Supplement · Sleep, stress & mood
Kava
Also known as: Piper methysticum
An anxiolytic herb with real short-term evidence — and a serious liver caution.
- Evidence
- Silver· human data
- Sources cited
- 1
- Last reviewed
- 22 July 2026
Kava is a Pacific plant with genuine short-term evidence: reviews find kavalactone extracts can reduce anxiety more than placebo, making it one of the better-evidenced anxiolytic herbs.
That benefit is offset by a serious safety concern — reports of severe liver injury led several countries to restrict or ban it. It should not be combined with alcohol, liver-affecting drugs or sedatives, and is not for anyone with liver problems. This is educational information, not a recommendation to use it.