KAVA- Linked to liver problems

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USA Today

ET Herb kava linked to liver problems

By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating whether popular dietary supplements containing the herb kava, promoted for relief of stress and anxiety, could cause serious liver problems.

A capsule of kava The FDA says dietary supplements containing kava, also known as kava kava or Piper methysticum, are promoted for a variety of uses, including relaxation (to relieve stress, anxiety and tension), insomnia and premenstrual syndrome.

Sales reportedly topped $30 million in the USA last year, according to the non-profit American Botanical Council in Austinx Safety concerns first arose in Switzerland and Germany, where 25 to 30 reports of liver toxicity — characterized by jaundice and a variety of other symptoms — were tied to kava products.

Switzerland has banned products containing the kava extract linked to the adverse effects.

In Great Britain, where there have been no reports of side effects, makers voluntarily pulled kava products from shelves.

According to the British Medicines Control Agency, there were six cases of liver failure reported in kava users in Germany and Switzerland. One person died, four needed liver transplants, and the sixth was being evaluated for a transplant. In some cases, the kava users also were taking other drugs tied to liver problems.

Kava products are among the top-selling herbal dietary supplements in the United States.

Reporting of side effects is mandatory in Europe but voluntary in the United States, notes Christine Taylor, director of the FDA's Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling and Dietary Supplements. Only in recent years has the FDA heard several reports of health problems in kava users in the United States. This month, the FDA drew up a letter asking health care professionals to check whether any patients with liver toxicity may have been using kava.

"At this point, we're not sure how many (cases) we're talking about," Taylor says. "I'm putting as many staff as I can on it."

A coalition of trade groups has hired a toxicologist to review the reported cases. "One case report here, one case report there does not necessarily constitute a strong body of proof for anything," says Mark Blumenthal, of the American Botanical Council.

Meanwhile, his group advises against taking kava daily for more than four weeks. And those who have liver problems, take drugs that affect the liver or drink alcohol regularly should not use it at all.

-- Anonymous, December 31, 2001


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