Tag: kava

February 16, 2006 'Awa (Kava Kava)

Fiji Times–New research in Scotland and Luxembourg has found that kava is a cure for two types of cancers.

RESEARCHERS who discovered that kava is a cure for two types of cancer should convince Europe to lift its ban, says Agriculture Minister Ilaitia Tuisese. He was commenting on the research findings of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and the Laboratoire de Biologie Moleculaire du Cancer, a medical school in Luxembourgh which found that kava compounds inhibit the activation of a nuclear factor important in the production of cancer cells.

“It’s good news but there’s a ban in the European market and right now we can’t look forward to speeding up on the yaqona (kava) production,” Mr Tuisese said.

“Perhaps they (researchers) can help us convince the European market and assist in lifting the ban. The latest findings confirm what people have been saying all along that kava was not harmful to health.”

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June 6, 2004 'Awa (Kava Kava)

Fiji Times–New hope for kava industry

AS pressure mounts on European and other countries to lift the ban placed on kava imports, the experts and producers of kava around the Pacific are joining forces to publicise the benefits of this age-old root plant to offset any negativity. Holding the helm of this counter-publicity drive in Fiji are the University of South Pacific Professor of Organic Chemistry Subramaniam Sotheeswaran and Kadavu chief Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo.

“In a recent study in collaboration with the organic chemists at the USP, the Saitama Cancer Centre Research Institute in Japan, has shown that kava may have promising anti cancer activity paralleling the anti-cancer activity of green tea,” Prof Sotheeswaran told the Sunday Times.

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April 7, 2003 'Awa (Kava Kava)

UH scientists may have solved kava mystery

honadv
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai’i — A team of University of Hawai’i scientists may have solved the mystery of why some Europeans who used products containing kava extract suffered severe liver damage, prompting a number of nations to ban sales of the herbal supplement.

The culprit may be a compound found in the stem peelings and leaves of the kava plant — known in Hawai’i as ‘awa — but not in the roots that are used to make the traditional kava drink consumed by Pacific Islanders.

Just to be safe, people should avoid tea or anything else made from the leaves or stems of the plant, according to C.S. Tang, professor of molecular biosciences and biosystems engineering at UH-Manoa.

Bans in Singapore, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere wiped out pharmaceutical sales of kava and virtually destroyed it as an export crop in Hawai’i. While kava supplements are not banned in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory in March 2002 warning of the potential risk of severe liver injury from dietary supplements containing kava.

The health alarms left farmers in Hamakua and elsewhere with crops that were hardly worth harvesting.

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February 22, 2003 'Awa (Kava Kava)

The Future of Hawaii’s commercial ‘Awa industry

STRATEGIES for saving Hawaii’s commercial kava industry

1) Promotion of Kava

  1. Put stories in the press about kava
  2. Participate in educational/tasting events, tell the kava story
  3. Hold annual kava festival

2) Increase public access to kava beverage

  1. Open more kava cafes- at least 6 in US (Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, Maui?, Eugene, OR, Baca Raton, FL
  2. Move into other food /beverage venues–cafes, Starbucks, Jamba juice, internet caf?
  3. Develop a Small business innovative research grant; for Kava beverage making machine because hand squeezing limits production, raises labor costs. Proposals have been submitted by AHA, Puu Hoku Ranch
  4. Develop a grant to develop a kava beverage that is shelf-stable product; (check with Lebot if he can share his formula particularly amylase enzyme use.

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