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Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a Southeast Asian plant containing various alkaloids that induce pharmacological effects in humans. In Western countries, online vendors sell a variety of different kratom strains which are marketed to have distinct effect profiles. However, as of yet such marketing cl...

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Autores principales: Huisman, Guido, Menke, Maximilian, Grundmann, Oliver, Schreiber, Rudy, Mason, Natasha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10379209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37510657
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146425
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author Huisman, Guido
Menke, Maximilian
Grundmann, Oliver
Schreiber, Rudy
Mason, Natasha
author_facet Huisman, Guido
Menke, Maximilian
Grundmann, Oliver
Schreiber, Rudy
Mason, Natasha
author_sort Huisman, Guido
collection PubMed
description Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a Southeast Asian plant containing various alkaloids that induce pharmacological effects in humans. In Western countries, online vendors sell a variety of different kratom strains which are marketed to have distinct effect profiles. However, as of yet such marketing claims are unsubstantiated, and therefore the current study investigated whether differently colored kratom products can induce distinct effects, as self-reported by users. Six hundred forty-four current kratom users were anonymously surveyed to compare the self-reported effects of and motivations for using kratom products sold as red, green, and white strains. Most of the survey respondents were customers of the same kratom vendor, the products of which had been analyzed for their alkaloid content by an independent laboratory. The survey respondents reported distinct subjective experiences for different kratom strains, in a manner congruent with common marketing descriptions. However, the product analyses revealed no significant cross-strain differences in alkaloid content, suggesting that the reported effect differences might be disproportionally influenced by marketing narratives and anecdotal reports. Future studies should engage a more diverse population and include kratom strains from various vendors. Controlled, blinded experiments could assess whether the reported effect differences stem from a placebo effect or from alternative factors, e.g., minor alkaloids and terpenes.
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spelling pubmed-103792092023-07-29 Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains Huisman, Guido Menke, Maximilian Grundmann, Oliver Schreiber, Rudy Mason, Natasha Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a Southeast Asian plant containing various alkaloids that induce pharmacological effects in humans. In Western countries, online vendors sell a variety of different kratom strains which are marketed to have distinct effect profiles. However, as of yet such marketing claims are unsubstantiated, and therefore the current study investigated whether differently colored kratom products can induce distinct effects, as self-reported by users. Six hundred forty-four current kratom users were anonymously surveyed to compare the self-reported effects of and motivations for using kratom products sold as red, green, and white strains. Most of the survey respondents were customers of the same kratom vendor, the products of which had been analyzed for their alkaloid content by an independent laboratory. The survey respondents reported distinct subjective experiences for different kratom strains, in a manner congruent with common marketing descriptions. However, the product analyses revealed no significant cross-strain differences in alkaloid content, suggesting that the reported effect differences might be disproportionally influenced by marketing narratives and anecdotal reports. Future studies should engage a more diverse population and include kratom strains from various vendors. Controlled, blinded experiments could assess whether the reported effect differences stem from a placebo effect or from alternative factors, e.g., minor alkaloids and terpenes. MDPI 2023-07-21 /pmc/articles/PMC10379209/ /pubmed/37510657 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146425 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Huisman, Guido
Menke, Maximilian
Grundmann, Oliver
Schreiber, Rudy
Mason, Natasha
Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains
title Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains
title_full Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains
title_fullStr Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains
title_full_unstemmed Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains
title_short Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains
title_sort examining the psychoactive differences between kratom strains
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10379209/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37510657
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20146425
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