Kava is a beverage or extract that is made from Piper metaphysics, a plant native to the western Pacific islands. The name “kava” comes from the Polynesian word “awa,” which means bitter. In the South Pacific, kava is a popular social drink, similar to alcohol in Western societies.
There are some BIG safety concerns about kava. Many cases of liver damage and even some deaths have been traced to kava use. As a result, kava has been banned from the market in Europe and Canada. This ban has hurt the economies of Pacific Island countries that export kava. Despite health concerns, kava has not been taken off the U.S. market.
What Is Kava Kava?
Kava Kava is an herbal remedy that’s made from the roots of Piper metaphysics — a type of plant found in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Its name literally means “intoxicating pepper.” People who live on Pacific islands like Fiji and Tonga have used it for hundreds of years in social gatherings and traditional medicine. They dry out the roots or crush them into a powder. Then they add water and drink the mixture.
How’s It Used?
Kava kava (“kava” for short) contains substances called kavapyrones. They act much like alcohol on your brain, making you feel calm, relaxed, and happy. The plant is also thought to relieve pain, prevent seizures, and relax muscles.
You can buy it as an herbal supplement online and in health food stores. It’s available in capsules, tablets, or tinctures (that means it’s dissolved in alcohol).
Kava kava: Benefits and safety concerns
Kava kava is an herbal remedy that some people use to relieve stress and anxiety and boost sleep. This plant extract has a calming, euphoric effect that some people compare with that of alcohol.
Kava kava, or simply kava, has a long history of use in alternative medicine and traditional ceremonies. More recently, it has found a place in some clinical research studies.
People traditionally mix kava kava with water or boil it into a tea, but it can also come as a tablet.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), kava kava has a mild anxiety-reducing effect, but it may also cause severe liver damage.
It is still legal to sell kava kava in the United States, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggest that people should use it with caution.
Many researchers still advocate for its use and aim to establish safer ways of taking kava kava.
This article will explore the uses, benefits, and safety of kava kava.
What is kava kava?
Kava kava comes from the Piper metaphysics plant, which is native to islands of the Pacific Ocean. Traditionally, people made a paste from the plant’s root and mixed it with water or coconut milk to create a drink.
People native to the South Pacific islands use this kava kava drink during cultural and religious ceremonies to create a state of altered consciousness. People can also make powder or tablets from the dried roots.
Consuming kava has a relaxing, euphoric effect. Scientists call drugs that have this calming effect anxiolytic. Alcohol, which has similar effects to kava, is another anxiolytic drug.
These properties are why many use it as a recreational drug and a medicine, as it can help reduce stress and anxiety.
Uses and possible health benefits
People use kava kava to relieve anxiety and promote sleep. Below, we look at what the research says.
Anti-anxiety effects
The primary use of kava is reducing stress and anxiety. Research suggests that kava could help treat the symptoms of anxiety disorders.
In a randomized controlled trial from 2013, scientists gave 75 people with anxiety disorders either kava extract or a placebo drug over 6 weeks.
At the end of the study, they found that kava had a small but significant effect on reducing anxiety symptoms. Aside from headaches, the participants did not report liver problems or other side effects.
The authors suggest that kava could be a useful short-term option for treating anxiety disorders.
A review study from 2011 reports that kava kava may improve stress and anxiety. However, the authors say that more research about the safety and effectiveness is needed before it becomes a recommended therapy.
The NIH state that research studies about kava kava’s effectiveness produce mixed results. This makes it hard to draw any firm conclusions about how effective it really is at treating anxiety.
Sleep-promoting effects
Kava kava could help induce sleep due to its anxiolytic effects. For this reason, people also use it as an alternative therapy for sleep disorders.
However, a systematic review from 2015 did not find any evidence that kava can help treat sleep disorders. The review also found no evidence for other herbal medicines, including:
Is kava kava safe?
Kava kava supplements are legal in the U.S., though research suggests that they may cause liver damage.
Research has suggested that kava kava may cause liver damage. It appears to be hepatoxic, meaning that it can damage liver cells.
Because of this, authorities in several countries, including Canada, Great Britain, and Germany, have restricted or banned kava kava.
Kava kava is still legal in the U.S. due to its possible uses as a treatment. However, in 2002, the FDA directly warned consumers that kava-based products could cause liver damage. Some of this damage, such as that caused by hepatitis and liver failure, can be severe.
There have been over 100 reports of serious liver damage related to kava kava. In these cases, symptoms included:
If a person experiences these symptoms, they should stop using the product immediately and seek medical attention.
Despite efforts by researchers to develop safe methods of using kava, scientists are still not sure how kava damages the liver. Without this knowledge, it is difficult to know for certain whether kava is safe.
Until researchers know more about the safety of kava kava, people should be cautious when using it.
How to use kava kava
Traditionally, people make kava kava root into a paste and mix it with water or boil it into a tea. It is also possible to buy premade kava tea from some stores.
The drug can come in liquid form and mix with other drinks such as juice. There are also tablets and capsules of powdered kava kava available.
Research suggests that the optimum dose may be under 250 milligrams of kava per day.
Is kava kava safe to use during pregnancy?
