Journal
FOOD AND CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGY
Volume 46, Issue 1, Pages 168-174Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2007.07.013
Keywords
Piper methysticum; kava; kava pyrones; kavalactones; mutagenicity; mouse lymphoma
Categories
Funding
- DIVISION OF CANCER BIOLOGY AND DIAGNOSIS [N01CB087016] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NCI NIH HHS [N01-CB-87016] Funding Source: Medline
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Kava (Piper methysticum) is a member of the pepper family and has been cultivated by South Pacific islanders for centuries and used as a social and ceremonial drink. Traditionally, kava extracts are prepared by grinding or chewing the rhizome and mixing with water and coconut milk. The active constituents of kava are a group of approximately 18 compounds collectively referred to as kavalactones or kava pyrones. Kawain, dihydrokawain, methysticin, dihydromethysticin, yangonin, and desmethoxyyangonin are the six major kavalactones. Kava beverages and other preparations are known to be anxiolytic and are used for anxiety disorders. Dietary supplements containing the root of the kava shrub have been implicated in several cases of liver toxicity in humans, including several who required liver transplants after using kava supplements. In order to study the toxicity and mutagenicity, two commercial samples of kava, Kaviar and KavaPure, and the six pure kavalactones including both D-kawain and DL-kawain, were evaluated in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells. Neither the kava samples nor the kavalactones induced a mutagenic response in the L5178Y mouse lymphoma mutation assay with the addition of human liver S9 activation. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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