posted, on, behalf, of, C.T., by, jy,, Mon,, 10, Feb, 2003:In, respect, to, Kava, especially, now, with, all, the, talk, of, liver, effects, I, justwant, to, make, sure, I, don't, take, too, much, at, once, or, is, it, per, day, thatcounts?In, general, how, many, mg., Kavalactones, are, in, a, capsule?, or, a, tablespoon?, Ineed, to, know, because, I, buy, the, root, (Hawiaan, black, or, sometimes, other, Fiji)and, grind, it, up, and, some, recipes, say, to, put, a, tablespoon, in, some, water, andgulp, it, down, or, I, could, buy, the, empty, capsules, to, fill, myself,, but, how, mucham, I, really, getting, in, these, measures, and, how, much, is, too, much?, Please, help.C.T.">
"How Much?" (recommended dosage?)
yee posted on behalf of C.T. by jy, Mon, 10 Feb 2003: In respect to Kava especially now with all the talk of liver effects I just want to make sure I don't take too much at once or is it per day that counts? In general how many mg. Kavalactones are in a capsule? or a tablespoon? I need to know because I buy the root (Hawiaan black or sometimes other Fiji) and grind it up and some recipes say to put a tablespoon in some water and gulp it down or I could buy the empty capsules to fill myself, but how much am I really getting in these measures and how much is too much? Please help. C.T.
yee Your milage will vary... One tablespoon of Hawaiian kava powder might weigh approximately 0.20 oz (+/- 0.05 oz) or 5.7 g. If one were to expect an 8% kavalactone content from the dry weight, this would amount to 0.016 oz or 460 mg of kavalactones (KL). This would be in the powder only. With a water-based tea infusion, it seems one would be lucky to get about 50% extraction of KL from the powder through manual mixing and massage. This means maybe 230 mg KL per cup of water. The rest might be discard as pulp. This is based extrapolated results of an example of HPLC testing. Mixing method, water temperature, what is actually filtered (seive size) fine particles v. rough fiber, would significantly alter the actual KL content of the beverage. One could, however, fathom a KL range as being perhaps between 230mg to less than 460mg with a tendency towards the lower end. How much to drink? Some research [1] have suggested the following:
  • Therapeutic use, 300 mg KL daily, effects are achieved slowly, usually one week.
  • Social use, 2-3 g KL daily.
  • Ceremonial use, involving 10-15 dilute cups over several hours, 1 g KL, occasional.
  • "Abuse?," 10 g daily.
Gulping the powder whole (no filtering) is appears to be an unknown measure. I'm not aware of any studies showing digestion of the powder and effectiveness of rendering the kavalactones. My own personal experience and a few stories I hear indicate that it is very effective. It is probably more sociable to drink the beverage. It's kind of funny talking with dry kava powder in your mouth [:)]. We can't recommend or vouch anything. One might expect to see kava drinkers to space their bowls (less than a cup) sufficently apart to when they notice the stronger effects receding - perhaps 20 minutes. 1. N.P. Kefford, Ph.D. (editor), The American Herbal Products Association, Rural Economic Transition Assistance (Hawai'i Program). "Summary of Presentations and Discussions at the First Annual International Botanical Conference on Kava and other Medicinal Plants of the South Pacific." May 14-17, 1997, (draft 2).
quote:
Originally posted by yee
posted on behalf of C.T. by jy, Mon, 10 Feb 2003: In respect to Kava especially now with all the talk of liver effects I just want to make sure I don't take too much at once or is it per day that counts? In general how many mg. Kavalactones are in a capsule? or a tablespoon? I need to know because I buy the root (Hawiaan black or sometimes other Fiji) and grind it up and some recipes say to put a tablespoon in some water and gulp it down or I could buy the empty capsules to fill myself, but how much am I really getting in these measures and how much is too much? Please help. C.T.
artvandolay hi, I'm very interested in the issue of how much is too much. I heard from another kava site that there might be 100 or so mg's of kavalactones in a rounded tablespoon. This seems to square up with my experience better than a possible 250 or more. I would say that two droppers worth of tincture, around 140 mg's I think, feels roughly equivalent to one tablespoon. It's difficult to make comparisons because the root is so much better of course, but nonetheless that's my general sense. I've been going through old emails trying to find the details of the analysis I was given, but so far I can't find it. If I do, I'll pass it on... a.
al here's what I was told... "a good quality kava powder will only have 10%-15% > kavalactones and when used to make the traditional beverage only > about 10% of those kavalactones end up in the beverage. So if > you start with 4 rounded tablespoons of kava powder (which may > weigh about 1 oz = 28.34 grams = 28340 mg.). We'll say the > powder has about 12.5% kavalactones, so 12.5% of 28340 = 3542.5 > mg of kavalactones in the 1 oz. of powder. Now only 10% (354.25 > mg.) of those are going to get into your beverage. So you have > just a little over the "recommended" 300 mg. daily." would be very interested in any informed, or not so informed, comments >
yee Temperature plays a key role. Checking my notes: the HPLC testing cited earlier was based on a beverage preparation done with water temperature near 140 deg. F and using a KitchenAid(TM) mixer. Using cold water infusion results in a significantly less extraction. Sorry about any confusion. Though we don't have any figures I vaguely recall the lab tech mentioning it was probably half of that hot water extraction. Perhaps more work needs to be done in this area. Generally I use a highspeed blender to do the mixing until the water-pulp mixture becomes warm. Other times I use near boiling water when making large batches. If I don't have access to either methods, I use the cold water extraction.
al This makes more sense to me. I prepare my Kava pretty much by the seat of my pants, just pour some tap water, probably cooler than room temp,into a pan and work the stuff for ten minutes or so. I was beginning to wonder if perhaps I was less sensitive to Kava effects than most if it was really taking me about 500 mg's (based on my customary two tablespoons per drink) to get a decent effect. I feel much better knowing it's probably more in the vicinity of 225 or so. Incidentally, your Kava is superior to anything I've tried. The Pana'ewa is perfect for me. Mellow and very long lasting, with distinct but subtle euphoriants that just keep renewing themselves for three hours or so. Since discovering Kava I can't help but wonder, all this medical controversy aside, why this hasn't caught on more. I suspect strongly that there will come a day when it will truly be universally embraced.