There has been little research into the effects of kava in women who are pregnant. Until more definitive research is available on its safety, it may be best to avoid using kava during pregnancy.
Drug interactions
Kava kava interacts with alcohol. Consuming alcohol while taking kava could increase a person’s risk of liver damage.
Kava kava can also interact with several other drugs, such as benzodiazepines and anti-depressants. For this reason, it is important to consult a doctor before making the decision to take kava kava.
Kava kava is an herbal remedy that people use to relieve anxiety and promote sleep. However, researchers are concerned about reports that kava kava can cause serious liver damage.
Several countries have banned products containing this ingredient, but it is still legal in the U.S. That said, the FDA have cautioned against its use.
Because of these concerns, people may want to try other herbal remedies and lifestyle changes to relieve anxiety and improve sleep.
Kava or kava kava (Piper metaphysics: Latin ‘pepper’ and Initialized Greek ‘intoxicating’) is a crop of the Pacific Islands. The name kava is from Tongan and Marques an, meaning ‘bitter’; other names for kava include ʻawa (Hawaiʻi),ʻava (Samoa) yaqona (Fiji),sakau (Pohnpei) seka (Kosher),and malok or malogu (parts of Vanuatu Kava is consumed for its sedating effects throughout the Pacific Ocean cultures of Polynesia, including Hawaii, Vanuatu, Melanesia, and some parts of Micronesia. To a lesser extent, it is consumed in nations where it is exported as an herbal medicine.
The root of the plant is used to produce a drink with sedative, anesthetic, and euphoria properties. Its active ingredients are called kavalactones A systematic review done by the British nonprofit Cochran concluded it was likely to be more effective than placebo at treating short-term anxiety.
Moderate consumption of kava in its traditional form, i.e. as a water-based suspension of kava roots, has been deemed as presenting an “acceptably low level of health risk” by the World Health Organization. However, consumption of kava extracts produced with organic solvents, or excessive amounts of poor quality kava products, may be linked to an increased risk of adverse health outcomes, including potential liver injury.In Australia the import and possession of kava is regulated due to particular social health concerns
Kava kava is an extract from the plant Piper metaphysics that grows in several Pacific island chains. It is a member of the black pepper family and goes by some other names: kava, kava pepper, kava root, kawa kawa, Intoxicating pepper, ava pepper, and tonga. Kava kava has been used for thousands of years in Pacific cultures during rituals, social gatherings, and for medicinal purposes. The active components called kavalactones are found mostly in the root and rhizome (underground horizontal stem) of the plant. The kavalactones are thought to help decrease anxiety and relax muscles, possibly by a mechanism similar to the benzodiazepine family of sedatives. They may also have effects similar to some antidepressant medications. However, it is important to note that neither of these mechanisms has been proven.
In the United States, we mostly know kava kava from the pill form that you can buy at a store, but traditionally it is a drink. To make the traditional kava kava drink, the kava kava roots and rhizomes are first ground up. The grinding used to be performed by chewing and spitting out, but it is now typically done by hand. The paste is then blended with water to extract the kavalactones, filtered, and swallowed right away. In the US and other western countries, solvents such as acetone and ethanol might be used instead of water. The solvent is not thought to affect the efficacy or toxicity of the final product. The tablet forms available in the US contain either powdered kava kava or a liquid solution.
Some forms of kava kava might cause liver damage. Because of this, kava kava has been banned in Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada after 11 cases of kava kava-related liver injuries were reviewed. Four of these cases resulted in death.
There are several theories about why repeated use of kava kava might cause liver damage. First, kava kava is metabolized by a group of liver enzymes that are involved in metabolizing many drugs. Kava kava can tie up these enzymes so that they cannot readily metabolize the other drugs, causing those drugs to accumulate and damage the liver. Second, the kava kava itself might be metabolized into substances that directly cause damage to the liver cells. Other researchers believe that the liver toxicity comes from kava kava often being taken with alcohol and that the liver damage is due to alcohol. Yet another theory is that inflammation and depletion of important substances in the liver are to blame for toxicity.
Since the mechanism of toxicity is not clear, the Food and Drug Administration has taken the position that individuals with liver disease or taking drugs that can affect the liver should avoid taking kava kava without consulting a physician.
These reports of liver injury are perplexing because Pacific islanders have traditionally used kava kava and, while it has never been thoroughly studied, there does not seem to be a higher occurrence of liver injuries there. Proponents of kava kava feel that if it was properly standardized and prepared it would always be safe. To save money, some kava kava products might use other parts of the plant such as the stem and leaves. This is not part of the kava kava tradition, leading some to believe that the inclusion of other plant parts (“poor kava raw material”) is to blame for the liver toxicity.
For people without liver injuries and those who are not taking any medications that affect the liver, short-term use of kava kava that does not exceed recommended doses appears to be safe. A one-time unintentional dose of kava kava is almost always safe. But, when people overdose on large amounts of kava kava, they can develop rapid heart rate, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, numbness around the mouth, and strange movements.
Long-term toxicity with kava kava tends to be liver damage, irritation of the stomach, kidney injury, shortness of breath, disorientation, and hallucinations. There is also a characteristic scaly, cracked skin change found in people who abuse kava kava; however, it appears to be reversible when kava kava is discontinued.