Product name: Kava Extract
Latin name: Piper methysticum or Piperis methystici rhizoma
Original: China
Part used: Root
Appearance: Brown fine powder
Size: 100% pass 80 mesh
Assay (Kavalactones): 20%,30%,40%(HPLC)
Loss on drying: 5% Max
Ash Content: 5% Max
Heavy metals: 10ppm Max
Pb: 2ppm max
As: 2ppm max
Standard: USP28

Kava (Piper methysticum) is one of the classic enigmas of Oceanic ethno botany. It is consumed throughout the Pacific as a relaxing beverage for social interaction and as a support to religious inspiration. Because of its many beneficial qualities it is superior to alcohol, nicotine, tranquilizers and other substances that serve to reduce stress an improve mood.

Kava is a handsome shrub that is propagated vegetative, as are most of the Pacific's major traditional crops. Its active principles, a series of Kava lactones, are concentrated in the rootstock and roots. Islanders ingest these psychoactive chemicals by drinking cold-water infusions of chewed, ground, pounded, or otherwise macerated Kava stumps and roots.

Interest in Kava is growing worldwide and its consumption is now extending well beyond the Pacific Rim as new products are developed from it for pharmacological and recreational markets worldwide.