Forum News New Addition to the FAQ (Kava Research Articles)

[The Kap'n]

Hello kava lovers. If I could direct your attention to the Frequently Asked Questions page for a moment.

I've taken that massive list of kava research and broken it down into topics so you can find what you're looking for easier.

Kava Research

Bula!

 

[Edward]

Just scanning through at random I looked at one of the liver toxicity reports. In most of the cases of people who suffered a damaged liver after consuming "kava kava" they were very specific about how many kavalactones they were consuming daily and didn't specify a type or brand of the kava. In one case they mention an extract or pill. My guess is that all of these people were not drinking traditionally prepared kava which is the form that the WHO declared as provably safe.

 

[The Kap'n]

Just scanning through at random I looked at one of the liver toxicity reports. In most of the cases of people who suffered a damaged liver after consuming "kava kava" they were very specific about how many kavalactones they were consuming daily and didn't specify a type or brand of the kava. In one case they mention an extract or pill. My guess is that all of these people were not drinking traditionally prepared kava which is the form that the WHO declared as provably safe.

That's correct. Most of the liver issues cluster around the time frame of 1998-2002 and I believe all but one or two were involving extracts. These instances of injury I suspect would go back to either a single batch, or a few moldy or otherwise contaminated kava batches that were sent for extraction during that time frame.

Traditionally prepared kava has been shown safe over and over again.

Issues today are seen as idiosyncratic, as the possibility of it happening is extremely rare and likely revolves around an individuals differing genetic expression of their specific liver enzymes.

 

[Edward]

That's correct. Most of the liver issues cluster around the time frame of 1998-2002 and I believe all but one or two were involving extracts. These instances of injury I suspect would go back to either a single batch, or a few moldy or otherwise contaminated kava batches that were sent for extraction during that time frame.

Traditionally prepared kava has been shown safe over and over again.

Issues today are seen as idiosyncratic, as the possibility of it happening is extremely rare and likely revolves around an individuals differing genetic expression of their specific liver enzymes.

Tell my government that!

 

[The Kap'n]

Tell my government that!

No kidding.

Part of my motivation in creating this list of sources was to give people access to the textual ammunition they needed to push the legalization of this plant in their home country.

The 100% real representation of kava lives among those research articles, and from what I hear some countries can be but a form away from kava legalization (obviously this isn't UK, lol)

 

[kasa_balavu]

Just scanning through at random I looked at one of the liver toxicity reports. In most of the cases of people who suffered a damaged liver after consuming "kava kava" they were very specific about how many kavalactones they were consuming daily and didn't specify a type or brand of the kava. In one case they mention an extract or pill. My guess is that all of these people were not drinking traditionally prepared kava which is the form that the WHO declared as provably safe.

This is a problem with most scientific papers about "kava". They're usually about extracts or kavalactones but call it kava. Sadly many of the big nutraceutical companies are doing the same, mislabelling their products.