Kava Fact of the Day Study: The protective effects of Kava (Piper Methysticum) constituents in cancers: A systematic review

[The Kap'n]

Kava Fact of the Day: A study was undertaken reviewing 39 different research articles. 32 of the 39 papers demonstrated antiproliferative properties (anti-cancer) with a focus on Flavokavain B and Flavokavain A.

This study found components of kava appear to present an area of interest with chemotherapeutic potential in cancer prevention and treatment, particularly for epithelial neoplasms [1] (80-90% of cancers[2]).

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73058-4

[2]https://training.seer.cancer.gov/…/cate…/classification.html

If you're interested in this, I highly suggest giving the paper a read. I just want to warn you not to take and post that link into https://sci-hub.st/ They went and broke down all these studies into their pieces and displayed them in an easy to follow format. Of course more research is necessary to draw solid conclusions, but this breaks down every KL and FK with references showing which cancers it may effect, and how.

 

[Alia]

By now the evidence can hardly be disputed that regular consumption of kava will help prevent many forms of cancer.
What is posted here shows "components of" ...
We can conclude then that consuming the traditional beverage will, surely, help prevent cancers.
The other idea of cancer treatment is likely but maybe a bit less studied.
Why, I ponder, are more researchers not looking at this? And clearly it has not gotten to the mainstream.

 

[hightides42]

Leads me to think... Wouldn't the longevity of kava use amongst Pacific Islanders be an existing demographic to draw on for determining prevalence of these cancer types? Certainly would be supporting the research showing a lack of cancers in general in that population.

 

[Alia]

Leads me to think... Wouldn't the longevity of kava use amongst Pacific Islanders be an existing demographic to draw on for determining prevalence of these cancer types? Certainly would be supporting the research showing a lack of cancers in general in that population.

You are absolutely correct. It was a Dr. Steiner who 1st reported this and it was the inspiration to do further research by others.
I do not beleive he got it as far down to which types of cancers however.
I just noticed that Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center now has information on their website regarding kava and anti-cancer.

• In addition, Steiner reported that the age-standardized cancer incidence for the three highest kava-drinking countries (Vanuatu, Fiji, and Western Samoa) was one fourth or one third that of non-kava-drinking countries, such as New Zealand and United States (Hawaii and Los Angeles), and non-kava-drinking Polynesians (Maoris).