Kava

Kava: what was it used for?

A ceremonial and social drink, and later a medicine for anxiety. LiverTox records that it has been used for centuries as a recreational and ceremonial drink in Oceania, its kavalactones having effects similar to alcohol, “such as relaxation, talkativeness, and euphoria.” Grieve records that the natives drank a liquor from the rhizome “before important religious rites,” and that in Western medicine it had been used against gonorrhoea and other complaints of the genito-urinary tract.

Kava: what does modern science say?

The Cochrane review of 2003, of eleven trials in 645 people, found that kava extract reduced anxiety scores against placebo and “appears to be an effective symptomatic treatment option for anxiety,” relatively safe in the short term though more information on long-term safety was needed. The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee, however, declined any monograph on the rhizome (public statement of 2017): it found toxicological concerns, carcinogenic potential in animals, in relation to one preparation, and noted spontaneous reports of liver reactions, including liver failure leading to transplants and deaths, and the withdrawal of products in some member states, and judged the balance of benefit and risk unfavourable. A 2025 review of 197 records found its role both in liver toxicity and in reducing anxiety still unclear, while kava remains socially, culturally, and economically important to the Pacific Islands.

Kava: what did the older authorities say?

King’s American Dispensatory (1898)

“It was discovered by James Cook, the celebrated explorer, in 1769, in the Tahiti Islands.” The drink was invariably made by chewing the root to a pulp, covering it with water, macerating it a short time, and straining it through a fibre from the bark of a native tree; its taste was said to resemble soap-suds and tannin.