1dayatatime
05-24-2005, 09:10 PM
Chemical in kudzu may counteract alcoholic urges
By BILL HENDRICK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/16/05
It may not be long before you'll go to a bar, order a beer or glass of wine and then load up on kudzu pills to avoid getting loaded.
Yes, kudzu — the fast-growing weed also known as the "vine that ate the South" — contains chemicals that reduce the urge of binge drinkers and alcoholics — as well as casual imbibers — to ask for that second, third or fourth drink, Harvard Medical Center researchers reported today in a "groundbreaking" study.
Their research suggests that kudzu compounds called "isoflavones" are the keys to treating intoxication. Heavy drinkers who took pills made from chemicals in kudzu during the study seemed to lose their urge to order a second or third drink, or, at the very least, extended the time between ordering additional drinks.
"We want to develop a medication that would be effective and safe, and pills without side effects like other drugs on the market" for treating alcoholics and binge-drinkers, said lead researcher Dr. Scott E. Lukas, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of behavior psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital in nearby Belmont, Mass. "The goal was to come up with a pill, and we did."
Harvard and McLean own the patents on the discovery, and Lukas speculated it might be several years before alcohol-resistance pills are developed. That depends on whether the pills will need approval by the Food and Drug Administration or can be sold as an herbal remedy.
People in the study, including binge-drinkers and alcoholics, who took the pills reported that one drink packed enough of a wallop to make them feel they didn't need another one immediately, he said.
Currently, there are three drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of alcoholism: naltrexone, which also reduces the desire to drink; acamprosate, which appears to modify urges or thoughts about drinking; and disulfiram, which makes people extremely sick if they consume alcohol. All are man-made synthetic potions.
But the ingredients extracted by Lukas and his team — from kudzu roots, leaves and stems — appeared to prolong or enhance the "acute effects of the first drink," he said in an interview. "Apparently, this effect is sufficient to delay or eliminate the desire to drink subsequent beers."
Participants drank less
The study was done in a unique way. Eleven men and women — all acknowledged heavy drinkers — spent two weeks in a studio apartment, complete with satellite TV and a refrigerator filled with their favorite brews. They were told to drink as much as they pleased, but one week were given kudzu pills, and the other, placebos. "Eight drank fewer beers while receiving kudzu versus placebo treatment, two drank the same number of beers and one drank one more beer," Lukas said. On average, the participants drank 1 beers while on kudzu pills per 1 hours, compared to 2 while on placebo treatment.
Also, when participants were taking the kudzu pills, they took smaller sips. Participants who took the kudzu pills reported feeling "mild intoxication" after one drink. All were self-described heavy drinkers who consumed an average of 25 alcoholic beverages per week. Ages ranged from 21 to 34, and all but two were in the workforce.
Lukas noted that kudzu's effects might be useful in reducing binge drinking, a major problem among young people, especially on college campuses, or help some alcoholics stay sober by minimizing the chance of a "slip." "The paper by Scott is a groundbreaker, the first public manuscript which demonstrates that kudzu extract reduces alcohol craving in people," said Dr. David Overstreet, a researcher in the Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "What has been out there before has been anecdote and suggestion."
He said it was "very significant" even though the number of subjects was small, just as important as if there'd been 1,000 participants.
"It's very promising," he said of the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. "But all promising studies need to be replicated, and I'd like to see that. There are already plans."
Chinese used kudzu
People in China have been using kudzu to treat all kinds of problems, from rashes and obesity to alcoholism and hangovers, for at least 1,600 years. And liver tonics and pills made from kudzu, and kudzu roots, are available in health food stores everywhere.
The plant, which covers millions of acres in Georgia and the rest of the Southeast, first appeared in the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition's Japanese Pavillion. Because of its luxuriant and rapid growth, broad and layered leaves and wisteria-like purple flowers, it quickly gained popularity as a shade plant. During the Depression, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service paid farmers $8 an acre to plant kudzu. But within another decade, most had realized they'd bitten off more than they could chew — and their cows, sheep and goats, too.
The runaway vine grows upward and outward at up to 100 feet a season. It has engulfed and killed pine trees, taken over pastures, covered junkyards and was demoted to weed status in 1972 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Kudzu has no native predators in this country.
In China, it's used to brew tea, used for centuries to treat many ailments, from hangovers, to hot flashes to allergies and angina.
The most important anti-alcohol ingredients in kudzu are more plentiful in Chinese plants, said Lukas, who added he's not recommending that people chew on kudzu leaves or roots before going to parties. A lot of the kudzu-based herbal remedies contain minced pieces of the plant, but very little of the ingredients that seem to fight drinking urges.
"I'm not in the business end of this," Lukas said, "but I know the hospital is excited. They are looking for people who might want to license it and develop it. This is not going to eliminate drinking, but I would argue that if I could get someone who drinks 26 down to eight, I could detox them. And that's the strategy."
