Kudzu and alcoholism

I read an article a while back that said kudzu has been used for a long
time by japanese (I think) to help with alcoholism, and that it is just
now being recognized in the US as possibly being used for this.

Since then I have not heard a thing. Has anyone else heard of this? I read
that it was the extract of the root that was used. Is this extract available
anywhere? I have a family member who is an alcoholic, and I and would like
to tell them about this if it is available.

One Response to “Kudzu and alcoholism”

  1. admin says:

    In article <WHITNEY.94Aug29195…@margarita.lerc.nasa.gov>,

    whit…@margarita.lerc.nasa.gov (nancy whitney) writes:
    >I read an article a while back that said kudzu has been used for a long
    >time by japanese (I think) to help with alcoholism, and that it is just
    >now being recognized in the US as possibly being used for this.
    >Since then I have not heard a thing. Has anyone else heard of this? I
    read
    >that it was the extract of the root that was used. Is this extract
    available
    >anywhere? I have a family member who is an alcoholic, and I and would
    like
    >to tell them about this if it is available.

    I recently read a related story about experiments done using Siberian
    Golden Hamsters, which really like alcohol and have the capacity to drink
    the human equivalent of a case a wine a day. After being treated with
    kudzu, their wine consumption dropped dramatically. That’s about as
    detailed as I can get at the moment, as the source I got the story from is
    at work and I’m at home.

    I know of kudzu tablets that are made by Houston Enterprises, and I assume
    others exist as well.