Posted on: Tuesday, April 8, 2003

EDITORIAL
We look forward to a safe kava comeback

It looks as though native users of kava, or 'awa, were doing it right all along. They consume a beverage made only from the root of the plant touted as a remedy for ailments from muscle soreness to insomnia and depression.

But some pharmaceutical kava products have included the stem peelings and leaves, which University of Hawai'i researchers say may have caused liver damage in some Europeans.

In a research paper accepted for publication by Phytochemistry, C.S. Tang, Klaus Dragull and W.Y. Yoshida report they found an alkaloid called pipermethystine in tests of stem peelings and kava leaves. Preliminary tests showed the alkaloid damaged liver cell cultures.

If the evidence becomes conclusive — and we hope it does — then the state and the kava industry must work hard to bring about a kava comeback.

Hawai'i's emerging kava industry has been hit hard since pharmaceutical products were linked to more than two dozen liver toxicity cases in Germany and Switzerland in 2001.

Of course, some critics are bound to charge that UH is biased in favor of Hawai'i's kava industry. That's why it's important that this research be replicated elsewhere.

After all, agriculture, including kava cultivation, is a big part of diversifying Hawai'i's economy. We'd like to see it flourish, but only if the products are safe.