Kargasok Tea Consumption and Liver Toxicity in Rats

Background - Kargasok tea (kombucha) is a widely consumed tea (even in Nigeria) made from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and fungi. While many persons consume kargasok tea because of its potential benefits like anti-cancer effects, cure for chicken pox, anti-hypertensive, improvement of poor eye sight, treatment of insomnia etc, some studies have shown that some toxicity exist following acute and/or chronic consumption. The aim of this study is to determine the toxicity of kargasok tea on the liver of rats. Method - The median lethal dose (LD50) done earlier using this tea did not produce any mortality even with a dose as high as 5000mg/kg. The study was carried out using a total of 50 wister rats which was divided into 4 groups. Group 1 (3 rats) was used as control while group 2 to 4 (12 rats each) was the test group. Kargasok tea extracts was administered to the rats in groups 2 to 4 for a period of 28days with group 2 receiving 250mg/kg of the extract, group 3 received 500mg/kg while group 4 received high doses (1000mg/kg). The rat liver was harvested (after sacrifice) every week under the effect of chloroform anaesthesia for histopathological evaluation. Also, blood was collected for LFT. The mean values of the biochemical parameters were evaluated for significant differences using SPSS 23. ANOVA test was employed for calculation of means and standard error determinations. Results - Results revealed that the rats that consumed kargasok tea had increased liver enzymes. Also, there was histologically distorted liver from the rats that consumed kargask tea. This showed that kargasok tea has the potential of causing damage to the liver and kidney especially upon chronic consumption. Conclusion - Consumers of kargasok tea need to be wary of its deleterious effects especially from chronic intake as it has been shown to possess the potential of causing damages to vital organs of the body especially the liver