Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease with a relatively high prevalence in many populations throughout the world. Despite the availability of many synthetic drugs many diabetic patients are seeking herbal medications to relieve the symptoms of the disease. Kombucha tea is a fermented remedy which is produced by cultivation of Kombucha mushroom in sweet black tea solution and is consumed by many diabetic patients, but its efficacy and safety has not been scientifically evaluated.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted to assess the chronic effect of Kombucha Tea consumption on weight loss in diabetic Rats. 42 male diabetic Wistar rats were divided into six groups. DM was induced by streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). Animals in 1st group (control) had free access to tap water the 2nd group (sham) consumed sweet black tea solution and the remaining 4 groups (test) received different dilutionts of Kombucha tea (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) for 15 days instead of tap water. Animals in all groups were weighted before DM induction and in days 1, 3, 7 and 15 post DM inductions. The data were analyzed as Mean ± SEM of weights in different days and in different groups by using T-test and one way ANOVA.

Results: Our results showed that all groups had a significant weight loss due to DM induction (p< 0.05) which continued progressively in control group but in the sham and test groups there was a progressive weight gain during the 15 days of remedy consumption, so there was no significant difference between the weight of animals at the end of experiment and their weight before DM induction (p > 0.05). There was also not significant difference between the animal’s weight in sham and test groups at the end of this period (p > 0.05).

Background: Depressive disorders are common, life-threatening and often disabling. Due to adverse effects of chemical antidepressant drugs, researcher’s attention has been shifted toward natural drug. In this work, the antidepressant effect of were evaluated against reserpine induced depression in mice Material and Methods: This experimental study, 42 male mice were randomly divided into 6 groups of 7 mice. Vehicle mice received normal saline (1 mg/kg, i.p.), negative and positive control groups received reserpine (5mg/kg, i.p.) and fluoxetine (20 mg/kg, i.p.) respectively and treatment groups received Kombucha tea at doses of 250, 500, 1000 mg/kg, 18 h after administration of reserpine. Mice were then tested in the forced swim and Rotarod tests. After behavioral test, blood sample were collected and used to assess blood antioxidant capacity Results: There was significant difference in the duration of immobility time between vehicle and reserpine treated groups (p<0.001). Administration of Kombucha tea at doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg into depressed mice significantly reduced the duration of immobility time. KT administration significantly improved blood antioxidant capacity of mice blood. Conclusion: These results provide support for the potential antidepressant effects of Kombucha tea against