12 May Kudzu Root: Benefits, Uses, and Side Effects

But as soon as the capsules ran out, I concluded that it hadn’t totally “cured” my problem and that I would eventually find something better. Because my drinking levels were so stupendously high in the first place, kudzu did not turn me into a moderate drinker by any stretch of the imagination. In this article, I’m going to discuss how to use kudzu recovery for alcoholism. Kudzu is an invasive weed that has also been used to treat alcoholism for well over one thousand years. “The most urgent need is helping people who cannot help themselves, who need a drug to help them stop drinking,” Keung said. Lukas’ study was inspired by Dr. Wing Ming Keung, a pathology professor at Harvard Medical School who has studied kudzu’s potential medical applications.

Kudzu is known to be extremely safe, with very few reported adverse side effects. None of the subjects had any side effects from mixing kudzu with beer. After the first session, some subjects received capsules of kudzu, others a placebo. ‘Perfectly safe’In 2003, David Overstreet and other scientists found the herb to be effective in reducing alcohol intake on rats.

Kudzu Recovery: Overview of Kudzu

This copyrighted material is provided by Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database Consumer Version. Information from this source is evidence-based and objective, and without commercial influence. For professional medical information on natural medicines, see Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database Professional Version. «Apparently, this effect is sufficient to delay or eliminate the desire to drink subsequent beers,» he adds. Although no one knows exactly why kudzu increases sobriety, researchers theorize that the herb speeds alcohol’s effect on the head. Sign up now for a weekly digest of the top drug and alcohol news that impacts your work, life and community.

• The responses to comments on fitrecovery.com are designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment.
• Overstreet et al.’s (1998) study provides cursory evidence that a taste aversion mechanism is not likely.
• In spite of the compelling preclinical and clinical evidence of its efficacy, the precise mechanism of action of kudzu in reducing alcohol consumption is not currently known.
• Anecdotal sources also note that kudzu root may lower blood sugar too much or slow down blood clotting.
• As an herbal plant extract, kudzu can be made available without a prescription.

Previous studies had shown that kudzu extracts reduced alcohol drinking in rats and hamsters. In this study, researchers tested the effect of kudzu extract on drinking by humans in a naturalistic setting. Drinking was recorded using a custom built end table that contained a digital scale beneath a ceramic tile insert in the tabletop (Ohaus model #B10P with I5S controller). Participants were instructed to always keep the beer glass on the table except when taking a sip. The scale was connected to a computer in an adjacent room that ran a customized program that sampled the scale at 5 Hz and detected any weight changes that exceeded 1 gm. Additional details and photos of the device can be found in Lukas et al. (2005).

Side Effects

Lukas and Lee applied for, and were granted, a patent for kudzu extract to treat alcohol abuse and dependence. McLean Hospital has licensed the production of kudzu extract (NPI-031) to Natural Pharmacia International (NPI), Inc. and they are marketing it as Alkontrol-Herbal®. All other authors declare that they have no actual or potential conflict of interest that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, this work. One study in mice found that kudzu vine extract was highly beneficial in treating alcohol-induced liver damage by scavenging harmful free radicals and boosting the natural antioxidant system (6).

Scientists need to do more research on the effects of kudzu root in humans to investigate these effects in the liver. Various studies have used single, one-time doses or daily doses for a week without reported adverse effects. Kudzu root may help treat alcohol dependence, liver damage, and menopausal symptoms. Scientists need to do more human studies to determine its effectiveness in other areas, like inflammation, heart health, and headaches.

Medications that can harm the liver (Hepatotoxic drugs) interacts with KUDZU

In response to these difficulties, Lukas and colleagues developed a concentrated kudzu extract with 25 percent isoflavones and developed the «natural laboratory» setting to test the extract’s effects. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, kudzu root can be used for lots of health purposes. Some common applications include treating fevers and easing symptoms of diabetes. Now kudzu’s popularity is also picking up in the Western world as a wellness supplement. The researchers found participants who took puerarin drank fewer beers—decreasing from an average of 3.5 beers to 2.4. The kudzu root may interact with certain medications or pose other health risks for certain people.

