In the second study, participants who were treated for 4 weeks with kudzu extract significantly reduced their alcohol consumption during weeks 2 through 4 of the study (Lukas et al., 2013). We have subsequently shown that puerarin is the major active isoflavone because 7 days treatment with this compound alone (1200 mg/day) produced a similar reduction of binge drinking as the extract (Penetar et al., 2012). Given that a week of preplanning is unlikely before a binge drinking episode or opportunity, we built on our previous findings to explore in the present experiment if a single dose of kudzu extract taken shortly before a drinking session would reduce alcohol consumption. This randomized between-subject, double-blind, placebo-controlled study involved 2 weeks of baseline, 4 weeks of treatment, and 2 weeks of follow-up.

Kudzu, whose scientific name is Pueraria mirfica, is a vine used in Chinese medicine for a variety of health promoting purposes. The information we provide while responding to comments is not intended to provide and does not constitute medical, legal, or other professional advice. The responses to comments on fitrecovery.com are designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment. Please seek professional care if you believe you may have a condition. If you have any questions about using kudzu recovery for alcoholism, please leave them in the comment box below. In my opinion, the Planetary Herbals brand is a great option for someone who has not yet quit drinking, and who wants to try pure kudzu powder on its own.

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These findings, coupled with the present report support the notion that kudzu extract might be useful as an adjunct to a comprehensive treatment program and combined with other medications such that the dose of the other (stronger) medication might be lowered and thus reduce the incidence of side effects. In addition, this was not a treatment clinical trial, so the effects on alcohol intake might have been more robust in treatment-seeking individuals. One limitation of this study is the lack of a dose-response assessment. Although the dose used in the present study has been vetted in prior studies, testing multiple doses would be helpful to fully explore the magnitude of effects of the kudzu root extract and determine if an even greater reduction in drinking is possible with a higher dose. The complete lack of side effects would favor the conduct of such studies.

While it remains controversial whether abstinence or reduced drinking should be the preferred goal of treatment, both approaches have benefits. Psychosocial treatments aim to develop cognitive skills to avoid drinking or manage drinking situations, address psychological issues that promote drinking, provide social support, and improve self-esteem and self-efficacy. Sporadic missing data from the actiwatches were filled in from the back up daily diary data. Data due to dropouts were handled as missing data and no values were entered. Missing data points within the treatment weeks in non dropout participants were Missing Completely at Random and so were imputed using multiple regression.

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One animal study in particular demonstrated that kudzu extract and its major components are very safe, even after relatively large doses (2 g/day) over a 3-month treatment period (Keyler et al., (2002). Separate general linear model ANOVAs for data with repeated measurements were used to analyze the number of drinks per week and the number of heavy drinking days per week. The two treatments (kudzu and placebo) were analyzed as fixed effects and time (weeks since randomization) as a repeated-measurements effect. In all analyses, the baseline drinking level was modeled as a covariate of the respective dependent variable (e.g., the number of drinks per day in the baseline phase was modeled as a covariate when the dependent variable was the number of drinks during the treatment phase). Effect size is reported using the variance-accounted for statistic Partial Eta-Squared (η2Partial).

Increased consecutive days of abstinence is a desirable outcome of an alcohol treatment program, especially during the initial phases of treatment (Washton and Zweben, 2006). The fact that kudzu extract nearly doubled the number of consecutive days that individuals maintained abstinence suggests that it may be a useful adjunct during the early weeks of treatment. We employed two different biochemical methods (urinary riboflavin and plasma puerarin levels), to monitor medication adherence. The lack of side effects after four weeks of treatment with both placebo and kudzu extract is likely one of the major reasons for the high rate of medication adherence. Vital signs, measures of blood chemistry, liver function tests and urinalysis assessments were all normal.

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A six-month randomized, controlled trial (RCT) on disulfiram’s effectiveness in improving drinking outcomes was conducted with 126 patients.40 Patients took either 200 mg disulfiram or 100 mg vitamin C. Subsequently, patients in the disulfiram group reported reductions in drinking alcohol, more abstinent days, and lower gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase levels. Despite its adverse effects and questions regarding its effectiveness, disulfiram can be a useful treatment for some patients, particularly those who are medication compliant.

As an herbal plant extract, kudzu can be made available without a prescription. While it does not completely eliminate drinking, it is clearly effective in significantly reducing intake, which offers individuals an opportunity to engage in more responsible drinking patterns. As a safe, over-the-counter preparation, kudzu may be used alone in initial attempts to curb alcohol consumption, but it may also become a useful adjunct to the currently available prescription medications. This latter scenario might very kudzu extract for alcoholism well permit the use of lower doses of prescription medications and thus reduce the incidence of side effects. Furthermore, because kudzu extract exerts its beneficial effects within hours of the first dose, it could be administered along with a prescription medication and provide “coverage” until the other medication begins to work. In spite of the compelling preclinical and clinical evidence of its efficacy, the precise mechanism of action of kudzu in reducing alcohol consumption is not currently known.

Again, we calculated the total units consumed for each group, and then compared the total units consumed after placebo vs those consumed after kudzu. Two hours before the first visit, we gave both sub-groups a pill – neither group knew whether they were getting the supplement or the placebo. When they visited the bar, beer, spirits and white wine were freely available.

• Increased consecutive days of abstinence is a desirable outcome of an alcohol treatment program, especially during the initial phases of treatment (Washton and Zweben, 2006).
• The plant contains phytoestrogens, which are compounds that mimic the effects of estrogen in the body.
• And, contrary to disulfiram treatment, the drinking that did occur after kudzu administration did not result in any noxious side effects, increases in subjective ratings of nausea, uncomfortable, or feeling terrible.
• Morning and evening sets of capsules also contained a 25 mg tablet of riboflavin (vitamin B2) and the afternoon sets contained an additional placebo capsule, in addition to the two kudzu extract capsules, in order to maintain a uniform number (3) of capsules.
• Although the dose used in the present study has been vetted in prior studies, testing multiple doses would be helpful to fully explore the magnitude of effects of the kudzu root extract and determine if an even greater reduction in drinking is possible with a higher dose.
• Kudzu did what it was supposed to do – it curbed my drinking noticeably.

Inclusion criteria included good physical and mental health, a body mass index (BMI) between 18 and 30, ages between 21 and 40 yrs, and a self-reported drinking pattern of 15 drinks per week or incidences of binge drinking 2 or more times per week. 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 weaknesses of the measure that we used to record desire to drink alcohol https://ecosoberhouse.com/ 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). A total of 21 adult males (17 Caucasian, 1 African American, 2 Hispanic, 1 Middle Eastern; mean age 23.8 ± 3.46 years, range 21–33) were recruited through advertisements in local and college newspapers and flyers posted in the Boston area.