Addressing Heavy Alcohol Use Consumption With Kudzu

Exclusion Criteria

• •1. Any psychiatric (e.g., depression with suicidal ideation) or medical condition that would preclude safe participation in the study;
• •2. known allergy/previous adverse reaction to kudzu;
• •3. moderate/severe liver disease (AST, ALT \> 5 times upper limit of normal);
• •4. impaired renal function (creatinine clearance \< 50 ml/min);
• •5. currently participating in another intervention research study with potential overlap;
• •6. current severe substance-use disorder (exclusive of nicotine, cannabis or alcohol) as determined by DSM-V SCID criteria;
• •7. pregnant women;
• •8. HIV positive individuals who are not virally suppressed;
• •9. any condition that, in the principal investigator and/or study clinician's judgment interferes with safe study participation or adherence to study procedures
• •10. not willing to learn how to send EMA surveys.
• •(\*Note: Eligible participants who have a partner currently in the study will be enrolled and randomized after their partner has completed their in-treatment follow-up, to reduce the concerns of contamination between treatment conditions. Additionally, we will exclude individuals with impaired renal function as a general precaution. Pharmacokinetic data on kudzu is limited. Puerarin is present in the urine of rats for 4-72 hours after oral administration, thus there is renal elimination of the active compound, as well as it's metabolite, equol. For this reason, we prefer to be cautious by limiting enrollment to those with reasonable renal function. We selected eGFR \< 50mL/min as that is the level at which most products with renal clearance begin to demonstrate risks of increased toxicity.)