Kava drinkers in the Pacific region are being urged not to mix traditional kava sessions with alcohol this holiday season.

Photo: RNZ / Daniela Maoate-Cox

A researcher from Waikato University, Apo Aporosa, recently visited Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu to gauge reaction to his study funded by New Zealand's Health Research Council that examines kava and drink driving.

Mr Aporosa said he was advising people to avoid a trend he observed in the Pacific called a 'wash-down'.

He said this is when people drink alcohol after a traditional kava session, that can last for hours.

"What is unknown is whether or not that washdown process, having that beer or mixing kava and alcohol or whatever, is a safe practice. The message we are pushing at the moment is that there is some suspicion that it is not, and so we are trying to encourage more people not to do that," said Apo Aporosa.

Mr Aporosa said more research was needed in this area.

Photo: ( RNZ / Sara Vui-Talitu )

Buy Reputable Kava

Apo Aporosa also said he is urging people who drink kava in New Zealand that originates from the Pacific to make sure they purchase the product from a reputable trader.

Kava in New Zealand now sells for $US75 a kilogram compared to $US20 just 18 months ago.

Mr Aporosa said some Kava sellers were diluting their product.

"One of the concerns though, is that we still have some unethical people in some of the process who are cutting kava and taking out some and replacing it with flour and other bits of rubbish so some of the kava that we are drinking here in New Zealand is being adulterated, purely for profit," Apo Aporosa.

Mr Aporosa said people in this country seem to be interested in buying kava because it is cheaper than alcohol.

He said in New Zealand it is estimated more than 20,000 people use kava on any given Friday or Saturday night.