Participants continued to take their medication through the morning of day 9 prior to the alcohol drink challenge. Following the first set of challenge sessions, there was a 1 month ‘washout’ period during which no medication was taken. This washout period provided ample time to eliminate pharmacodynamic interactions between kudzu and placebo treatment conditions.
- Subjective measures of alcohol intoxication were greatest at 30 minutes and returned to or were close to predrinking levels by the end of the assessment period (3 hours).
- Studies have looked at the benefits of kudzu extracts for managing menopause symptoms like mood swings and hot flashes.
- In China, it has been used to treat alcoholism since 600AD, and Western medicine is starting to take notice of this herbal remedy.
- Increased consecutive days of abstinence is a desirable outcome of an alcohol treatment program, especially during the initial phases of treatment (Washton and Zweben, 2006).
- The BAI scores were equally stable and ranged from 0.33 to 1.71 during treatment.
- It is, therefore, thought not to make alcohol more dangerous – merely slow down our rate of drinking.
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Whether you’re exploring options for yourself, a loved one, or simply interested in natural health solutions, this post will uncover everything you need to know about kudzu root, backed by science. Kudzu isn’t a standalone treatment for alcoholism or reducing voluntary alcohol intake, but if your goal is to reduce alcohol cravings or cut back, it may be a helpful natural supplement. If you’re going to try a doze of kudzu extract for alcohol cravings, our guide explores everything you should know first. Many people struggle with excessive alcohol use, even if they want to stop, so they’re turning to solutions like kudzu for alcohol cravings. It’s mentally defeating to try and curb excessive drinking, and you may find that you face a lot of regret after alcohol consumption, binge drinking or excessive drinking.
The Study: Kudzu Extract’s Impact on Alcohol Consumption
In China, kudzu root extract has been commonly used to reduce, but not eliminate, alcohol consumption and dependence. Despite its history, the mechanism of action for kudzu extract is still unknown, and that is what the current research explores. The sample size was relatively small; however, a repeated measures, crossover design was used with participants as Alcoholics Anonymous their own control receiving multiple pretreatments, each with placebo and alcohol challenges.
6 Data Analysis
Furthermore, because kudzu extract exerts its beneficial effects within hours of the first dose, it could be administered along with a prescription medication and provide “coverage” until the other medication begins to work. All of the above mentioned mechanisms, with the exception of a disulfiram-like one, require repeated administration and time to develop. Since consuming alcohol while taking kudzu extract is not aversive, another explanation is necessary to account for the extremely fast onset of action observed in the present study. The correlational analysis of absolute amount of alcohol consumed and breath alcohol levels in this study indicates that the physiological effects and the rate of elimination of ingested alcohol are not altered by kudzu administration. This was demonstrated in our previous study (Penetar et al., 2011) where pharmacokinetic parameters such as peak concentration and elimination time were not affected by kudzu. In that study, however, we did find evidence of an initial more rapid rise in blood alcohol levels in kudzu-treated individuals, suggesting that isoflavones may alter bioavailability of alcohol to the brain during the ascending alcohol absorption phase.
- Again, we calculated the total units consumed for each group, and then compared the total units consumed after placebo vs those consumed after kudzu.
- The researchers gave participants either kudzu extract or a placebo every day for 4 weeks (2).
- This profile differs somewhat from that of kudzu extract and may represent a novel herbal compound that may be a therapeutic candidate.
- If you were to combine them, it could cause not only excessive drowsiness but also dizziness and impaired coordination.
- Additionally, kudzu pretreatment enhanced the effects of the 0.7 g/kg dose of alcohol on heart rate and skin temperature.
Blood sampling procedures/plasma analysis
- This is because isoflavones can help dilate blood vessels, allowing for better blood flow.
- It has been hypothesized that kudzu extracts may speed up the body’s removal of ethanol by increasing the activity of enzymes involved in the breakdown of alcohol.
- The plant contains phytoestrogens, which are compounds that mimic the effects of estrogen in the body.
- Skin temperature was recorded using single-use thermister-based temperature probes (Steri-Probe, Cincinnati Sub-Zero Products, Cincinnati, OH) attached to the back of the middle finger on the non-dominant hand and connected to a port in the logger.
- The two treatments (kudzu and placebo) were analyzed as fixed effects and time (weeks since randomization) as a repeated-measurements effect.
- When it comes to how to take kudzu root for alcohol use and cravings, the optimal dose hasn’t been established.
In addition, the wrist actigraphy device was programmed to provide an audible “beep” every 3 hours ± 20 minutes to which the participant was required to enter a number between 0 (no desire) to 10 (greatest desire ever) to record his desire to drink alcohol AT THAT TIME. The ActiWatch® Score device contains an accelerometer that was used to record sleep/wake activity. We have previously reported on the sleep/wake patterns of the participants in this study (Bracken et al., 2011). If you’re looking for a natural, research-backed solution to reduce alcohol intake or slow down your drinking habits, Kudzu Extract is worth trying. Kudzu is thought to help with anxiety because of its effects on GABA and its modulation of neurotransmitters.
Heart rate and skin temperature effects were collected only for the first 10 minutes after drinking because that was the only period during which the participants were sitting calmly and not required to perform any tasks (and thus offered artifact-free data). During this time, alcohol increased heart rate consistent with previous reports (Kouri et al., 2004; Penetar et al., 2009). Although several theories have emerged, the specific mechanism(s) of action of these isoflavonoid compounds is not known. Keung (2002) lists several known effects of daidzin and speculates how these may act to reduce alcohol consumption. Daidzin is known to be a selective inhibitor of aldehyde dehydrogenase, the major enzyme responsible for the breakdown of acetaldehyde which is the primary metabolite of alcohol oxidation.
Common Side Effects
- One possibility is through the different isoflavones, which are biologically active molecules that can affect physiology, contained within the kudzu extract.
- Although blood samples were collected from all participants to examine the safety of kudzu, only the last 12 subjects had blood samples collected for quantitative analysis of puerarin levels.
- Furthermore, the men who took kudzu had fewer heavy drinking days per week and had significantly more consecutive days with no alcohol consumption (2).
- Kudzu, also known as Pueraria Montana, is a climbing vine that belongs to the pea family.
Participants were treated for a total of 9 days with either kudzu extract or placebo. Day 8 always consisted of a placebo (orange kudzu and alcohol juice only) drink challenge, while day 9 consisted of an alcohol drink challenge of either the high or low dose depending on group randomization. Participants were told only that the drinking sessions could be with placebo, or a low or high dose of alcohol. The drinks were administered between 2 and 2.5 hours after consumption of the morning dose of medication as blood levels of puerarin peak at this time (Penetar et al., 2006).