Kava–Kava administration reduces anxiety in perimenopausal women

Cagnacci, Angelo; Arangino, Serenella; Renzi, Antonietta; Zanni, Anna Lisa; Malmusi, Stefania; Volpe, Annibale

doi:10.1016/s0378-5122(02)00317-1

Cited by 48 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…These studies showed kava's therapeutic potential both as a monotherapy for patients with anxiety disorder [48], GAD [43,44,49], elevated generalized anxiety [47] and those being tapered off of benzodiazepines [45], as well as in combination with calcium for perimenopausal women [46]. …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review

Lakhan

Vieira

2010

Nutr J

135

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BackgroundOver the past several decades, complementary and alternative medications have increasingly become a part of everyday treatment. With the rising cost of prescription medications and their production of unwanted side effects, patients are exploring herbal and other natural remedies for the management and treatment of psychological conditions. Psychological disorders are one of the most frequent conditions seen by clinicians, and often require a long-term regimen of prescription medications. Approximately 6.8 million Americans suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. Many also suffer from the spectrum of behavioural and physical side effects that often accompany its treatment. It is not surprising that there is universal interest in finding effective natural anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) treatments with a lower risk of adverse effects or withdrawal.MethodsAn electronic and manual search was performed through MEDLINE/PubMed and EBSCO. Articles were not discriminated by date of publication. Available clinical studies published in English that used human participants and examined the anxiolytic potential of dietary and herbal supplements were included. Data were extracted and compiled into tables that included the study design, sample population, intervention, control, length of treatment, outcomes, direction of evidence, and reported adverse events.ResultsA total of 24 studies that investigated five different CAM monotherapies and eight different combination treatments and involved 2619 participants met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. There were 21 randomized controlled trials and three open-label, uncontrolled observational studies. Most studies involved patients who had been diagnosed with either an anxiety disorder or depression (n = 1786). However, eight studies used healthy volunteers (n = 877) who had normal levels of anxiety, were undergoing surgery, tested at the upper limit of the normal range of a trait anxiety scale, had adverse premenstrual symptoms or were peri-menopausal, reported anxiety and insomnia, or had one month or more of elevated generalized anxiety. Heterogeneity and the small number of studies for each supplement or combination therapy prevented a formal meta-analysis. Of the randomized controlled trials reviewed, 71% (15 out of 21) showed a positive direction of evidence. Any reported side effects were mild to moderate.ConclusionsBased on the available evidence, it appears that nutritional and herbal supplementation is an effective method for treating anxiety and anxiety-related conditions without the risk of serious side effects. There is the possibility that any positive effects seen could be due to a placebo effect, which may have a significant psychological impact on participants with mental disorders. However, based on this systematic review, strong evidence exists for the use of herbal supplements containing extracts of passionflower or kava and combinations of L-lysine and L-arginine as treatments for anxiety symptoms and disorders. Magnesium-containing supplements and...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review

Lakhan

Vieira

2010

Nutr J

135

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“…Two small RCTs evaluated the effects of kava extract on anxiety symptoms in peri-70 and postmenopausal women 71 ; the efficacy of kava extract plus calcium supplementation in reducing anxiety symptoms was superior than calcium supplementation only (control group). 70 The combination of kava extract 1 hormone therapy was more efficacious than hormone alone to alleviate anxiety symptoms in 40 postmenopausal women and this effect was maintained after 6 months of treatment. 71 Although preliminary, these findings suggest that kava extract may be a useful option in the management of anxiety during menopausal transition and the postmenopausal years.…”

Section: Managing Anxiety During Midlifementioning

confidence: 96%

Challenges and Opportunities to Manage Depression During the Menopausal Transition and Beyond

Soares

Frey

2010

Psychiatric Clinics of North America

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“…In addition to being used to treat mild or moderate anxiety, kava preparations are used for insomnia, stress, menopause, and muscle fatigue. Experiments with animal models and epidemiological data have shown that kava has a wide spectrum of therapeutic properties, such as sedative, anxiolytic, analgesic, and neuroprotective effects (Jamieson and Duffield, 1990;Martin et al, 2000;Wheatley, 2001;Singh and Singh, 2002;Cagnacci et al, 2003). It has been postulated that these activities are achieved through multiple mechanisms, such as blockade of voltage-gated sodium channels (Schirrmacher et al, 1999), enhanced interactions between ligand and corresponding receptors (e.g., aminobutyric acid type A receptor) (Davies et al, 1992), modulation on neurotransmitter release (Baum et al, 1998), inhibition of enzyme activity (e.g., cyclooxygenase-2) (Wu et al, 2002), and decrease in cytokine release (e.g., tumor necrosis factor-␣; TNF-␣) (Hashimoto et al, 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Desmethoxyyangonin and Dihydromethysticin Are Two Major Pharmacological Kavalactones With Marked Activity on the Induction of Cyp3a23

Ma¹,

Sachdeva²,

Liu³

et al. 2004

Drug Metab Dispos

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ABSTRACT:Kava kava (Piper methysticum), an herbal remedy, is widely used for the treatment of mild to moderate cases of anxiety. The therapeutic activity is presumably achieved through multiple constituents called kavalactones. Recently, kava extracts were shown to induce CYP3A4 and activate human pregnane X receptor (PXR). This study was undertaken to test the ability of purified kavalactones to induce CYP3A23 and activate PXR. Rat hepatocytes were treated with desmethoxyyangonin, dihydrokawain, dihydromethysticin, kawain, methysticin, or yangonin, and the expression of CYP3A23 was monitored. Among the kavalactones, only desmethoxyyangonin and dihydromethysticin markedly induced the expression of CYP3A23 (ϳ7-fold). A similar magnitude of induction was detected with combined six kavalactones at a noninductive concentration when individually used. The induced expression, however, was markedly reduced or completely abolished if dihydromethysticin, desmethoxyyangonin, or both were excluded from the mixtures. Interestingly, regardless of whether dihydromethysticin or desmethoxyyangonin was used alone or together with other kavalactones, similar amounts of total kavalactones were needed to produce comparable induction, suggesting that the inductive activity of dihydromethysticin and desmethoxyyangonin is additively/synergistically enhanced by other kavalactones. In addition, treatment with dihydromethysticin, desmethoxyyangonin, or pregnenolone 16␣-carbonitrile (PCN) markedly increased the levels of CYP3A23 mRNA, and inhibition of mRNA synthesis abolished the induction. In contrast to PCN, dihydromethysticin and desmethoxyyangonin only slightly activated rat or human PXR. These findings suggest that the induction of CYP3A23 by dihydromethysticin and desmethoxyyangonin involves transcription activation, probably through a PXR-independent or PXR-involved indirect mechanism.

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Kava–Kava administration reduces anxiety in perimenopausal women

Cited by 48 publications

References 25 publications

Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review

Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review

Challenges and Opportunities to Manage Depression During the Menopausal Transition and Beyond

Desmethoxyyangonin and Dihydromethysticin Are Two Major Pharmacological Kavalactones With Marked Activity on the Induction of Cyp3a23

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