Kava
Kava
If you're ever
invited to a native ceremony in the South Seas islands don't be surprised
if you see some virgins sitting around a communal pot filled with
coconut milk expectorating into it. What they have been doing is chewing
on the roots of the kava plant, making a concoction that is then consumed
by everyone. Why? Because of its mellowness-inducing effect.
Well, most of
us are not likely to be invited to such ceremonies but we do have
access to kava kava right here in North America. Because now it is
available in capsule form as an anti-anxiety agent. It does have research
behind it. And in this particular case we know exactly what the active
ingredients are. They are a bunch of compounds called kavalactones
and the product can be standardized to them and we know that consuming
about 200-250mg of kavalactones on a daily basis can have anti-anxiety
effects, similar to what we might see from Valium or Librium. In fact
it has been called the herbal valium.
Maybe a bit of
an overstatement but the chemicals in the kavalactones actually do
work the same way as those benzodiazepines, that is they modulate
the effect of chemicals in our body called neurotransmitters, specifically
GABA, gammo amino butanoic acid. Is there any problem with trying
kava kava? Well, usually not a great deal. But if someone over indulges
they may become so mellow they cannot drive properly. Indeed both
in California and in Utah drivers have been stopped for weaving in
and out of traffic without really realizing what they were doing.
They were under the influence not of alcohol but of kava kava.
Here in North
America people tend to take kava kava for stressful situations such
as visits by their mothers-in-law, although that is really not what
it is indicated for. You've got to take it on a protracted basis in
order to see any kind of an effect. It's a relatively safe product,
aside from the over-indulgence and the manufacturing techniques have
been worked out and of course it is all done in nice capsule form
and in North America actually virgins are not involved in the production
of this particular product!
