drinking the most. I've checked.
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New on the website · alcoholfreedrinksclub.com journal | ||
What to buy someone who's "off the booze" (without making it weird) The golden rule is a treat, not a hint. "Thought you'd love this" is a gift. "Thought you might need this" is an intervention with wrapping paper. These are the gifts that let them join in with the toast, the match and Friday night.
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This week's theme: food beats pills. Everyone's buying probiotics. Nobody's eating more veg. Michigan Medicine looked at US health survey data from 2009 to 2023. Probiotic supplement use rose 287% in adults and 786% in under-20s, but fibre intake barely moved. The lead researcher said a supplement on its own is "like picking one color out of a rainbow". If you read one item this week, make it this one. Plants first, something fermented every day, and pills are optional. (Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 7 Sept) Your gut bugs and your brain chemistry, measured in actual humans A UK study from the Universities of Surrey and Roehampton scanned the brains of 61 young women and sequenced their gut microbes. Certain microbial pathways were linked to levels of two key brain chemicals, GABA and glutamate, and to anxiety, mood and sleep scores. The researchers said they're "not saying that a particular gut bacterium causes anxiety". It's a link, not a lever, but it's fascinating. (Molecular Psychiatry, Sept) Gut clues could give premature babies a head start Washington University looked at stool samples from 129 premature babies. Genetic traces from gut bacteria and the viruses that live in them predicted a serious bowel disease up to eight days before symptoms, with 75–83% accuracy. It needs testing in more hospitals, but in a disease where every day counts, that's real hope. (Gut, 16 Sept) | ||
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Product spotlight | ||
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Same time next week: Saturday, 11am. Until then, Kombucha Kev P.S. Ordering presents? Do it early. December gets busy, and this isn't Home Alone. You won't make it to the airport in time. |
