While current evidence supports kava for generalized anxiety, more studies are required to assess comparative efficacy and safety (on the liver, cognition, driving, and sexual effects) versus established pharmaceutical comparators.

The majority of evidence suggests that kava has no replicated significant negative effects on cognition.

The results indicate that a medicinal dose of kava containing 180 mg of kavalactones does not impair driving ability, whereas 30 mg of oxazepam shows some impairment. Research assessing larger recreational doses of kava on driving ability should now be conducted.

Acute "medicinal level" doses of this particular kava cultivar in naive users do not provide anxiolytic activity, although the phytomedicine also appears to have no negative effects on cognition.