Refuting liver toxicity?

[kavadude]

That's an interesting point, but we also know that European consumption of kava was often Different from Polynesian kava consumption; i.e. they would make extracts of both roots and aerial portions with nonpolar solvents, whereas Polynesian culture universally demands, to my knowledge, straining root in water. Germans and everyone drink ethanol -- there's no real difference in the manner of preparation or consumption.

There was a study claiming that kava's anxiolytic effects could be modulated by a particular gene, which I wish I could find now but can't.

 

[Steve Mariotti]

There was a study claiming that kava's anxiolytic effects could be modulated by a particular gene, which I wish I could find now but can't.

Yeah, freakin' extracts.

I read something about 5% of the european population have a gene that is absent in polynesian populations. Or lack a gene that is present (expressed) in polynesian populations. I don't remember the source, sadly. And may be only one study (as many of these stats are.)

 

[zach]

Talk abouy native cultures and how safe they have been, then discuss the actual cases where there was liver falure and notice that they all used shitty kava extracts from bad parts of the plant and drank alcohol, then mention that even with thoose circumstances witch at the time must have applied to alot of people only a handfull ever got that problem, like even doing everything possible wrong with kava its still really unlikely @Steve Mariotti

 

[Crunked]

Steve, it might help to bring to your wife's attention the following study, which gives some perspective to the risks involved:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18841189
In the period covered by the study, 13 people suffered hepatoxicity. Of those 13, 7 were from Germany and 2 were from Switzerland. In this period 450 million daily doses of kava were sold in Germany and Switzerland. On top of that the risk factors of those with hepatoxicity included overdose, co-medication with up to 5 other herbal remedies, dietary supplements and synthetic drugs (any one of which might explain the hepatoxicty, let alone the combo). Lastly, this was during a period in which inferior quality kava was sold by unscrupulous suppliers.

If she needs a double-blind randomized controlled trial, she could look at this study (2013):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23348842
The study showed no significant difference in liver function tests between the 2 groups or any adverse reactions. There was one significant observation - bonus for you Steve - kava was found to significantly increase female sexual desire compared to the placebo.

 

[yepimonfire]

I've had my liver enzymes tested multiple times after drinking large amounts of kava on a daily basis and its always been spot on. Some other user here just posted his results as well and they were perfect. I even took a medication that is hard on the liver for a few weeks and it didn't increase its hepatotoxicity. My alt was slightly elevated but not higher then it would've normally been taking it by itself, therefore it didn't appear to increase the toxicity of the drug at all. Honestly I think most of the scares come from the aerial portions of the plant, as hedgehog mentioned drinking tudei frequently and his enzymes still looked totally normal. It anything kava is good for your liver because of the massive amount of glutathione contained in it, and if you read health studies, liver problems in Vanuatu have an extremely low occurrence rate. Not only that but it seems to have powerful anti cancer effects. Kava drinking countries have extremely low rates of cancer and several medical studies have shown that in mice genetically altered to get cancer, it prevents it, and in mice injected with straight up tobacco carcinogens, it prevents cancer from forming. I have good faith as long as I keep up my kava drinking habits I will never develop cancer.