• They also took more but smaller sips of each beer while taking the kudzu extract, the researchers found.
• Thus, I’m going to make sure I cover all of these topics and more so you become very knowledgeable about how kudzu works for helping people get better from alcoholism.
• «Apparently, this effect is sufficient to delay or eliminate the desire to drink subsequent beers,» he adds.
• You can eat the root as you would other root vegetables, like potatoes or rutabagas.
• People have used it for many years in traditional Chinese medicine, and it resembles other root tubers, like yams.

The present study was conducted in nontreatment-seeking heavy drinkers to assess the safety and efficacy of 4 weeks of kudzu extract in an outpatient setting. «Recently, preclinical studies with animals have shown reductions in alcohol consumption when treated with isoflavones contained in the kudzu root,» said Penetar. «Therefore, the next step in the research was to assess the effects of kudzu extract on different physical, behavioral and cognitive features in humans.» This study provides additional evidence that an extract of the kudzu root significantly reduces alcohol consumption by human participants and confirms that this botanical medication may be a safe and effective adjunct pharmacotherapy for treating alcohol use disorders. The 14 participants were heavy drinkers who reported having an average of 25 alcoholic beverages per week.

They also took more but smaller sips of each beer while taking the kudzu extract, the researchers found. In the first 90-minute session of the study, participants were told to drink as many beers as they wanted, up to a maximum of six. They were then given either puerarin or a placebo, and told they should take it each day for a week. They were then given the pill they hadn’t received the first time—either puerarin or a placebo—and told to take it daily for one week. Kudzu root is linked to a wide range of potential health benefits from easing menopausal symptoms to treating alcohol dependence. Still, more research needs to be done to prove whether it’s truly effective.

Prior studies of its antidipsotropic effect have focused on taste-aversion, alterations in alcohol metabolism or effects on neurotransmitters. Overstreet et al.’s (1998) study provides cursory evidence that a taste aversion mechanism is not likely. Increases in 5-HIAL have been shown to be correlated with decreased alcohol consumption in hamsters (Keung et al., 1995). Kudzu’s alteration of alcohol consumption may be through direct effects at brain benzodiazepine receptors on the GABAA complex. Although the number of sips taken per beer did not significantly increase in this study – contrary to what was found in our previous study (Lukas et al., 2005) – we did observe an increase in the time taken to consume a beer which is consistent with our previous study. This change in drinking topography was not secondary to alterations in the subjective effects of alcohol as kudzu-treated individuals still reported positive feelings (e.g., drunk, floating) without any change in the negative effects (e.g., clumsy, dizzy).

The most popular forms available appear to be powdered drink mixes, capsules, disintegrating tablets, and liquid extract drops. What’s more, the kudzu plant leaves, vine tips, and purple flower blossoms are also edible. You can eat the root as you would other root vegetables, like potatoes or rutabagas.

The reduction in drinking was evident rather quickly as it was apparent for the second through sixth beers and no kudzu-treated participant drank five or six beers, which suggests that binge drinking was curtailed. Our laboratory has been involved in assessing an extract of the kudzu root (Pueraria lobata) for its ability to reduce alcohol consumption in humans. In the first, kudzu extract was administered for 7 days and acute binge drinking https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/kudzu-extract-and-alcohol-addiction-can-it-help-you-drink-less/ was suppressed (Lukas et al., 2005). In the second, participants who were treated for 4 weeks with kudzu extract significantly reduced their alcohol consumption during weeks 2 through 4 of the study (Lukas et al., 2013). We have subsequently shown that puerarin is the major active isoflavone because 7 days treatment with this compound alone (1,200 mg/day) produced a similar reduction of binge drinking as the extract (Penetar et al., 2012).

Kudzu Treatment not Effective as Remedy for Alcoholism

Kudzu root gets some serious rep’ for helping folks ease off of the booze. One small study looking at the effects of kudzu in a group of men that reported drinking between 22 and 35 drinks per week shows promising results. After consuming kudzu extract for 4 weeks, the participants reduced their number of weekly alcoholic beverages by at least a third. Medication adherence was excellent and there were no adverse events and changes in vital signs, blood chemistry, and renal or liver function. We previously demonstrated that short-term treatment with a standardized kudzu extract (NPI-031) reduced alcohol drinking by men and women in a natural setting.