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Herbs with Antidepressant Effects
Published in Scott Mendelson, Herbal Treatment of Major Depression, 2019
Among the many phytochemical constituents of kava, known collectively as kavalactones or kavapyrones, are dihydrokawain, kawain, methysticin, yangonin, dihydromethysticin, desmethoxyyangonin, flavokawin A, pinostrobinchalcone, dihydrotectochrysin, alpinetinchalcone, alpinetin, dihydrooroxylin A, and others in lesser degrees of concentration.2 Six of these kavalactones, including kavain, dihydrokavain, methysticin, dihydromethysticin, yangonin, and desmethoxyyangonin, are responsible for nearly all of the plant's pharmacological activity.
On the Sophistication of Herbal Medicines
Published in Aruna Bakhru, Nutrition and Integrative Medicine, 2018
Such complexities are hardly limited to the berberine plants. The anticonvulsant actions of the kava lactones in Piper methysticum (i.e., yangonin and desmethoxyyangonin) are much stronger when used in combination with other kava constituents that are generally considered irrelevant in any standardization missives. As well, concentrations of yangonin and another lactone, kavain, are much higher in the brain when the whole plant extract is used instead of the purified lactones themselves. In other words, some of the other constituents in kava help move the bioactive lactones across the blood/brain barrier and into the brain where they will do the most good. Blood plasma concentrations of kavain are reduced by 50% if the purified compound is used rather than an extract of the plant itself.
Anxiety
Published in Ethan Russo, Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs, 2015
Acceptable kava rhizomes contain 5.5 to 8.3 percent kavalactones, primarily kawain (or kavain), dihydrokawain (or dihydro-kavain), and methysticin (Bone, 1993–1994). The rootstock color varies from white to dark yellow, according to the content of kava lactone-containing resin (Lebot, Merlin, and Lindstrom, 1997). A total of fifteen such chemicals have been positively identified, but six are of key interest and account for 96 percent of the content (Lebot, 1991): demethoxyyangonin (DMY = 1), dihydrokawain (DHK = 2), yangonin (Y = 3), kawain (? = 4), dihydromethysticin (DHM = 5), and methysticin (M = 6). A unique synergism of these components is observed. Clinical experimentation in the field and laboratory has allowed this statement (Lebot, 1991, p. 187): “In fact, each element is so dependent on the presence of the others that the extract used without the slightest alteration gives much better results than any single one of these substances isolated.”
Kava (Piper methysticum) in the United States: the quiet rise of a substance with often subtle effects
Published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2023
Salma Pont-Fernandez, Marina Kheyfets, Jeffrey M. Rogers, Kirsten E. Smith, David H. Epstein
Another reason for the reported weakness of kava’s effects could be product variability in kavalactone composition. Most people did not report the kavalactone composition of their kava. However, eight posts discussed experiences with ostensibly high-kavain products; effects were described as stimulating and strong, even “too strong,” leading to increases in blood pressure, jitteriness, and a feeling of “adrenaline rush.” These posts contrast with the majority of other posts and with findings that kava is anxiolytic (13–17). While there are data regarding kavain’s chemical synthesis and analysis, molecular mechanisms, and metabolism (6,11,59–61), we know of no research on kavain’s behavioral or subjective effects in humans. People who described ostensibly kavain-heavy products probably had no way to confirm the actual kavalactone composition of those product. However, the perception of kavain as more stimulating, stronger, and better suited for recreational use than other strains of kava was prevalent across every post that mentioned kavain. One person wrote, “I have heard that if you use it a lot for the ‘high effects’ that you should use high kavain strains and reduce the overall amount that you use.” There is a clear gap between public perceptions of kavain and what has been confirmed by research.