Kratom

There has been intensive medical and scientific research into Kratom going on for quite a while in the USA, in South East Asia and in Japan. The leaves of mitragyna speciosa contain about 25 different alkaloids, all of which are highly complicated chemical structures. These alkaloids are effective on a multitude of receptors in the central and peripheral nervous system. In only very few cases so far the exact interaction between the Kratom alkaloids and the nervous receptors could be established with the required transparency. This is valid only for some of the painkilling properties of Kratom, which by now are sufficiently explained and proven.

For most of the Kratom alkaloids however it remains unclear what exactly they effect and how they do it. In these cases there are just the results from clinical studies, which in example show that the stimulating effects of Kratom do exist without explaining the causes and reaction chains for these effects.

The momentary situation for the research into kratom can be resumed as follows:

It is established beyond any doubt that Kratom is a strong painkiller, but this research has not yet led to the commercial availability of a specific painkilling drug based on Kratom.

It is also established that Kratom is highly effective in relieving the symptoms of opiat/opiod withdrawal. It can be expected that in the future a therapy to fight drug addiction based on Kratom will be available.

It is furthermore established that Kratom is a strong stimulant. Most likely this will lead to the development of a Kratom based antidepressant in the future. But this could still take some time, as our knowledge of the mood and mental related biochemical processes in the brain is still rather poor.

There are experiments under way to use Kratom for cosmetic purposes. Besides its systematic effects affecting mind and body as whole, Kratom also seems to have topical effects if locally applied on the skin - there is a possibility that a new generation of skin rejuvenating products could be based on this.