Research

“Kratom-Related Exposures” Reported to Poison Control Increase to 3,434 in 2025

Keep in Mind: Despite news media and other nefarious actors’ exaggerations, and despite millions of informed adults using kratom in moderation with net benefits, risks of kratom use are real. Kratom should not be consumed in high doses or with various other substances, including alcohol, Benedryl, Tylenol, opioids, or multiple prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Kratom …

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Study: Mitragynine/Naltrexone Combo Reduces Alcohol Use in Rats

Disclaimer:Research findings from animal studies do not always translate directly to humans. Differences in biology, metabolism, and dosing mean that results observed in animals may not reflect the same effects or safety in people. Animal research is an early step in understanding how a substance might work, but human clinical studies are necessary to determine …

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FDA Study on Kratom Published

A long-awaited kratom clinical study conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. The pilot study (defined as “a preliminary investigation designed to test the feasibility and design of a larger, more comprehensive study”) involved healthy adult participants who were administered an ascending dose of …

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Is 7-OH Really “13 times stronger than morphine”?

Multiple news media and even medical professionals have repeated the claim that 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) is “13 times stronger than morphine” as though it is a fact established through rigorous science. Where does this claim come from and how accurate is it? The claim comes from studies from 2002 (Takayama, et al) and 2004 (Matsumoto, et …

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Fifth Scientific Kratom Symposium Held in Florida

The Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Nora Volkow, was the keynote speaker for this year’s Scientific Kratom Symposium. Hosted by the University of Florida College of Pharmacy at its Lake Nona research campus, the four-day event held from February 17-20, 2026, brought together roughly 100 scientists from about a dozen countries …

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Kratom Use Disorder Treatment with Methadone an Ongoing Practice

A case series published recently in the Journal of Addiction examined 14 American patients of Community Medical Services, a healthcare company specializing in the medically assisted treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). The patients were diagnosed with Kratom Use Disorder (KUD) (Sherrick, 2026). The very brief report does not get into specifics about kratom product …

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Study: Traditional Kratom Use Not Associated with Blood, Organ Toxicity

Disclaimer This is an article summarizing a study on kratom consumers from Thailand, who use the traditional method of fresh leaf kratom brewed into a tea. This is not how most people consume kratom in the United States and Europe. Though the alkaloid composition varies from fresh to dried leaf kratom, the closest method to …

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Scientists Discover How Plants Make Mitraphylline

Mitraphylline is an oxindole alkaloid, made mostly of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. It’s found in kratom at trace amounts (less than 1% of the total alkaloid makeup of kratom leaf). Cat’s Claw contains much more of the alkaloid: 1 gram of dried cat’s claw bark might contain 0.5 to 3 milligrams of mitraphylline. Research …

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Scientists find “insufficient evidence to suggest that kratom causes seizures”

Note: There is a correlation between kratom and seizures, but causation has not been established. Kratom alone or kratom combined with other substances could very well cause seizures in some consumers, but as this study shows, there is not enough evidence to determine causation. Seizures have been commonly listed as a side effect of kratom …

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Scientists Test 7-OH Products Marketed as ‘Kratom Extracts’

Scientists from British Columbia Institute of Technology and University of Illinois published a study that examines five 7-hydroxymitragynine (the abbreviation 7-OH has become popularized, but the scientists use 7-HMG in this study) products marketed as “kratom extracts”. A kratom extract is a concentrated form of the kratom plant made by extracting its active alkaloids, of …

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