Medical Questions » Alternative Medicine Questions » Question No. 1419
| Question: | Can kava damage your liver? |
| Answer: | The South Pacific herb kava, which promotes relaxation and helps reduce anxiety and sleeping problems, has been banned in all EU countries following some cases in Germany where kava was associated with liver problems. Personally, I think this is likely to be a storm in a teacup since the majority of cases reported were of people who were either on prescribed drugs known to cause liver problems, or who had problems with alcohol. There were only two cases involving the kind of kava you could buy in the UK, and the outcome for these cases was far from clear. Clinical trials involving over 10,000 people on high amounts of kava have not discovered any liver problems in the people tested.
I hope the ban is rescinded in due course. Kava is certainly a lot safer than tranquillisers, to which 1.5 million people in Britain are now addicted. Just ensure that you do not supplement kava along with prescribed drugs known to be taxing on the liver, or alcohol. |
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