Comment · Wed, April 24, 2013 · Ceretropic
Kava and Liver Toxicity
Original post in this thread
Qew_Qew · 19 points
I have been looking into Kava as a means for anti-anxiety treatment and through research have seen links to studies that have demonstrated the potential risk of liver failure as a result of kava intake. The studies do not seem to be absolute conclusive evidence of this, however there have been some notable trends... It seems a lot of the toxicity related conclusions relate to high dosages for prolonged periods of time; however there have been human case study links to problems as well.
I am just wondering if anyone is knowledgeable on kava and its safety risks as well as whether or not it is worth trying?
Thanks
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post — see the thread post above.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
The kavalactone, kavain, has been shown to cause structural changes to the liver, including the narrowing of blood vessels, the constriction of blood vessel passages, and the retraction of the cellular lining.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681144/
LM, SEM, and TEM examinations indicated kavain-treated rat livers (n = 4) displayed severe vascular and endothelial damage compared to control livers (n = 4).
However, this study showed that aqueous extracts of kava did not cause liver damage in rats.
This study showed that liver enzyme changes did happen with kava use, but that irriversible damage was not seen, and all levels reterned to baseline within 1-2 weeks.
So I think reasonable use of kava is safe. I would suggest taking NAC or TMG the days you have kava just to be safe.