The Consumer Guide to Kava Root
In This Guide... Traditional Use: Kava has occupied a central place in the cultures of the South Pacific since at least the 1770’s, when English explorer Captain Cook described its use as a calming, ceremonial, psychoactive drug. Native people drink kava as a social drug and ceremonial sacrament, and to treat a wide range of ailments—primarily urogenital inflammation, cystitis, gonorrhea, headaches, fatigue, gastric upsets, asthma, tuberculosis, and pediatric whooping cough. Applied topically, kava is used to treat fungal infections, insect stings and skin inflammations.
Modern perspective: Kava appears to offer a safe, effective alternative to prescription drugs for anxiety and insomnia, and may in some cases provide relief for depression. In word recognition tests, kava extract increases reaction time and recognition slightly and does not adversely affect mental function. Doses of kava sufficient to cause sedation do not appear to impair coordination, visual perception, memory, mental clarity or judgement. And, kava’s effectiveness does not fade with repeated use. Since 1920, kava has been listed in European and U.S dispensaries as an effective therapeutic agent for anxiety and other nervous disorders, hypertension, chronic irritations of the urogenital tract, and gonorrhea.
Do scientists know how it works? The medicinally active constituents are a group of resinous compounds known as kavalactones or kavapyrones. While as many as fifteen kavalactones are known, only six appear in kava to any significant extent (demethoxy-yangonin, dihydrokavain, yangonin, kavain, dihydromethysticin and methysticin). Kava cultivars favored by native peoples contain kavalactones in particular, specific ratios, while others produce headaches with little relaxant effect.
Kavalactones produce sedative, soporific, and muscle relaxant effects, but the mode of action remains uncertain. In 1991, researchers reported that the preferential site of action for both whole kava resin and synthetic kawain is the amygdala, in the limbic system. Unlike the benzodiazepines (Valium®, etc.), kavalactones do not appear to interact with gamma-aminobutyric acid or its receptor sites.
The most significant anti-anxiety studies of kava show that an effective daily dose consists of 70 to 210 mg of kavalactones. To promote sleep, a dose of approximately 200 mg of kavalactones taken thirty to sixty minutes prior to retiring has been recommended.
Recent findings: In a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial lasting 25 weeks, German researchers reported that a standardized kava extract produced anti-anxiety effects in 101 outpatients suffering from anxiety of non-psychotic origin. As their report concluded: "These results support WS 1490 [kava extract] as a treatment alternative to tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines in anxiety disorders, with proven long-term efficacy and none of the tolerance problems associated with tricyclics and benzodiazepines." Other German researchers reported that selected kavapyrones inhibited the reuptake of [3H]- noradrenaline, and speculated that this action might be responsible for or, at least, contribute to the psychotropic properties of kava pyrones.
Traditional Use
Modern Perspective
Do Scientists Know How It Works?
Recent Findings
References
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Kava is a leafy tropical plant (Piper methysticum) in the pepper family, and kava is also the name given a pungent sedative beverage prepared from its roots.
- Kava, The Pacific Drug, by Lebot, Merlin and Lindstrom, Yale University Press 1992.
- Lindenberg, D. and Pitule-Schodel, H. 1990. D,L - Kavain in comparison with oxazepam in anxiety disorders. A double-blind study of clinical effectiveness. Forschr Med 108, 49 - 50, 53- 54. [Article in German]
- Lehmann E, Klieser E, Klimke A, Krach H, Spatz R. The efficacy of Cavain in patients suffering from anxiety. Pharmacopsychiatry 1989 ov;22(6):258-62. [Article in German]
- Volz HP, Kieser M . Kava-kava extract WS 1490 versus placebo in anxiety disorders--a randomized placebo-controlled 25-week outpatient trial. Pharmacopsychiatry 1997 Jan;30(1):1-5.
- Heinze HJ, Munthe TF, Steitz J, Matzke M. Pharmacopsychological effects of oxazepam and kava-extract in a visual search paradigm assessed with event-related potentials. Pharmacopsychiatry 1994 Nov;27(6):224-30
- Herberg KW. [Effect of Kava-Special Extract WS 1490 combined with ethyl alcohol on safety-relevant performance parameters]. Blutalkohol 1993 Mar;30(2):96-105. [Article in German]
- Munte TF, Heinze HJ, Matzke M, Steitz J. Effects of oxazepam and an extract of kava roots (Piper methysticum) on event-related potentials in a word recognition task. Neuropsychobiology 1993;27(1):46-53.
- Kinzler E, Kromer J, Lehmann E. [Effect of a special kava extract in patients with anxiety-, tension-, and excitation states of non- psychotic genesis. Double blind study with placebos over 4 weeks]. Arzneimittelforschung 1991 Jun;41(6):584-8. [Article in German].
- Warnecke G. [Psychosomatic dysfunctions in the female climacteric. Clinical effectiveness and tolerance of Kava Extract WS 1490]. Fortschr Med 1991 Feb 10;109(4):119-22. [Article in German]
- Davies LP, Drew CA, Duffield P, Johnston GA, Jamieson DD. Kava pyrones and resin: studies on GABAA, GABAB and benzodiazepine binding sites in rodent brain. Pharmacol Toxicol 1992 Aug;71(2):120-6.
- Nowakowska E, Ostrowicz A, Chodera A [Kava-kava preparations--alternative anxiolytics]. Pol Merkuriusz Lek 1998 Mar;4(21):179-180a [Article in Polish].
- Seitz U, Schule A, Gleitz J . [3H]-monoamine uptake inhibition properties of kava pyrones. Planta Med 1997 Dec;63(6):548-9.
- Seitz U, Ameri A, Pelzer H, Gleitz J, Peters T. Relaxation of evoked contractile activity of isolated guinea-pig ileum by (+/-)- kavain. Planta Med 1997 Aug;63(4):303-6.
- Walden J, von Wegerer J, Winter U, Berger M, Grunze H . Effects of kawain and dihydromethysticin on field potential changes in the hippocampus. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 1997 May;21(4):697-706.
- Suss R, Lehmann P. [Hematogenous contact eczema cause by phytogenic drugs exemplified by kava root extract]. Hautarzt 1996 Jun;47(6):459-61. [Article in German].
- Jussofie A, Schmiz A, Hiemke C. Kavapyrone enriched extract from Piper methysticum as modulator of the GABA binding site in different regions of rat brain. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1994 Dec;116(4):469-74.
- Mathews JD, Riley MD, Fejo L, Munoz E, Milns NR, Gardner ID, Powers JR, Ganygulpa E, Gununuwawuy BJ. Effects of the heavy usage of kava on physical health: summary of a pilot survey in an aboriginal community. Med J Aust 1988 Jun 6;148(11):548-55.
- Jamieson DD, Duffield PH. The antinociceptive actions of kava components in mice. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 1990 Jul;17(7):495- 507.
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