Kava and medications.
Kava is not in the Distil recommendation database. We surface it here deliberately, because why a compound is left out is as useful as what we recommend.
Kava is an effective short-term anxiety remedy, and that part is not in dispute. It is excluded for one reason: the liver. Cases of severe liver injury, some requiring a transplant, led the UK to prohibit kava-containing medicines for human consumption, a ban in force since January 2003, and several other countries did the same. The damage was unpredictable, with no clear link to dose or preparation.
It also adds to the sedation of benzodiazepines, alcohol and other depressants. The anxiety benefit is real, but the liver risk and the regulatory status put it outside what we will recommend. The gentler options below carry no comparable liver signal.
What to consider instead. Every option below is in the Distil database, so you can check each against your own medications:
- L-Theanine: takes the edge off without sedation
- Magnesium Glycinate: calming in the evening, well tolerated
- Lemon Balm: a gentle traditional option for nerves and sleep
We still hold the documented interactions for Kava, which is why it stays in the interactions checker even though we do not recommend it. Below are the 4 documented pairs we have explicitly assessed: 4 severe. Every call is cited to a clinical reference (PMID) or the British National Formulary.
Documented interactions
Last reviewed 15 June 2026. Each interaction below lists the evidence its assessment drew on: some rest on studies of the exact pair, others on mechanism evidence, where a citation may support one part of the reasoning rather than the exact combination. The evidence line on each entry says which.
Additive CNS depression
Severe Does Kava interact with Alprazolam?
Kava and alprazolam both depress the central nervous system through overlapping pathways, and kava is independently linked to liver injury. Combining the two raises the risk of excessive sedation and adds to the liver-injury risk that already exists with kava alone. We treat this as a do-not-combine pair.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Severe Does Kava interact with Diazepam?
Kava and diazepam both depress the central nervous system through overlapping pathways, and kava is independently linked to liver injury. Combining the two raises the risk of excessive sedation and adds to the liver-injury risk that already exists with kava alone. We treat this as a do-not-combine pair.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Severe Does Kava interact with Lorazepam?
Kava and lorazepam both depress the central nervous system, and kava is independently linked to liver injury. Combining the two raises the risk of excessive sedation. We treat this as a do-not-combine pair.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Severe Does Kava interact with Temazepam?
Kava and temazepam both depress the central nervous system, and kava is independently linked to liver injury. Combining the two raises the risk of excessive sedation, particularly with a hypnotic-strength benzodiazepine like temazepam. We treat this as a do-not-combine pair.
Evidence: No direct study of this exact combination yet; the caution rests on a plausible mechanism or on reports involving a related medicine.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
What this page does not say. Leaving a compound out of our recommendations is not a verdict that it is useless for everyone. It is a statement about safety, evidence, or interaction load in the context Distil screens for. Discuss any supplement decision with whoever manages your prescriptions.
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How the checker decides
Every result has a source
Each pair we have assessed is cited to a published study (PMID) or the British National Formulary, so you can read the source yourself.
Four kinds of answer
Severe, caution, no known interaction, and not yet assessed. A pair we have not assessed is never shown as clear.
- Severe
- Caution
- No known interaction
- Not yet assessed
Nothing in our data is not a clearance
When nothing in our data records a problem with a pair, the result says no known interaction at typical doses, which is not a clearance: your pharmacist or GP can check the pair against your full medical history.
A full supplement review, built around you, not a generic stack.
The free checker answers one interaction question at a time. A Distil report reviews the bigger picture: your goals, diet, medications, current supplements and any blood results you provide, then shows what appears worth keeping, changing, adding or leaving out.
- what your diet already covers, so you are not adding a capsule for something food is already handling
- which evidence-graded compounds are worth considering for your goals, and which were considered but left out
- what to keep, change or stop from what you already take, plus the order to introduce anything new
- how your medications and complete supplement stack fit together, with daily timing and a clear point for reassessment
The interaction check is one section of the full report. You also get the reasoning behind each recommendation and the evidence references used.
£49 until 30 June 2027 · £79 from 1 July 2027.
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