Yet another case report involving kava leaving much to be desired.
(Published today 10-7-2021)
That’s right, kava lovers, we have yet another instance where researchers attempt to link kava to hepatotoxicity (liver damage), and they have yet again failed.
In this report they talk about liver damage in a 35 year old woman due to what they think is kava.
This case file has a number of issues, not least in that it lacks full documentation. We were given no information as to how much kava and what kind of kava was consumed. We’re only told that she drank 2 or more cups of “Kava kava tea” daily for one month. One month of consumption also makes you really question the title of the paper “Fulminant Hepatic Failure after Chronic Kava Kava Ingestion”. Last time I checked this wasn’t considered “chronic” in any way. Also, as you can see, the researchers refer to it as “Kava Kava” throughout the entire paper. This screams to me that neither author had any working knowledge of kava.
Getting picky about it, but they don’t list Forster in attribution when they list “Piper Methysticum” like every other academic paper on kava does.
They did not test the patient for any commonly known liver diseases such as CMV, EBV, HSV or VZV (group II), or Hepatitis. They simply asked the patient if they had any of those, the patient replied “no” and they went about their business.
The AST/ALT numbers presented fall outside the range of ANY other report claiming hepatotoxicity. AST was 13,222 and ALT was 10,448 almost 3 times the numbers we see in all of the other reports.
I messaged a prominent kava researcher in Germany about this article, and he added a little extra in regards to the last paragraph of this paper.
In the last paragraph the authors postulate that glutathione can open the kavalactone ring, potentially providing protection against hepatotoxicity.
His response: “The hypothesis of glutathione quenching kavalactone toxicity by destroying the kavalactone ring system is not based on sound science. There is nothing indicating a toxicity of kavalactones, and if the ring is opened, there would probably be no more effect. Natural kava contains glutathione, so with this logic kava would have no effect.”
I hope these two authors might one day drink some “Kava kava” and broaden their understanding of it.
Rahman, Samin, and Daria Falkowitz. 2021. “The Case Files: Fulminant Hepatic Failure After Chronic Kava Kava Ingestion.” Emergency Medicine News 43 (10B): 10.1097/01.EEM.0000796988.33120.98. https://journals.lww.com/em-news/Fu...c_Failure_After.1.aspx?context=LatestArticles
(Published today 10-7-2021)
That’s right, kava lovers, we have yet another instance where researchers attempt to link kava to hepatotoxicity (liver damage), and they have yet again failed.
In this report they talk about liver damage in a 35 year old woman due to what they think is kava.
This case file has a number of issues, not least in that it lacks full documentation. We were given no information as to how much kava and what kind of kava was consumed. We’re only told that she drank 2 or more cups of “Kava kava tea” daily for one month. One month of consumption also makes you really question the title of the paper “Fulminant Hepatic Failure after Chronic Kava Kava Ingestion”. Last time I checked this wasn’t considered “chronic” in any way. Also, as you can see, the researchers refer to it as “Kava Kava” throughout the entire paper. This screams to me that neither author had any working knowledge of kava.
Getting picky about it, but they don’t list Forster in attribution when they list “Piper Methysticum” like every other academic paper on kava does.
They did not test the patient for any commonly known liver diseases such as CMV, EBV, HSV or VZV (group II), or Hepatitis. They simply asked the patient if they had any of those, the patient replied “no” and they went about their business.
The AST/ALT numbers presented fall outside the range of ANY other report claiming hepatotoxicity. AST was 13,222 and ALT was 10,448 almost 3 times the numbers we see in all of the other reports.
I messaged a prominent kava researcher in Germany about this article, and he added a little extra in regards to the last paragraph of this paper.
In the last paragraph the authors postulate that glutathione can open the kavalactone ring, potentially providing protection against hepatotoxicity.
His response: “The hypothesis of glutathione quenching kavalactone toxicity by destroying the kavalactone ring system is not based on sound science. There is nothing indicating a toxicity of kavalactones, and if the ring is opened, there would probably be no more effect. Natural kava contains glutathione, so with this logic kava would have no effect.”
I hope these two authors might one day drink some “Kava kava” and broaden their understanding of it.
Rahman, Samin, and Daria Falkowitz. 2021. “The Case Files: Fulminant Hepatic Failure After Chronic Kava Kava Ingestion.” Emergency Medicine News 43 (10B): 10.1097/01.EEM.0000796988.33120.98. https://journals.lww.com/em-news/Fu...c_Failure_After.1.aspx?context=LatestArticles
