Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, Series 4, Episode 4 Will kudzu supplement pills make me drink less alcohol?

It’s effective in reducing the urge to drink, and if you can make it past the first couple of days, it’s smooth sailing, but you must keep using it. You are going to feel different, at first, and many will contribute this to the Kudzu itself, but in reality you’ve just removed an energy source — alcohol; not a good energy source, as your body uses alcohol… Those that have tried kudzu have stated that they saw a decrease in the severity of nausea, gastrointestinal pains, headaches, and vomiting.

The PMC suggests that combining kudzu with umeboshi plum is best because the umeboshi plum neutralizes excess acid, a much needed result since too much acid can cause diarrhea. The Chinese cook it in many dishes for both medicinal purposes and flavor, but in the United States, it has a bit of a pesky reputation as an invader that takes over telephone poles, yards and trees. Finding useful information and resources about addiction or alcoholism can be a minefield. To increase the chance of a successful recovery and life of sobriety it is important to receive guidance from a reliable source. And while it did contain the isoflavones that are thought to be the active ingredients, our volunteers had to take five pills each to achieve the desired level of 500mg. However, there are no kudzu products on the market in the UK carrying the THR mark.

Kudzu for Alcoholism Reviews

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. My problem at the time was a denial of the severity of my drinking problem. Kudzu did what it was supposed to do – it curbed my drinking https://ecosoberhouse.com/ noticeably. But as soon as the capsules ran out, I concluded that it hadn’t totally “cured” my problem and that I would eventually find something better. Because my drinking levels were so stupendously high in the first place, kudzu did not turn me into a moderate drinker by any stretch of the imagination.

• While you can find kudzu vine almost anywhere in the South by taking a drive on a country road, kudzu root is probably most popular by way of a supplement or as kudzu root tea that can be found at most health food stores.
• These feelings can help you reduce alcohol consumption by reducing your urge to consume alcohol.
• Taking kudzu will not turn an alcoholic into a nondrinker overnight.

This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Data sources include IBM Watson Micromedex (updated 1 Oct 2023), Cerner Multum™ (updated 16 Oct 2023), ASHP (updated 11 Oct 2023) and others. While you can find kudzu vine almost anywhere in the South by taking a drive on a country road, kudzu root is probably most popular by way of a supplement or as kudzu root tea that can be found at most health food stores.

Kudzu for Alcoholism: Can It Help?

My experience was limited to an experiment that I did years ago to see if taking the herb would reduce my drinking levels. I will discuss how kudzu works, my experience with using powdered kudzu root for alcoholism, and recommendations for taking kudzu. In China, it has been used to treat alcoholism since 600AD, and Western medicine is starting to take notice of this herbal remedy. According to some studies, kudzu root may help manage some symptoms of metabolic syndrome. One study on 82 postmenopausal women notes that using a Pueraria mirifica (a particular species of kudzu) gel may improve symptoms of vaginal dryness. Another study shows that kudzu flower might be helpful to lessen hot flashes in menopausal women.

• As expected, I didn’t really feel anything after taking kudzu until I began drinking.
• Our statements have not been approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and we recommend speaking with a professional before taking products discussed on this site.
• They consumed either kudzu extract or matched placebo on a daily basis.
• Additional studies using treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent persons will be necessary to determine the usefulness of this herbal preparation in reducing alcohol use in other populations.
• Studies of kudzu in humans are limited and have mostly focused on its effects on alcohol consumption or climacteric symptoms.
• One antioxidant in milk thistle, silymarin, has properties that have been shown to improve liver function.

Alcohol drinking was not completely eliminated by kudzu extract in the present study, but was reduced from baseline drinking by an average of 45% over the four weeks of treatment. From a harm reduction perspective, kudzu extract results in a desirable outcome for a population of heavy drinkers, especially when one considers the other important finding of the present study—kudzu extract was without any adverse events and minimal side effects. We recently demonstrated that kudzu extract does not potentiate the intoxicating effects of alcohol (Penetar et al., 2010) and it does not interfere with sleep wake activity (Bracken et al., 2011). In addition, this was not a treatment clinical trial, so the effects on alcohol intake might have been more robust in treatment-seeking individuals.

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You can ingest it directly, or mix it with other foods or drinks. There’s not a recommended dosage for kudzu root, but there have been human studies that can help guide you. Urine samples were qualitatively analyzed by HPLC for puerarin levels on a weekly basis starting on the second week of baseline and continuing through the two follow-up visits. 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.

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.

In animal studies, peurarin may alleviate chronic alcoholic liver injury via inhibition of endotoxin gut-leakage, activation of Kupffer cells, and expression of lipopolysaccharide receptors (22). These very promising results led to research involving humans. Giving a Kudzu root extract twice daily failed to reduce craving and sobriety scores. The subjects were people taking the extract and those taking a placebo. Drugs.com provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products.

One antioxidant in milk thistle, silymarin, has properties that have been shown to improve liver function. Liver function is something that declines with frequent alcohol consumption kudzu extract for alcoholism because alcohol is processed and broken down in the liver. It’s a traditional medical practice that uses needles to target pain points and stress areas on the body.