kava

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

I was reading some about how Kava and st. s Wort may be hepatoxic

in some people (an immune-mediated mechanism?). Since I used some kava

about 1 or 2 years before they accidentally found elevated liver

bloodwork (appr. 2001), I was wondering if kava might have been a

possible 'initiator'. Are there maybe others in this group with a

similar kava background?

Gerard

[Guest guest]

Hi Gerard;

According to this most recent article, Kava has been implicated in hepatotoxicity:

J. Hepatol. 50: 13-16 (2009)

Are herbals as safe as their advocates believe?

Leonard B. Seeff

"Although most users of herbals believe they are safe, many herbals have been clearly implicated as causes of hepatotoxicity, and indeed, several products, such as kava kava and LipoKinetix, have been restricted or removed from use in the US and Germany because of their frequency and severity of injury to the liver [20,21]."

[20] Favreau JT, Ryu ML, Braunstein G, Orshansky G, Park SS, Coody GL, et al. Severe hepatotoxicity associated with the dietary supplement LipoKinetix. Ann Intern Med 2002;136:590–595.

[21] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hepatic toxicity possibly associated with kava-containing products: United States, Germany, and Switzerland, 1999–2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2002;51:1065–1067.

Full text article free at:

http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/0168-8278/PIIS0168827808007083.pdf

Article [21] was reprinted in JAMA in 2003

JAMA. 2003;289(1):36-37

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/289/1/36

Best regards,

Dave

(father of (23); PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)

>> Dear All,> > I was reading some about how Kava and st. s Wort may be hepatoxic > in some people (an immune-mediated mechanism?). Since I used some kava > about 1 or 2 years before they accidentally found elevated liver > bloodwork (appr. 2001), I was wondering if kava might have been a > possible 'initiator'. Are there maybe others in this group with a > similar kava background?> > Gerard>