By BILL HENDRICK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/16/05
It may not be long before you'll go to a bar, order a beer or glass of wine and then load up on kudzu pills to avoid getting loaded.
Yes, kudzu — the fast-growing weed also known as the "vine that ate the South" — contains chemicals that reduce the urge of binge drinkers and alcoholics — as well as casual imbibers — to ask for that second, third or fourth drink, Harvard Medical Center researchers reported today in a "groundbreaking" study.
Their research suggests that kudzu compounds called "isoflavones" are the keys to treating intoxication. Heavy drinkers who took pills made from chemicals in kudzu during the study seemed to lose their urge to order a second or third drink, or, at the very least, extended the time between ordering additional drinks.
"We want to develop a medication that would be effective and safe, and pills without side effects like other drugs on the market" for treating alcoholics and binge-drinkers, said lead researcher Dr. Scott E. Lukas, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of behavior psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital in nearby Belmont, Mass. "The goal was to come up with a pill, and we did."
Harvard and McLean own the patents on the discovery, and Lukas speculated it might be several years before alcohol-resistance pills are developed. That depends on whether the pills will need approval by the Food and Drug Administration or can be sold as an herbal remedy.
People in the study, including binge-drinkers and alcoholics, who took the pills reported that one drink packed enough of a wallop to make them feel they didn't need another one immediately, he said.
Currently, there are three drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of alcoholism: naltrexone, which also reduces the desire to drink; acamprosate, which appears to modify urges or thoughts about drinking; and disulfiram, which makes people extremely sick if they consume alcohol. All are man-made synthetic potions.
But the ingredients extracted by Lukas and his team — from kudzu roots, leaves and stems — appeared to prolong or enhance the "acute effects of the first drink," he said in an interview. "Apparently, this effect is sufficient to delay or eliminate the desire to drink subsequent beers."
Participants drank less
The study was done in a unique way. Eleven men and women — all acknowledged heavy drinkers — spent two weeks in a studio apartment, complete with satellite TV and a refrigerator filled with their favorite brews. They were told to drink as much as they pleased, but one week were given kudzu pills, and the other, placebos. "Eight drank fewer beers while receiving kudzu versus placebo treatment, two drank the same number of beers and one drank one more beer," Lukas said. On average, the participants drank 1 beers while on kudzu pills per 1 hours, compared to 2 while on placebo treatment.
Also, when participants were taking the kudzu pills, they took smaller sips. Participants who took the kudzu pills reported feeling "mild intoxication" after one drink. All were self-described heavy drinkers who consumed an average of 25 alcoholic beverages per week. Ages ranged from 21 to 34, and all but two were in the workforce.
Lukas noted that kudzu's effects might be useful in reducing binge drinking, a major problem among young people, especially on college campuses, or help some alcoholics stay sober by minimizing the chance of a "slip." "The paper by Scott is a groundbreaker, the first public manuscript which demonstrates that kudzu extract reduces alcohol craving in people," said Dr. David Overstreet, a researcher in the Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "What has been out there before has been anecdote and suggestion."
He said it was "very significant" even though the number of subjects was small, just as important as if there'd been 1,000 participants.
"It's very promising," he said of the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. "But all promising studies need to be replicated, and I'd like to see that. There are already plans."
Chinese used kudzu
People in China have been using kudzu to treat all kinds of problems, from rashes and obesity to alcoholism and hangovers, for at least 1,600 years. And liver tonics and pills made from kudzu, and kudzu roots, are available in health food stores everywhere.
The plant, which covers millions of acres in Georgia and the rest of the Southeast, first appeared in the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition's Japanese Pavillion. Because of its luxuriant and rapid growth, broad and layered leaves and wisteria-like purple flowers, it quickly gained popularity as a shade plant. During the Depression, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service paid farmers $8 an acre to plant kudzu. But within another decade, most had realized they'd bitten off more than they could chew — and their cows, sheep and goats, too.
The runaway vine grows upward and outward at up to 100 feet a season. It has engulfed and killed pine trees, taken over pastures, covered junkyards and was demoted to weed status in 1972 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Kudzu has no native predators in this country.
In China, it's used to brew tea, used for centuries to treat many ailments, from hangovers, to hot flashes to allergies and angina.
The most important anti-alcohol ingredients in kudzu are more plentiful in Chinese plants, said Lukas, who added he's not recommending that people chew on kudzu leaves or roots before going to parties. A lot of the kudzu-based herbal remedies contain minced pieces of the plant, but very little of the ingredients that seem to fight drinking urges.
"I'm not in the business end of this," Lukas said, "but I know the hospital is excited. They are looking for people who might want to license it and develop it. This is not going to eliminate drinking, but I would argue that if I could get someone who drinks 26 down to eight, I could detox them. And that's the strategy."