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PromisingReviewedHigh caution

Herbs & Botanicals

Kava

Plants used as foods, spices, teas, or traditional supplements. Botanical effects vary by plant part, extract, dose, and medication context.

Page last reviewed: 2026-07-23 - next review due: 2027-01-23

Pacific Island traditional use

High-Caution Safety Flags

Use extra caution before concentrated supplement use, especially with medications, pregnancy, liver/kidney disease, heart conditions, or complex medical history.

liver disease, alcohol, sedatives, driving, pregnancy/breastfeeding

Source Coverage

Included: US reference
Review gap: Canadian reference
Add or verify Health Canada context where an official Canadian reference exists.
Review gap: EU reference
Add or verify EFSA or EU health-claim context where an official EU reference exists.
Included: Clinical / safety source

Function

Root beverage and extract traditionally used in Pacific Island cultures and studied for short-term anxiety symptom contexts.

Natural Sources

Piper methysticum root and rhizome.

Food vs Supplement Context

Natural sources describe where this item appears in foods, culinary ingredients, or traditional preparations. Concentrated supplements can differ by dose, extract type, preparation, standardization, and medication context, so they should be evaluated separately.

Testing & Monitoring Context

  • No routine lab test establishes a required daily need for most foods and bioactives; monitoring is usually based on the intended outcome, dose, medical history, and adverse effects.
  • Liver-safety context: liver enzymes and symptoms such as dark urine, jaundice, severe fatigue, or abdominal pain need medical review.
  • Sedation context: watch for next-day drowsiness, impaired driving, alcohol overlap, or sedating medication combinations.

Suggested Guidelines When Purchasing

What to look for: For botanicals, plant part, extract ratio, standardization marker, preparation type, and medication cautions matter more than the herb name alone.

Use caution or avoid: Avoid casual use when these flags apply: liver disease, alcohol, sedatives, driving, pregnancy/breastfeeding.

  • Prefer ordinary food sources first when they provide the intended compound in a practical way.
  • For supplements, require clear labeling of active ingredient, dose per serving, serving size, and other ingredients.
  • Prefer products with third-party testing or transparent contaminant testing, especially for concentrated extracts, algae, mushrooms, minerals, and sports products.
  • Do not let marketing claims override the evidence, safety flags, source coverage, or dose context on this page.

Intake Guidance

No official DRI

No official RDA, AI, or RDI has been established for this bioactive as a required daily intake.

Evidence Summary

Short-term anxiety symptoms and liver-safety warning

Promising

NCCIH summarizes kava as possibly producing short-term anxiety symptom improvement, but liver toxicity risk prevents casual recommendation language.

Dose context: Traditional beverage, extracts, dose, duration, and product quality are not interchangeable; no official RDI exists.

Caution: Avoid casual use with liver disease, alcohol, sedatives, driving risk, pregnancy, breastfeeding, or medication-heavy contexts.

Studies/sources: Anxiety and Complementary Health Approaches: What the Science Says (2026-08-03), Sleep Disorders and Complementary Health Approaches: Usefulness and Safety (2026-08-03)

Evidence Legend

Established use: Supported by official guidance, regulatory claim context, strong consensus, or repeated human evidence for a specific use.
Promising: Human studies or reviews suggest benefit for specific outcomes, but evidence is not broad enough to treat as settled general guidance.
Emerging: Early human, mechanistic, or mixed evidence; worth tracking, but not strong enough for confident user-facing claims.
Traditional use: Historically or traditionally used, but modern clinical evidence may be limited, mixed, or product-specific.
Category example: Included to describe a supplement or food category, not because a strong health claim is attached yet.
Note: Kava has serious liver-safety concerns and should not be treated as a casual calming supplement.

Sources