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• Posted April 8, 2026

Herbal Drug Kava Poses Increasing Health Threat In U.S., CDC Warns

Poison center calls about the herbal drug kava have surged in the United States in recent years, a new study says.

Calls rose 383% between 2011 and 2025 as kava became more widely known and available in the U.S., researchers reported in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Kava is known to cause liver damage, and also can affect the heart and brain, researchers said.

A third (32%) of kava-related calls in 2025 and 39% in 2024 involved severe health problems resulting from the drug, the study found. 

Eight deaths have been linked to kava.

“These new kava products are found in stores throughout our area,” researcher Dr. Chris Holstege, director of the Blue Ridge Poison Center in Virginia, said in a news release. “The public needs to be aware of potential complications associated with the consumption of these products.”

Kava is a plant native to the Pacific Islands, researchers said. Its root has been used to make a beverage traditionally consumed in religious, cultural, political and social ceremonies.

Kavalactones, the primary active ingredient in kava, act as a sedative and can reduce anxiety, researchers said.

“These commercial products are commonly marketed as healthy alternatives to alcohol, sold near college campuses and increasingly being combined with kratom, a psychoactive botanical with opioid-like effects, raising safety concerns,” researchers wrote in the MMWR.

In 2002, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned users that kava can cause severe liver damage, in some cases great enough to require an organ transplant.

The agency followed up in 2020 with a warning that kava is not safe for use as a recreational or relaxation beverage.

For the new study, researchers tracked calls involving kava to the 53 U.S. poison centers from 2000 through 2025.

They found a steady decrease in kava-related calls following the 2002 FDA warning, falling from 331 in 2001 to 42 in 2010.

However, that trend reversed itself in 2011, with calls steadily rising from 57 in 2011 to 203 in 2025.

“We are now experiencing an increase in calls again as new kava products enter the market, including products mixed with other substances such as kratom that can cause adverse interactions,” Holstege said.

About 30% of poison center calls related to kava also involve kratom, researchers said. Potential health effects are more serious among people who take both kava and kratom, including seizures and tremors.

Because kava is an herbal supplement, it is not regulated in the U.S., researchers said.

Other countries limit kava doses to 250 mg kavalactones in drinks and 125 mg in tablets or capsules, researchers noted in their paper.

But in the U.S., the products can be anywhere from two to 10 times more potent than traditional kava beverages.

Aside from liver damage, heavy doses of kava also can cause rapid heartbeat, vomiting, nausea, drowsiness, dizziness or lethargy, researchers said.

Men 20 and older accounted for the largest number of calls, the study found.

“Targeted public health education might help inform consumers that commercially available kava products are not regulated and are not recognized as safe for use as recreational beverages by FDA, and that the formulations commonly sold in the United States have been associated with adverse health effects, especially when used in large quantities,” the paper concluded.

“These efforts are particularly important for young men, who represent a disproportionate share of recent exposures,” researchers added.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more about kava.

SOURCES: University of Virginia, news release, April 2, 2026; Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, April 2, 2026