Kudzu and alcohol dependence - what the research has shown

Studies have not shown that kudzu helps people stop drinking or that it treats alcohol dependence. A trial published on 4 November 2026 included 120 adults who binge-drank every week and wanted to cut down. For 12 weeks, they received kudzu root extract or placebo. People taking kudzu had about 27% fewer days on which they drank heavily than people in the placebo group (1), but at the end of treatment they were still doing so more than once a week on average (2).

In two small studies of people who had sought treatment for dependence, kudzu worked no better than placebo (3, 4). Kudzu (Pueraria lobata, known in Polish as opornik łatkowaty) is sold in Poland without a prescription as a dietary supplement, not as a medicine. Alcohol dependence is treated with psychotherapy and medicines chosen by a doctor, and the goal of treatment is to stop drinking.

In brief

• In a 12-week trial from 2026, adults who binge-drank every week and took kudzu had about 27% fewer heavy drinking days over the whole treatment period than participants in the placebo group. In the final, 12th week, there were on average 1.4 such days in the kudzu group and 2.1 in the placebo group.
• The trial enrolled people who wanted to cut down on their drinking, and all participants talked about their drinking with a member of the research team every week. The trial did not test whether kudzu helps people stop drinking. In people being treated for dependence, kudzu worked no better than placebo.
• In Poland, kudzu is a dietary supplement, not a medicine. Shop-bought capsules do not have to contain the same extract as the product used in the studies, and kudzu may interact with some medicines, such as tamoxifen and methotrexate.
• Alcohol dependence is treated with psychotherapy and prescription medicines. Someone who drinks heavily every day or goes on drinking bouts should stop drinking under medical supervision, as part of detox.

What kudzu is and why it has been studied in people who drink

Kudzu is a climbing plant of the legume family whose root has long been used in Chinese medicine. The root contains isoflavones, plant compounds that act similarly to oestrogens (5). The most abundant of them is puerarin (6). In studies in rats and hamsters, kudzu root extracts reduced alcohol drinking, which is why they have also been tested in humans since around 2000 (4, 7).

How kudzu might reduce drinking is unclear. Researchers tested whether kudzu strengthens the effects of alcohol, so that people drink less. In 12 healthy volunteers, however, kudzu did not change how they felt the effects of alcohol, so the authors concluded that the reduced drinking has a different cause (8).

What the kudzu trial in people who binge drink showed

In a trial published in November 2026 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, people who took kudzu extract for 12 weeks had about 27% fewer days on which they drank a lot of alcohol on a single occasion than people taking placebo (1). It was a phase 2b trial, the stage that comes before the large trials that would need to confirm this result.

Who took part in the 2026 kudzu trial and how it was run

The trial was conducted in San Francisco from 2019 to 2024. It included 120 adults, 49 women and 71 men, with alcohol use disorder diagnosed according to DSM-5, the US diagnostic manual of mental disorders. This term covers drinking problems from mild to severe, so it is broader than dependence. Every participant had been binge drinking at least once a week over the previous 3 months and wanted to cut down (2).

The trial also looked at the risk of HIV infection, so it enrolled people who had sex after drinking or who, because of drinking, missed doses of medicines that protect against HIV or treat the infection. Pregnant women, people with moderate or severe liver disease, people with reduced kidney function and people with severe dependence on substances other than alcohol, nicotine and cannabis could not take part (2).

The researchers defined a heavy drinking day as a day on which a man drank at least 5 drinks on a single occasion, or a woman at least 4 drinks (2). In the US, a standard drink contains about 14 g of pure alcohol (9), so 5 drinks contain about 70 g, roughly the amount in 1.75 litres of 5% beer. This threshold was used only to count the trial results and does not mean that a smaller amount of alcohol is safe.

For 12 weeks, half of the participants received capsules containing kudzu extract, and the other half identical-looking capsules with no active substance, that is, placebo. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was in which group. One dose contained 2 g of standardised extract, meaning a product with a fixed, known content of substances from the root. Participants did not take it every day, only on days when they expected to drink heavily (1, 2). Everyone, including people in the placebo group, talked about their drinking once a week for 20 minutes with a trained member of the team, whose work was supervised by a clinical psychologist. These conversations were meant to help participants recognise their drinking problem and strengthen their motivation to change (2).

How much kudzu reduced the number of heavy drinking days

Of the 120 participants, 105 completed the trial. At the start, participants in both groups had on average 2.15 heavy drinking days a week. In week 12, there were on average 1.42 such days in the kudzu group and 2.06 in the placebo group (2, 10). Over the whole treatment period, the kudzu group had 27% fewer of them than the placebo group. The result was statistically significant, but it was close to the accepted threshold. According to the researchers' calculations, the true difference could have been anywhere from 46% to as little as 1% (1).

