Research · Systematic review
Kava extract for treating anxiety
What it found
Kava significantly reduced anxiety versus placebo (~5 points on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale); short-term adverse events were mild, but the review flagged a lack of long-term safety data.
- Design
- Systematic review
- Year
- 2003
- Sample size
- 645
- Population
- adults with anxiety symptoms (11 RCTs)
- Intervention
- oral kava (kavalactones) vs placebo
- Outcome
- Hamilton Anxiety Scale score
- Journal
- Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Citation last checked 2026-06-21.