Kava is a tropical evergreen shrub that contains heart-shaped leaves and woody stems. It is found on the island of the Pacific Ocean. Its name meaning is “intoxicating pepper”. For hundreds of years, People who live on Pacific islands like Fiji and Tonga have used it in social gatherings and traditional medicine. They firstly dry out the roots or crush them into a powder then add water and drink the mixture. The roots of the kava plant contain compounds kavalactones that have many beneficial effects.
Benefits :
Kava is used in treating anxiety disorders, benzodiazepine withdrawal, common cold/upper respiratory tract infections (URIs), depression, musculoskeletal pain, psychosis, stress epilepsy, headaches/migraines, benzodiazepine withdrawal, insomnia.
Side effect:
Side effects like indigestion, mouth numbness, rash, headache, drowsiness, and visual disturbances are common even for short-term use
Dosage form: They available in Capsule, Tablet, or Tincture
Dose: An effective dose of kavalactones is 70–250 mg . limit your use no more than three months.
Drug interaction :
Kava can interact with several drugs and supplements. In some conditions, it may enhance the effects of the drug. In others, it may reduce the effectiveness by competing for the CYP450 which is used to metabolize kava.
Take the advice of your doctor if you are using (or intend to use) kava with any of the following medications:
- To treat anxiety, Benzodiazepines like diazepam or lorazepam are used
- Diuretics (‘water pills”) like furosemide
- Blood thinners like warfarin or clopidogrel
- To treat Parkinson’s disease Levodopa is used
- Sedatives and over-the-counter sleep aids
- Tricyclic antidepressants like imipramine
- To treat depression MAO inhibitors are used
- Proton pump inhibitors like lansoprazole and omeprazole are used
- Antipsychotics like Abilify, Clozaril, and Seroquel
Reference :
Textbook of Pharmacognosy, textbook of Herbal drug of Jaiswal, Pharmacognosy book of Kokate, Wikipedia, etc.