The proportion of weeks in which a participant binge-drank at least once fell from 88% to 58% in the kudzu group and from 88% to 81% in the placebo group (10). People who took kudzu on at least 2.7 days a week on average had 42% fewer heavy drinking days than the placebo group. Only in this group did the authors also record fewer positive blood tests for PEth (phosphatidylethanol), a substance that forms in the blood after drinking alcohol. Three months after the end of treatment, people in the kudzu group were still drinking large amounts of alcohol less often than people in the placebo group (1).

What the 2026 kudzu trial did not show

The trial did not test whether kudzu helps people stop drinking. The researchers mainly measured the number of heavy drinking days, and the trial enrolled people who wanted to cut down on their drinking (1, 2). At the end of treatment, people in the kudzu group still had on average more than one such day a week (2).

The result also has other limitations:

• Participants reported their own drinking. The authors note that self-reports like this may be inaccurate, because people want to come across well or do not remember the whole week exactly (2).
• The trial included people from a single US city, selected partly because of their risk of HIV infection. It is unclear whether the result would be similar in people with severe dependence, people who go on drinking bouts or people with liver disease.
• All participants talked about their drinking with the research team every week. How kudzu would work in someone who takes it without this kind of support is unknown.
• The researchers used a standardised extract. They point out that kudzu products sold without a prescription vary in composition and may work differently, and that the result needs to be confirmed in larger trials (10).

Comparing kudzu studies in people who drink

Earlier studies of kudzu in humans were small. In these studies, drinking decreased mainly in men who were not seeking treatment. In people being treated for alcohol dependence, kudzu worked no better than placebo (3, 4).

In the second 2026 study, involving 19 people who had sought treatment of their own accord, all participants talked to a counsellor every week. After 4 weeks, the number of heavy drinking days had fallen by about 40% in both groups. The authors concluded that kudzu may reduce heavy drinking but may give no additional benefit to people already receiving effective treatment for dependence (3).

The studies from 2005 to 2015 were carried out by a single team from McLean Hospital in the US. In 2013, two of the authors held a patent on the kudzu extract, and one of them had financial ties to the company that sold it (11).

Is kudzu safe?

In studies lasting up to 12 weeks, side effects occurred in people taking kudzu about as often as in people taking placebo, or did not occur at all (1, 11). Its safety with longer use has not been established. Pregnant women and people with moderate or severe liver disease or reduced kidney function could not take part in the 2026 trial. The trial did not test the safety of kudzu in these groups (2).

In the same trial, nausea was reported by 7 people taking kudzu and 2 people in the placebo group. One person in the kudzu group was admitted to hospital with myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), but the researchers did not consider this event to be related to kudzu (1, 2). Isolated cases have also been described in the medical literature: kidney inflammation in a woman who drank kudzu root juice for 10 days, and liver damage in a man taking kudzu and mistletoe extracts. In the second case, it is unclear whether the harm was caused by one of the products or by their combination (5).

Does kudzu weaken the effects of alcohol?

Kudzu did not weaken the effects of alcohol in a study of 12 healthy volunteers. Each of them took kudzu for 9 days in one period and placebo in another, and each time was then given alcohol. After kudzu, alcohol impaired balance and slowed reaction times just as it did after placebo. After a larger dose of alcohol, blood alcohol levels initially rose slightly faster after kudzu, and the heart rate increased more than after placebo (8).

Which medicines can kudzu interact with?

Kudzu acts similarly to oestrogens, so it may reduce the effect of tamoxifen, a medicine used to treat breast cancer. For this reason, people being treated with tamoxifen and people with hormone-dependent cancers, such as oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer, should not take kudzu. In animal studies, kudzu slowed the elimination of methotrexate from the body, which raised methotrexate levels in the blood. Methotrexate is used for rheumatic diseases and some cancers, among other conditions. Animal studies also suggest that kudzu may increase the effect of diabetes medicines (5). In a study of 18 healthy men, puerarin, the main component of kudzu, changed the activity of two liver enzymes that break down some medicines: it slowed one enzyme down and sped the other up (13).

It has not been established what these observations mean for people who take these medicines (5). Anyone taking any medicines, including medicines for alcoholism, should tell their doctor about every supplement they take, including kudzu.

What it means that kudzu is classed as a dietary supplement

In Poland, kudzu is sold in pharmacies and shops as a dietary supplement, not as a medicine. Under the law, a dietary supplement is a food intended to supplement the diet of healthy people. Unlike a medicine, it does not need a marketing authorisation. It is the company placing the product on the market that decides it is a supplement. The company notifies Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspector (Główny Inspektor Sanitarny), who can check whether the product has rightly been classified as a supplement. Claims about a supplement's effects and safety are based on data about its ingredients (14).

A medicine used to treat alcohol dependence has a licensed indication, and its summary of product characteristics (SmPC) describes the dosage, contraindications and interactions with other medicines (15, 16, 17). A company selling a kudzu supplement does not have to provide studies showing that its product reduces drinking.

