Kombu is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, belonging to the leafy body of kelp of the family Kelpaceae, or kombu and wakame of the family Hymenophyceae. Kombu is salty in taste and cold in nature. It has the effects of expelling phlegm, softening and dispersing knots (softening and dissipating hard lumps), inducing diuresis and eliminating edema (clearing urine and eliminating oedema), and can be used clinically to treat symptoms such as testicular swelling and pain and phlegm-drinking (a pathologic product of impaired metabolism of water and fluids) edema. Kombu can also be used in proprietary Chinese medicines, such as Milk Fetish Elimination Granules and Gall Elimination Pills, for the treatment of gall tumors (equivalent to thyroid tumors), scrofula (mainly refers to cervical lymph node nodule tuberculosis) and so on. It should be noted that people suffering from hyperthyroidism should not eat kombucha in their lives because it contains a large amount of the trace element iodine, which can worsen hyperthyroidism. In addition, pregnant or lactating women should not consume kombucha because the iodine in kombucha can enter the fetus and baby through blood circulation and weaken the thyroid function.