Every important meeting in Samoa starts with Kava.

Why do the Samoan people and most other Pacific Island nations including Papua New Guinea consider Kava to be so important and why have they been using it for so long?

What is Kava?

Kava is a bush or a shrub is growing about 2 meter tall in loose soils with plenty of air for the roots that never grows deeper than 60 cm below the surface. The Kava plant prefers the moist warm local weather found in the Pacific.

The root is excavated out right after 1 . 5 years - Four years and after that either dried out and grained or hammered into compact fiber.

In Samoa the kava kava powder or fibers are usually either placed straight into the water inside of a kava bowl or initially place into a cloth that's afterwards drenched within the water of the kava bowl (like a large tea bag).

With the traditional approach, kava ought to be made by a virgin girl to help get the right level of quality but because it is not a simple task to locate a virgin, kava kava is these days made by the individual with the greatest experience.

Get relaxed

Kava Kava offers the effect of soothing people down and open up the mind for a clear mindset which, is the reason for each essential gathering in Samoa to begin with a kava (or ava in Samoa) ritual.

People today throughout the Pacific (particularly men) are consuming kava kava rather than alcohol right after a long days work, causing them to feel comfortable and relaxed however, not uncontrollably. Immediately after sipping kava you continue to have a crystal clear mind. Many individuals rest significantly better and constantly get out of bed fresh without the dreaded hangover.

Kava isn't just useful for relaxation, additionally it is an incredible pain killer.

Quite a few church congregations also support the drinking of kava kave rather than consuming alcohol.

Kava, the healing remedy

The active component within the kava root is known as kavalactone which includes the following effects:

A pain killer with no side effects or addictions Effective in treating leukemia Effective in treating rheumatic pain

Negative effects

Lots of nutritional supplements have been manufactured with kava under western culture and a few of them have been documented to develop liver damage.

It has also been confirmed that everyone using kava supplement was also using it in combination with other drugs and alcohol. This makes it unclear what brought about the liver issues.

Another factor is that European nutritional supplement manufacturers also used other parts than the root of the kava plant that could have negative effects, which probably was the reason for banning kava in Europe in year 2001.

The EU removed the suspension in November '08 thanks to scientific reviews of the facts.

The people of the Pacific are merely utilizing the root and have absolutely never had these complications despite the fact that they use kava every single day.