kl.Gray Owl
Kava Enthusiast
Before I stumbled onto Kavasseur I was looking into the issues with liver damage--both from kava kava and just in general and about supplements that might help protect against potential liver damage. I gather now that with kava kava that is properly prepared in the traditional method, and if you are not combining with other substances like Tylenol (acetominophen) and alcohol, which put a heavy load on CYP450, liver damage may not be a concern at all. Liver glutathione levels seem to be important, ordinarily ingested glutathione will be broken down in the digestive tract and not absorbed, but there are two glutatione precursors that look promising: n-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) and alpha-lipoic acid, especially the R enantiomer (RLA), which is the one that is active.
NAC is routinely used in treatment for acetominophen overdose and sometimes for certain lung conditions like COPD, chronic bronchitis, asthma, it has also been used in HIV treatment, and it happens to be kidney protective. I find this easy to take and also seems to help my allergy symptoms, which is a bonus, but too soon to tell if that is just placebo effect. It is also supposed to help prevent side effects from niacin like hot flashes.
http://www.webmd.com/vita...Name=N-ACETYL%20CYSTEINE
Alpha-lipoic acid is sometimes used for treatment of diabetes in conjunction with other medicines, with stroke and other conditions that effect brain function. I find that it gives me heartburn especially if I take it in the evening or on an empty stomach, but in the morning with food it seems to be OK. The R enantiomer is the one that is active and is used to produce glutathione in the body, but there is no evidence that the L enantiomer is in any way harmful or that pure R-lipoic acid (RLA) is any better than the racemic mixture, contrary to the claims of some of the producers of pure RLA, which is more expensive.
http://www.umm.edu/altmed.../alpha-lipoic-000285.htm
I suspect that both of these supplements may cause kavalactones to be metabolized more quickly thus reducing the strength and length of any effects, but it's something to look into if you are concerned about potential liver damage.
On a side note, as an undergrad in the late 1980's, where I studied biochemistry, I wrote a comprehensive review of the literature on alcohol abuse in indigenous populations, most of it was crap e.g. comparing healthy caucasian staff members at a hospital with invalid patients. Of the valid studies that I found, an effect that was reported fairly consistently was that in some indigenous populations, liver enzyme production was more variable and would ramp up considerably compared to other ethnic groups, which makes sense for people better adapted to a "feast or famine" cycle i.e. when food is less available, metabolism slows down to reduce hunger and prolong sustenance vs. when a lot of food is available, metabolism speeds up to help replace damaged cells and body mass quickly while food is plentiful to make the most of the good food supply.
This has 2 important effects: 1) people quickly habituate to larger doses of intoxicants, requiring a lot more a lot sooner than other populations to achieve the same effect; 2) withdrawal symptoms are more severe because the ramped up metabolism leads to faster processing of neurotransmitters and other substances that cause unpleasant side effects when levels are too low, this leads to dependency earlier than in other populations--this also has to do with the way that substances are sort of "prioritized" for metabolism and liver loading i.e. as long as there is alcohol in the system, that will get metabolized first and neurotransmitters won't start to be affected until the alcohol is absent, that is why there are no side effects as long as the alcohol is present. Where I am going with this is that the studies of aborigines are not necessarily relevant unless you happen to be an aborigine yourself, also there are probably other environmental factors like malnutrition and concomitant alcoholism.
NAC is routinely used in treatment for acetominophen overdose and sometimes for certain lung conditions like COPD, chronic bronchitis, asthma, it has also been used in HIV treatment, and it happens to be kidney protective. I find this easy to take and also seems to help my allergy symptoms, which is a bonus, but too soon to tell if that is just placebo effect. It is also supposed to help prevent side effects from niacin like hot flashes.
http://www.webmd.com/vita...Name=N-ACETYL%20CYSTEINE
Alpha-lipoic acid is sometimes used for treatment of diabetes in conjunction with other medicines, with stroke and other conditions that effect brain function. I find that it gives me heartburn especially if I take it in the evening or on an empty stomach, but in the morning with food it seems to be OK. The R enantiomer is the one that is active and is used to produce glutathione in the body, but there is no evidence that the L enantiomer is in any way harmful or that pure R-lipoic acid (RLA) is any better than the racemic mixture, contrary to the claims of some of the producers of pure RLA, which is more expensive.
http://www.umm.edu/altmed.../alpha-lipoic-000285.htm
I suspect that both of these supplements may cause kavalactones to be metabolized more quickly thus reducing the strength and length of any effects, but it's something to look into if you are concerned about potential liver damage.
On a side note, as an undergrad in the late 1980's, where I studied biochemistry, I wrote a comprehensive review of the literature on alcohol abuse in indigenous populations, most of it was crap e.g. comparing healthy caucasian staff members at a hospital with invalid patients. Of the valid studies that I found, an effect that was reported fairly consistently was that in some indigenous populations, liver enzyme production was more variable and would ramp up considerably compared to other ethnic groups, which makes sense for people better adapted to a "feast or famine" cycle i.e. when food is less available, metabolism slows down to reduce hunger and prolong sustenance vs. when a lot of food is available, metabolism speeds up to help replace damaged cells and body mass quickly while food is plentiful to make the most of the good food supply.
This has 2 important effects: 1) people quickly habituate to larger doses of intoxicants, requiring a lot more a lot sooner than other populations to achieve the same effect; 2) withdrawal symptoms are more severe because the ramped up metabolism leads to faster processing of neurotransmitters and other substances that cause unpleasant side effects when levels are too low, this leads to dependency earlier than in other populations--this also has to do with the way that substances are sort of "prioritized" for metabolism and liver loading i.e. as long as there is alcohol in the system, that will get metabolized first and neurotransmitters won't start to be affected until the alcohol is absent, that is why there are no side effects as long as the alcohol is present. Where I am going with this is that the studies of aborigines are not necessarily relevant unless you happen to be an aborigine yourself, also there are probably other environmental factors like malnutrition and concomitant alcoholism.