| Alden Botanica Offers Only High Quality Kava Products
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Kava Helps!
Alden
Botanica is making every effort to provide you with a complete WebSite on kava, which
includes information on our standardized kava extract and ground whole kava root products,
a kava library, a kava bookstore, details on our chemical analysis of kava, as well as a
Kava Forum to share your experiences on the use of kava. We
welcome your suggestions and comments.
Our product Essence
of Kava® is a very high quality, standardized (minimum 30%) extract
of whole kava root harvested from mature plants over 7 years old in Vanuatu,
Melanesia. There are six key factors determining the quality of Alden Botanica's
kava products.
The first
quality factor concerns the part of the plant that is harvested because the
kavalactones comprising the active ingredients in kava are concentrated in the
roots, with virtually none in the leaves and stems.
Essence of Kava®
consists of KAVIAR®, a high potency extract of whole kava root
harvested from mature plants over 7 years old in Vanuatu, Melanesia. Alden
Botanica’s other kava products are 100% ground whole root from
Vanuatu and Hawaii.
The second quality factor
is the rate of kavalactone bioabsorption.The extract of the whole kava root
in Essence of Kava® is a spray-air dried, micronized powder that
greatly facilitates bioabsorption. This absorption can been experienced by tasting
the contents of an Essence of Kava® capsule. Bioabsorption of the
kavalactones derived from the ground whole root is facilitated by preparing a
beverage. A pleasant kava beverage
can be prepared by mixing the following in a blender for one minute: 1) one ounce (28
grams) of ground whole kava root from either Vanuatu or Hawaii, and 2) one quart (or about
1 liter) 50:50 milk:water solution, or 50:50 soy milk:water solution, and then pouring the
mixture through a filter (with a mesh comparable to that of a cheesecloth) into a
bowl. The addition of milk or soy milk to the solution introduces fats that assist
in the extraction and emulsification of the water-insoluble kavalactones. This
extraction can be enhanced by the addition of other fats or oils to the solution, e.g.,
olive oil or coconut milk.
The third quality factor is
the origin of the kava cultivar used in the product.Essence of Kava®
consists of an extract from kava plants grown in Vanuatu, which
has a very long history of cultivating kava for medicinal applications - with over 245
distinct kava cultivars. We also offer ground whole kava root from Vanuatu, and a
Vanuatu cultivar grown in Hawaii.
The fourth quality factor
is that the age of the kava plant should be at least one and a half
years, and preferably older, to obtain a concentration of the kavalactones in the roots
that is medicinally active .Alden Botanica uses
kava plants over 7 years old from Vanuatu in the preparation of Essence of Kava®.
Our ground whole kava root products from Vanuatu and Hawaii are harvested from kava plants
with minimum ages of 3 years and 1.5 years, respectively. The Hawaiian kava is younger
because the formal cultivation of kava in Hawaii for medicinal applications was
re-established in 1994.
The fifth quality factor
concerns the relative concentrations of the seven major
kavalactones in kava: methysticin, dihydromethysticin, kavain, dihydrokavain,
dehydromethysticin, dehydrokavain, and yangonin. These relative concentrations are very
critical because an effective kava product should have a much greater amount of the kavain
and dihydrokavain kavalactones than the methysticin and dihydromethysticin kavalactones. Alden Botanica’s HPLC analyses confirm that the kavain and dihydrokavain
kavalactones dominate in our Essence of Kava® product, as well as in
our ground whole kava root products from Vanuatu and Hawaii.
The sixth quality factor is
the standardized weight percentage of all seven kavalactones in the product.
A total kavalactone weight percentage of 30% is the standard for kava extracts, i.e., 30%
of the weight of the extract is due to the seven kavalactones. Ground whole kava root
should have a minimum kavalactone weight percentage greater than 5%. It is important to
know the relative concentrations of the seven kavalactones in combination with the total
kavalactone weight percentage to ensure that this weight percentage is not padded with
less significant kavalactones such as yangonin.Essence of Kava®
is standardized to a total kavalactone weight percentage of 30%, and Alden Botanica’s
ground kava root products from Vanuatu and Hawaii have total kavalactone weight
percentages exceeding 6%. The kavain and dihydrokavain kavalactones dominate in all of our
kava products.
Alden Botanica’s kava
products meet the six quality criteria described above, and promote a relaxed sense of
well-being and calm*. These kava products can be classified as GRAS, the medical term for Generally Regarded as Safe, with little
side effects*. The following precautions apply to kava: do not exceed recommended
dose except under the advice and supervision of a medical professional; do not use with
other substances that cause drowsiness, including alcohol; not for use by pregnant or
nursing women; use caution when driving a motor vehicle or operating machinery; store in a
cool and dry place; and keep out of the reach of children.
Our kava library provides information on the history, uses,
morphology, genetics, chemistry and clinical studies of kava. Our kava bookstore
offers four books that have excellent discussions on kava. Take a look at our kava photo album for pictures of a variety of kava
plants, and harvested kava roots.
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