HerbResearch

Kava and kava derived products are generally considered as very safe. In 2002, the German health authorities banned kava extract containing products based on the suspicion of a potential liver toxicity, as derived from adverse event reports. From the case reports and the sales figures of kava extracts, an incidence rate of one potential case in 60 to 125 million patients was deducted. Clinical, pre-clinical and toxicological studies have so far failed to show toxicity for kava preparations and their constituents.

The potential toxicity of a three month respectively six month oral application of 7.3 versus 73 mg/kg body weight of ethanolic full kava extract was tested in rats. The animals were examined for changes in body weight, hematological and liver parameters, and macroscopical and microscopical histological changes in the major organs. No signs of toxicity could be found. These results are in accordance with the medical experience for the use of kava preparations and the long tradition of kava drinking in the South Pacific island states. Specifically, the results do not back the suspicion of potential liver toxicity.

Poster: 53^rd Annual Congress of the Society for Medicinal Plant Research, Florence (Italy), August 21-25, 2005