Why Farming Practices Matter to Anyone Who Drinks Kava When people think about kava safety, they often focus on what happens after harvest: testing, packaging, labeling, and where a product is sold. But the most important decisions happen much earlier, in the field. The way kava is grown, the type of plant selected, and the […]
Kona Kava Farm answers your most common questions about kava products and preparation.
Kava’s traditional medicinal uses and what research says about kavalactones.
Current Scientific Research on Kava In recent years, a number of studies have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of kava. In fact, from our research and the research conducted by the World Health Organization on the Safety and Hepatotoxicity of Kava, there are now well over 100 studies widely available. After an […]
Chewing the Roots – Ancient Kava Preparation The tradition of chewing kava roots to prepare for drinking is an ancient practice that has been used by many Polynesian and Melanesian cultures for thousands of years. The process of chewing kava roots is known as “tudei” in some languages, and it is considered to be a […]
Something on peoples minds when they hear about kava is this: “Is Kava safe?” The TLDR is simple: YES! Kava has a 3000-year safety record. Kava only started to see negative information about it in the early 2000s. This was the same time that pharmaceutical companies began to take notice of Kava. This was especially […]
When discussing true kava side effects, there is a lot of noise surrounding the topic. The World Health Organization, recognized as the definitive authority on international health issues, clearly stated: “There is no link to liver damage with water-based root extracts of Kava Kava.” In their Summary in their exhaustive 2007 book called “Assessment of […]
As we strive to be the best internet resource we can regarding all things kava, we get the question “Is kava safe?” all the time. There’s a general bias in Western civilization to regard the exotic or unfamiliar as dangerous, even when—as with kava—there are abundant studies demonstrating its general safety when used responsibly. For […]
This is a question we’ve been asked more times than we have Kava plants. Is Kava safe for children? Instead of offering an opinion, let me first offer a few statistics. Kava has been prescribed safely to kids in Europe for decades. Families throughout Oceania allow their children to consume Kava. Kava affects children and teens the same way it affects adults. There have been no long-term effects reported in children who consume Kava. In Germany Kava is often prescribed instead of Prozac to children. This isn’t to say that we advocate starting to give Kava to your kids. As with everything we share here, it’s best to get an informed doctor’s opinion regarding Kava. Anyone can ask any doctor about Kava, but not every doctor is familiar with Kava beyond a few paragraphs they read in a medical journal or on WebMD. But to get to the heart of the matter, I asked friends who allow their children to safely consume Kava, as well as the kids themselves.
Is kava bad for your liver? The short answer: the liver scare of the early 2000s was real, but it was tied to a specific kind of product — solvent-extracted pills, often made from the wrong parts of the plant. Traditionally prepared noble kava root has a very different safety record. Here is what the […]