Shop-bought kudzu capsules also do not have to contain the same extract as the product used in the studies. The researchers used standardised extracts with a known isoflavone content, for example 520 mg of isoflavones in a 2 g dose (12). The authors of the 2026 trial point out that products available without a prescription differ from one another and may not work like the product they studied (10).

How alcohol dependence is treated

Alcohol dependence is treated with psychotherapy and, if needed, also with medicines chosen by a doctor. The goal of treatment is to stop drinking. Someone who drinks heavily every day or goes on drinking bouts should stop drinking under medical supervision.

In addiction psychotherapy, the patient works with a therapist to learn to recognise the situations that trigger their drinking and to cope with alcohol cravings without drinking. We write more about this form of treatment in our article on psychotherapy for alcoholism.

Medicines for alcoholism prescribed by a doctor

Alcohol dependence is treated with licensed medicines: naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram and nalmefene (15, 16, 17, 18). The doctor chooses a medicine to suit the patient's health and the other medicines they take.

• Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain. According to one hypothesis, alcohol stimulates the opioid system, which encourages further drinking. Naltrexone is used to help people stay abstinent (15).
• Acamprosate acts on chemical messengers in the brain whose balance is disturbed by long-term drinking. It is used in dependent people who have stopped drinking, alongside psychotherapy, to help them stay abstinent (16).
• Disulfiram (Anticol tablets or a disulfiram implant) blocks the breakdown of alcohol in the body. If you drink alcohol, acetaldehyde builds up and strong, unpleasant symptoms appear, which discourages drinking. This reaction is unpredictable and can be dangerous. Disulfiram tablets can be started only after at least 24 hours without alcohol (17).

We describe all these medicines on our page on pharmacotherapy for alcoholism. In small trials, semaglutide, a medicine for diabetes and obesity, also reduced the number of heavy drinking days. However, semaglutide is not licensed to treat alcohol dependence, and kudzu is not a medicine at all.

When stopping drinking requires detox

In people who are dependent, alcohol withdrawal symptoms can appear 6-24 hours after suddenly stopping or cutting down on drinking. Milder symptoms include shaking, nausea, anxiety and low mood; more severe ones include hallucinations, seizures and delirium tremens. Severe withdrawal syndrome can be life-threatening (19). This is why a dependent person should stop drinking under medical supervision, as part of alcohol detox. None of the studies described here tested whether kudzu eases alcohol withdrawal symptoms. We explain how to recognise when drinking has turned into a drinking bout in a separate article.

Symptoms after stopping drinking that need urgent help

Seizures, hallucinations, confusion or loss of consciousness after stopping drinking are symptoms of severe withdrawal syndrome (19). They need medical help straight away, without waiting for a scheduled appointment. This article does not replace a medical consultation.

How family and friends can help someone who would rather take a supplement than get treatment

If someone close to you is binge drinking more and more often and would rather try kudzu than go to an addiction treatment clinic, you can show them what the studies found: kudzu reduced the number of days on which participants drank heavily, but none of these studies showed that it helps people stop drinking. We explain how to talk to someone who drinks in our article on how to persuade an alcoholic to get treatment. We also provide psychotherapy for the families of people with dependence, even if the person who drinks does not yet want treatment.

Frequently asked questions

Does kudzu help you stop drinking?

Studies have not shown that it does. In the 12-week trial from 2026, involving 120 people, participants wanted to cut down on their drinking, and the researchers measured how often they drank heavily on a single occasion. In people who had sought treatment for dependence, kudzu did not reduce drinking more than placebo, and in veterans being treated for dependence it did not change sobriety ratings in monthly questionnaires (3, 4).

Does kudzu reduce alcohol cravings?

In studies from 2000, 2005 and 2013, kudzu did not reduce alcohol cravings, meaning a strong urge to drink (4, 7, 11). In two of them, participants drank less after kudzu even though their desire for alcohol stayed the same (7, 11). In veterans being treated for dependence, kudzu changed neither alcohol cravings nor sobriety ratings (4).

Does kudzu work like an alcohol implant?

No. The implant and Anticol tablets contain disulfiram, which blocks the breakdown of alcohol, so drinking alcohol causes strong, unpleasant symptoms (17). In the study of healthy volunteers who took kudzu and were then given alcohol, the authors did not describe a reaction similar to the one seen with disulfiram (8). Kudzu does not replace treatment with disulfiram and does not make drinking alcohol safe.

Can you buy kudzu without a prescription?

Yes. In Poland, kudzu is sold without a prescription as a dietary supplement. A supplement does not need the marketing authorisation that a medicine requires (14), so before it goes on sale, there is no need to show in studies that a particular kudzu product reduces drinking.

Can kudzu be combined with medicines for alcoholism?

In the studies described here, kudzu was compared with placebo, and none of them checked whether it can be safely combined with naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram or nalmefene. Kudzu may also change the effects of other medicines, such as tamoxifen and diabetes medicines (5). You need to tell the doctor managing your treatment that you take kudzu.

Sources

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