Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

Kava as an anti-inflammatory

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dr.Krunk

Dr.Krunk

Certified Quack
I’ve heard accounts of others and mine own experience included that suggest Kava may have some anti-inflammatory properties. Is there any research/studies that can further substantiate the claims beyond anecdotal evidence?
 
Last edited:
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Last edited:
Jellyman64

Jellyman64

Δ Kavanaut Δ
verticity said:
Yes, there were a couple published in vitro experiments that showed kava could possibly act as a COX inhibitor, similar to anti inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.
http://kavascience.org/posts/t46-Evidence-that-kava-is-a--blood-thinner

This post in the original thread on this forum also has some additional information about another possible kind of anti-inflammatory action:
http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/is-kava-a-blood-thinner.10627/#post-125477
Click to expand...
This makes so much sense. I have had horrible tooth pain for months (Since November! yikes!) and Kava has been a godsend.
 
Zaphod

Zaphod

Kava Lover
verticity said:
Yes, there were a couple published in vitro experiments that showed kava could possibly act as a COX inhibitor, similar to anti inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.
http://kavascience.org/posts/t46-Evidence-that-kava-is-a--blood-thinner

This post in the original thread on this forum also has some additional information about another possible kind of anti-inflammatory action:
http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/is-kava-a-blood-thinner.10627/#post-125477
Click to expand...
Which has made me wonder if taking it after my workouts in the early evening is counter-productive to increasing muscle.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/well/move/bring-on-the-exercise-hold-the-painkillers.html
 
verticity

verticity

I'm interested in things
Zaphod said:
Which has made me wonder if taking it after my workouts in the early evening is counter-productive to increasing muscle.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/well/move/bring-on-the-exercise-hold-the-painkillers.html
Click to expand...
That is really interesting. Common sense would suggest that it is not a great idea to drink kava before or during exercise, especially considering it's diuretic effect. The article does make a good point. Sometimes an anti-inflammatory effect is what you want, but in another sense, the COX inhibiting effect of kava could be an undesired side effect. (Like in Headgie's case when the doctor told him to avoid blood thinners after surgery).

But I do wonder about some of the things that article says. In particular:

"The researchers found that many of the ultra runners, about 44 percent, had creatinine levels high enough to indicate acute kidney injury after running 50 miles."

So, 44 percent, nearly half, of these otherwise healthy athletes had "acute kidney injury", including the control group which did not take any ibuprofen? Seriously? And then:

"The study did not follow the racers in subsequent days or weeks, but Dr. Lipman believes that they all recovered normal kidney function soon after the event ended."

So, they observed kidney injury in half of their subjects, but didn't bother to follow up later to check if they were OK, they just assumed they would be back to normal right away? Either this experiment was pretty unethical--causing serious injury and not providing monitoring or help with that injury afterwards, or the words "acute kidney injury" don't mean what I think they mean. Maybe they should say "kidney stress" or something instead of injury, because the latter implies, you know, something is actually ... injured. On the other hand the word "acute" means temporary (but also implies some severity)... so that makes it OK?

Then later, the part about "muscle injury" makes more sense. In that case I understand that "muscle injury" is a phase meaning a normal thing that happens when you work out, which actually causes your muscles to get stronger when they heal. So then is "kidney injury" just like giving your kidneys a good workout? In other words, is it harmful in the long term or not? In the case of aerobic exercise, would you say that your heart is "injured", since it is a muscle, and that that is a good thing...?

Also, what is considered a "normal" test result is based on a pool of baseline data from people who have previously been tested. I doubt any of the baseline data to establish normal levels in the creatinine test was gathered on patients who were in the middle of running an ultra marathon. Could high creatinine just be a normal consequence of extreme exertion? I know the interesting part of the experiment is that those who were taking ibuprofen had higher levels than the controls, but if your control group is also showing significant signs of "injury" I wonder what is really going on...

And, obviously, if you make the substitutions: ibuprofen -> kava, kidney -> liver, creatitine -> GGT, I wonder the same things.
 
Last edited:
Zaphod

Zaphod

Kava Lover
verticity said:
That is really interesting. Common sense would suggest that it is not a great idea to drink kava before or during exercise, especially considering it's diuretic effect. The article does make a good point. Sometimes an anti-inflammatory effect is what you want, but in another sense, the COX inhibiting effect of kava could be an undesired side effect. (Like in Headgie's case when the doctor told him to avoid blood thinners after surgery).

But I do wonder about some of the things that article says. In particular:

"The researchers found that many of the ultra runners, about 44 percent, had creatinine levels high enough to indicate acute kidney injury after running 50 miles."

So, 44 percent, nearly half, of these otherwise healthy athletes had "acute kidney injury", including the control group which did not take any ibuprofen? Seriously? And then:

"The study did not follow the racers in subsequent days or weeks, but Dr. Lipman believes that they all recovered normal kidney function soon after the event ended."

So, they observed kidney injury in half of their subjects, but didn't bother to follow up later to check if they were OK, they just assumed they would be back to normal right away? Either this experiment was pretty unethical--causing serious injury and not providing monitoring or help with that injury afterwards, or the words "acute kidney injury" don't mean what I think they mean. Maybe they should say "kidney stress" or something instead of injury, because the latter implies, you know, something is actually ... injured. On the other hand the word "acute" means temporary (but also implies some severity)... so that makes it OK?

Then later, the part about "muscle injury" makes more sense. In that case I understand that "muscle injury" is a phase meaning a normal thing that happens when you work out, which actually causes your muscles to get stronger when they heal. So then is "kidney injury" just like giving your kidneys a good workout? In other words, is it harmful in the long term or not? In the case of aerobic exercise, would you say that your heart is "injured", since it is a muscle, and that that is a good thing...?

Also, what is considered a "normal" test result is based on a pool of baseline data from people who have previously been tested. I doubt any of the baseline data to establish normal levels in the creatinine test was gathered on patients who were in the middle of running an ultra marathon. Could high creatinine just be a normal consequence of extreme exertion? I know the interesting part of the experiment is that those who were taking ibuprofen had higher levels than the controls, but if your control group is also showing significant signs of "injury" I wonder what is really going on...

And, obviously, if you make the substitutions: ibuprofen -> kava, kidney -> liver, creatitine -> GGT, I wonder the same things.
Click to expand...
I didn't focus too much on the kidney issues in the article. As someone who has run 1 (and only 1) marathon I am convinced that training for and running those distances are not necessarily healthy. I was more focused on the muscle building aspect - and if the inflammation response is necessary to build and repair new muscle. The more research I do the more I think it is, but possibly not for increasing strength just for muscle size. The interesting results with occlusion training and going to failure regardless of total weight to build muscle seems to support that idea. At my age I need every advantage I can get to hold on to muscle. That being said after a nice squat workout a big ol'glass of kava feels mighty fine.
 
L

love2driveinct

Kava Enthusiast
I was really looking forward to having some kava this evening, but now I'm in a quandry... I had a good strength training workout this morning and my muscles are so sore, so a little relief would be welcome, but I don't want to mess with the process that is taking place in my body (muscle fiber repair). Zaphod, if you are right about it only affecting the building of muscles and not the strengthening, then maybe I shouldn't worry about it so much. That being said, isn't the building of a muscle what makes it stronger?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top