Word: kava
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...alleged powers, kava is a pretty pedestrian plant. One of 2,000 members of the extended pepper family, it grows principally in the South Pacific, where it is harvested like any other cash crop. The root was largely unknown in the U.S., but that changed in 1996. That year, a coalition of 21 herbal-product makers devised a plan to bring more kava to American shores and shelves. Using aggressive ad campaigns, they quickly raised the profile of the root. When word began circulating that kava might have the power to calm--and when ABC ran a story to that...
...many accounts, kava is indeed better. Even critics admit that it has mild pharmacological properties and produces none of the side effects of Valium and other sedatives. "It's not a major difference, but I do feel a lot calmer," says Amie McGoon, 32, a California graduate student who began taking kava after antidepressants failed...
...Food and Drug Administration is less calm. Neither it nor anyone else knows precisely how kava works. The prevailing thinking is that its active ingredient is a class of molecules known as kavalactones, plant metabolites that affect the limbic system, the emotional center of the brain. According to Cass, kava works on the same amino-acid sites as Valium; while Valium binds to so-called GABA receptors, kava causes more of them to form...
That's what studies with rats suggest, anyway. But rats aren't people, and although researchers in Germany have reported that kava is safe and effective for humans--prompting that country to approve the root as a treatment for mild anxiety--many U.S. physicians are unimpressed. "If a substance has an effect on mood, that doesn't necessarily mean it has therapeutic value," says psychiatrist Benedetto Vitiello of the National Institute of Mental Health. "A good cup of coffee has an influence on mood, but it's not really an antidepressant...
Then there's the danger that kava could actually do harm. Doctors know that heavy use over even a few months can cause temporary yellowing and flaking of the skin. The effects of longer use are unknown. Psychological addiction is a risk even if physical addiction isn't. Also worrisome is the danger of adverse drug interaction. A kava user in Georgia who had been taking the sedative Xanax had blackouts when he switched from the drug to the root...