kudzu extract for the treatment of addiction

Tree extract kudzu (Pueraria lobata) is being developed as an alternative for the treatment of alcoholics and cocaine addicts. Trials conducted by researchers at Gilead Sciences Inc. on rats, reported the journal Nature Medicine, proved that the extract could stop the habit of taking cocaine.


Kudzu is an ancient drug for alcoholics. Pueraria vines of the family came from Asia and has spread to most areas of the Southeast, the United States. Plants imported from Asia, to control soil erosion. 

Experiments in mice showed the extract can stop the rodents that consume cocaine. Extracts were also able to prevent a recurrence of an addiction is, after all the rats free of cocaine.
 
They found that extracts of the workings of raising the level of a material called tetrahydropapaveroline (THP). Addicted to cocaine make level one brain chemical called dopamine increases and THP to interfere with the situation.