The isoflavone puerarin reduces alcohol intake in heavy drinkers: A pilot study

Abstract

Background Isoflavone compounds naturally occurring in the root of the kudzu plant have been used historically to treat alcohol-related problems. A pilot study was conducted to assess the effects of one primary isoflavone - puerarin- for its ability to modify alcohol intake in humans. Methods Ten (10) healthy adult volunteers were administered puerarin (1200 mg daily) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design experiment for one week prior to an afternoon drinking session lasting 1.5 hours. Participants had access to up to six bottles of their preferred brand of beer in addition to juice and water. A time course of drinking, sip volumes, and total amount consumed were recorded. Results Participants consumed on average 3.5 (± 0.55) beers when treated with placebo and 2.4 (± 0.41) beers when treated with puerarin. In contrast to drinking following placebo treatment when 3 participants drank 5 beers and 1 participant drank all 6 beers, none drank 5 or 6 beers when treated with puerarin. Drinking topography also changed. When treated with puerarin, participants decreased sip size, took more sips to finish a beer, and took longer to consume each beer. Additionally, after finishing a beer, latency to opening the next beer was increased. Conclusions This study is the first demonstration that a single isoflavone found in the kudzu root can alter alcohol drinking in humans. These results suggest that alcohol consumption patterns are influenced by puerarin administration and this botanical medication may be a useful adjunct in the treatment of excessive alcohol intake.

Puerarin Ameliorates Experimental Alcoholic Liver Injury by Inhibition of Endotoxin Gut Leakage, Kupffer Cell Activation, and Endotoxin Receptors Expression

“…1) is an isoflavone component extracted from Kudzu (Pueraria lobata), a medicinal herb that has been used to treat alcohol abuse in traditional Chinese medicine for more than a millennium. Puerarin has been demonstrated to alleviate alcohol-related disorders, including suppressing alcohol consumption and preference in rodents (Lin et al, 1996;Overstreet et al, 1996) and humans (Penetar et al, 2012) and reducing the anxiety symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal (Overstreet et al, 2003). Recently, puerarin protection against liver injury has been reported (Zhang et al, 2006;Zhao et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2012).…”

Expression and Functional Analysis of a Transgenic Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenase in Pueraria mirifica

“…Genistein were used in both prophylaxis and treatment of diseases in recent years, acting such as antioxidant (Ganai & Farooqi 2015;Kanazawa et al 1995), anticancer properties (Sarkar & Li 2002;Qi et al 2011), cardioprotection (Deodato et al 1999) and immunosupressor agent (Yellayi et al 2002). Puerarin has been demonstrated to possess a variety of beneficial activities on alleviating angiocardiopathy (Pan et al 2009), osteoporosis (Wong & Rabie 2007) and hangover (Penetar et al 2012). In the process of daidzein biosynthesis, the important step is that FIGURE 5.…”

Altering ethanol pharmacokinetics to treat alcohol use disorder: Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

“…Other daidzin analogs have been developed with more selective and reversal inhibitors specifically for ALDH2 (Arolfo et al, 2009). These compounds have also been shown to reduce ethanol consumption and increase abstinence in non-treatment-seeking heavy drinkers (Lukas et al, 2013; Penetar et al, 2012). …”