Abstract
Formerly used world-wide as a popular botanical medicine to reduce anxiety, reports of hepatotoxicity linked to consuming kava extracts in the late 1990s have resulted in global restrictions on kava use and have hindered kava-related research. Despite its presence on the United States Food and Drug Administration consumer advisory list for the past decade, export data from kava producing countries implies that US kava imports, which are not publicly reported, are both increasing and of a fairly high volume. We have measured the variability in extract chemical composition and cytotoxicity towards human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cancer cells of 25 commercially available kava products. Results reveal a high level of variation in chemical content and cytotoxicity of currently available kava products. As public interest and use of kava products continues to increase in the United States, efforts to characterize products and expedite research of this potentially useful botanical medicine are necessary.
Highlights
Metabolic fingerprints from aqueous and ethanolic extracts plotted in principal component space formed two distinct groups driven by extraction solvent where the use of either 100% water or 95% ethanol was responsible for 71.1% of the variation among all samples explained by PC1 (Figure S2)
Compound quantification showed that extracts prepared with 95% ethanol resulted in higher yields and greater consistency among replicates, compared with extracts prepared with 100% water
K, DHK, M, and DHM concentrations were 1.5–5x higher in samples extracted with 95% ethanol than in those extracted with 100% water
Summary
Forster) is the name of a plant and drink that is prepared traditionally by macerating its roots in cool water or coconut water [1]. It has been used for many centuries in the South Pacific and Hawaii for social ceremonies, relaxation, medicine, and a multitude of other purposes [1]. A tight inverse correlation between high rates of kava consumption and low incidences of cancer for populations in the South Pacific has been reported [4]. Subsequent studies have shown that kava displays cancer preventive properties [5,6,7,8]
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