Even a tiny amount of alcohol can cause violent illness while on these drugs. By contrast, kudzu creates a mild flushed feeling at most and leaves the drinker craving alcohol a bit less. Although I’m sure it would have helped me detoxify, I did not use it after I quit drinking. My experience was limited to an experiment that I did years ago to see if taking the herb would reduce my drinking levels.
Possible Side Effects
In recent years, it has gained attention for its potential use in treating alcoholism. Kudzu contains compounds that are believed to reduce alcohol cravings and help with withdrawal symptoms. During the baseline session, the placebo-randomized group consumed 2.7 ± 0.78 beers before treatment and increased consumption to 3.4 ± 1.1 beers after treatment.
May help treat liver damage
This interpretation of kudzu’s possible mechanism of action was also suggested by Wong et al. (2011) who postulated that kudzu alters peripheral and cerebral blood flow. Puerarin, one of the most abundant isoflavones in kudzu root extracts, is a known vasodilator and is approved for such use in China following coronary infarction and stroke (Wu et al., 2014). Kudzu, scientifically known as Pueraria lobata, is renowned in traditional Chinese medicine for its diverse applications, including the treatment of alcohol dependence.
Does Kudzu Root Really Work? Here’s What We Know
There is also good evidence that drinking clear spirits reduces the severity of hangovers. In fact, traditional Chinese medicine has used the plant for over 2,500 years. According to one study, kudzu may help prevent your hair from becoming gray. While going gray is perfectly natural and no cause for concern, for many people it can have a negative psychological effect. Many turn to hair dyes in an attempt to retain their youthful looks but commercial hair dyes usually contain harmful chemicals that can irritate the skin and weaken the hair even further. While I haven’t had cravings in years, I still take supplements during periods of hard training to help my body repair from workouts.
How do I treat a mouth ulcer?
- This means that your body can produce it on its own, but because such large amounts are required during times of stress and disease, supplementation is often recommended to avoid deficiency.
- There are many herbs that will provide therapeutic benefits with relatively little preparation.
- This does not mean that this is enough by itself to combat serious withdrawal symptoms.
The finding that alcohol intake was reduced without affecting desire to use alcohol at first seemed counter-intuitive. However, it is important to recognize that one of the major Alcoholics Anonymous weaknesses of the measure that we used to record desire to drink alcohol was that it was unidimensional. It is quite likely that the desire to use alcohol in an outpatient setting cannot be captured with a single question; we also observed an absence of an effect on desire for alcohol in our previous study (Lukas et al., 2005). The BDI and BAI scores remained unchanged during the course of treatment with both kudzu extract and placebo. The BDI for the kudzu extract-treated participants was 1.78 ± 2.11 and 2.63 ± 2.50 at baseline and during treatment, respectively. The BDI measures of the placebo-treated participants were 2.0 ± 2.58 and 1.67 ± 1.37 at baseline and during treatment, respectively.
For Menopausal Symptoms
In addition, this was not a treatment clinical trial, so the effects on alcohol intake might have been more robust in treatment-seeking individuals. We developed a standardized kudzu extract that preserved the ratio of the major isoflavones found in the raw root, except that the concentration of isoflavones was increased to 25%. For example, an older study published in 2005 found that kudzu extract reduced alcohol consumption in a group of heavy drinkers. In that study, participants who took kudzu extract consumed fewer beers and had lower alcohol intake measures compared to the placebo-treated group. Alcoholic hamsters (one of the few animals to become so besides humans) were found to have decreased interest in drinking when fed kudzu extract. Nonetheless, a double-blind trial using 1.2 grams of powdered kudzu root twice per day failed to show any benefit in helping alcoholics remain abstinent from alcohol.
#7. Aids Digestive Health
- Understanding the underlying mechanisms is also essential in the discussion of using kudzu for alcohol cravings.
- It’s important to note that the standardized content of the important active compounds, primarily puerarin, varies among different products.
- Learning how to grow and use kudzu may just be one of the most important things you can do for yourself.
- It’s been used for health purposes in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a really long time.
- While kudzu root has a long history in traditional Chinese medicine, people most often use it to help treat alcohol dependence.
Kudzu root, leaf, and flowers have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for centuries. But today you can find it in the supplement aisle of most grocery stores. In the case of Kudzu, careful management of this “invasive plant” can give you access to a delicious and nutritious food for yourself and livestock as well as a valuable medication, fuel, and fiber for making clothing.
How much water should I be drinking?
More studies are needed, but kudzu could be promising for those battling alcoholism. (2) This, in turn, could help prevent or treat cirrhosis and other alcohol-related conditions as well. Kudzu root has been given the honor of helping reduce the painful effects of a hangover, though it how to use kudzu for alcoholism seems that if overused, it could be more harmful than good. It does this by raising the alcohol levels so the person using it gets the effect of alcohol without drinking as much. In order to use kudzu for managing alcoholism, it is important to understand what Kudzu will and will not do. First, Kudzu will not make you sick if you do consume an alcoholic beverage.
- Fifty-one percent of adults over the age of 18 and 56% of those age 18–44, are current regular drinkers (Schiller et al., 2012).
- To preserve the double-blind, kudzu and placebo capsules were repacked into #00 opaque capsules (Apothecary Products, Minneapolis, MN).
- The interactions can affect the metabolism and how effective medicines are.
- Technically, this is first converted in the kidneys into glutamic acid, which is then converted into glucose in the brain.
- Kudzu’s antioxidants help reduce inflammation, which can benefit joint health and overall wellness.
Potential Health Benefits of Kudzu Root
Today, more people are becoming interested in having small scale bee hives in their yards and on their homesteads. At the very least, if you decide to try beekeeping, you can try giving them plenty of access to Kudzu flowers to see what happens both in terms of the color and taste of the honey as well as its health benefits. As you may be aware, the increasing levels of lead in the soil used to grow crops is increasing at an alarming rate. This trend is likely to get worse as the use of coal and other lead producing materials are used more extensively.