"An extract from the Chinese herb kudzu may help drinkers cut down on drinking according to a new pilot study. It didnt stop the drinking says researcher David M. Penetar PhD assistant professor of psychology https at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School. They still drank but they drank less. He studied the extract puerarin. It is one of the substances known as isoflavones found in kudzu. The study is published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Drinking Problems More remedies are needed to help drinkers who overdo it cut down Penetar says. The medications https approved for treating alcohol abuse https and dependence dont work for everyone he says. About  in  U.S. adults binge drinks according to a CDC report. Experts disagree on the definition of binge drinking. According to the CDC binge drinking is having four or more drinks on one occasion for a woman and five or more for a man. Kudzu A Brief History In Chinese pharmacy books kudzu is listed as a possible treatment for alcoholrelated hangovers https and cravings Penetar tells WebMD. Some of the references go back to  A.D. he says. Today its used in China and other countries to treat coronary problems and blood https problems Penetar says. It has a good safety record already. Its touted as a hangover https remedy. However studies looking at the effects of kudzu extracts have produced mixed findings Penetar says. Herb to Cut Drinking Study Details Penetars team studied  men and women average age . They typically drank about  alcoholic https beverages a week. We set up a lab room to make it look like an apartment Penetar says. The labturnedapartment had a reclining chair TV DVD player and a refrigerator stocked with each persons favorite beer. Nonalcoholic beverages were also available. The researchers conducted four different sessions  The first session was to make the participants familiar with the surroundings. They drank but took no herbs.  Before the second they took either  milligrams of puerarin or identicallooking placebo https pills for a week. They came to the lab and could drink as much as they wanted up to six beers.  Two weeks later they came back for a drinking session without taking the herb or the placebo.  For a final session they took whichever pill they didnt take the first time. They took it for a week then went to the lab again for a drinking session. The participants provided urine samples so the researchers could confirm they were compliant. They were given dinner after the sessions and sent home in a taxi once their blood alcohol https level declined. Results of Puerarin Treatment When they were treated with puerarin they drank about a beer less than when they were treated with placebo he says. On average the men and women drank . beers after placebo and . after puerarin. After placebo treatment three people drank five beers and one drank six. After the herbal treatment no one drank five or six. When they had the herbal treatment people also took more sips to finish a beer took longer to down it and reduced their sip size Penetar found. During the week of puerarin treatment they drank slightly less than during the placebo week  three drinks a day compared to .. No serious side effects were reported. For drinkers who want to cut down this may help Penetar says. He does not know exactly how it works. We suspect it may work because it increases blood https flow he says. It may deliver alcohol to the brains reward center faster. So you get an effect sooner therefore you dont drink as much. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse https and Alcoholism funded the study. One study coauthor is a member of the scientific advisory board at Natural Pharmacia International. It provided the puerarin. Another coauthor is an employee of NPI. Penetar holds the investigational newdrug application for puerarin. McLean Hospital has a licensing agreement with NPI for the extract. The hope Penetar says is to market the extract overthecounter. The kudzu root is already widely sold as a dietary supplement https At the dose used in the study three weeks worth costs about . Herb to Curb Drinking Perspective Im hopeful but skeptical says David J. Hanson PhD professor emeritus of sociology at State University of New York at Potsdam. He reviewed the study for WebMD. The new study has a good research design he says but a very small sample size. There is no understanding of the mechanism whereby this might work Hanson tells WebMD. If we know that we would have more confidence in the findings. In Penetars study the men and women took the puerarin for a week. Would people in real life do that It depends on a persons motivation Hanson says. Someone who is told by their doctor to cut down on drinking for health reasons might he says. Penetar knows that is an obstacle. They are now studying a single large dose before a planned drinking session to see if it works too."