Kava

Kava (Piper methysticum) (Piper Latin for "pepper", methysticum Greek for "intoxicating") is an ancient crop of the western Pacific. Other names for kava include ʻawa (Hawaii), 'ava (Samoa), yaqona (Fiji), and sakau (Pohnpei). The word kava is used to refer both to the plant and the beverage produced from it. Kava is a legal intoxicant in many countries and if consumed before driving can cause a DUI citation. It is a tranquilizer primarily consumed to relax without disrupting mental clarity. Its active ingredients are called kavalactones. In some parts of the Western World, kava extract is marketed as herbal medicine against stress, insomnia, and anxiety.

Preparation and consumption
Traditional preparation
Modern preparation
Pills
Pharmacology
Pharmacodynamics
Effects
Kava culture
Botany and agronomy
Strains and origins
Composition
Basic research on anti-cancer potential
Side effects and safety
Skin rashes
Liver damage incidents and regulation
Toxicology of pill form kava extracts with stems and leaves
Toxicity of traditional kava beverage preparations
Allergy

Kava is used for medicinal, religious, political, cultural and social purposes throughout the Pacific. These cultures have a great respect for the plant and place a high importance on it. It is used primarily at social gatherings to increase amiability and to relax after work. It has great religious significance, being used to obtain inspiration. In some Westernized Pacific peoples, the drink has been demonized and seen as a vice, and youth there often reject its traditional use. However, it has gained a cult following among the youth culture of caucasian people living on Pacific islands.

The issue has long been controversial and the debate fuelled by conflicting economic interests of monopoly-driven pharmaceutical companies, concerned with competition in anti-anxiety drug sales, and kava-exporting nations of the Pacific Islands as well as disagreements between the medical establishment and proponents of herbal and natural medicine. The German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), which in 2002 temporarily inactivated kava registrations, asked the producers to provide new clinical data by June 2007, in which case a reinstitution of the kava products on the market might again be possible.

A New Zealand committee from the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists that considered the issue commented in its summary: "A comparison with paracetamol-associated hepatotoxicity, results in the conclusion that these potential risks for kava are dramatically less than that of a popular non prescription drug widely sold through grocery outlets." The NZ government is currently only considering requiring a suitable warning label standard to go on kava products.