Kombucha enables to inhibit digestive enzymes activity and adipocyte differentiation of OP9 cells.

Obesity is a global challenging epidemic caused by surplus adipose accumulation or energy intake, and available medications are quite limited. Studies focused on identifying potent anti-adipogenic pharmaceuticals and functional foods have gained great interests. This study evaluated the obesity prevention potential of oolong tea kombucha (OTK) and yellow tea kombucha (YTK) by in vitro experiments. The results showed that the total polyphenol content in OTK and YTK increased by 50.00% and 47.49% after fermentation, and the antioxidative capacity of kombucha was enhanced by 7.57% and 7.83% as well. After fermentation, the inhibitory activity of OTK and YTK on α-amylase and lipase was increased by 53.15% and 64.43%, and 45.24% and 39.74%, respectively. The anti-adipogenic effects evaluated by using mouse OP9 cell model indicated that both OTK and YTK could downregulate the expression levels of FABP4, PPARγ, C/EBPα, and SERBP-1C which are involved with adipocyte differentiation. Taken together, kombucha showed great potential in regulating glucose and lipid metabolism by inhibiting digestive enzymes and adipocyte differentiation, which could be a functional beverage in aiding obesity prevention or treatments. However, further animal or clinical experiments are needed to verify its potential in obesity intervention. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study showed that kombucha showed great potential in preventing obesity, which provided an alternative functional beverage for obesity intervening or prevention.