Kanna Dosage: How Much Kanna Is in a Drink?

Clinical studies used 8 to 25 mg of one extract. Cans on the shelf range from 15 mg to 500 mg of different things.

What kanna dosage has been studied?

The doses tested in people range from 8 mg to 50 mg of Zembrin, a standardized Sceletium tortuosum extract. Every human trial we found used that extract. Here is the full set.

So the range with published human data is 8 to 50 mg per day of Zembrin, for up to three months, in healthy adults. Nobody in these trials drank a can of anything. For what the studies found, see Kanna Benefits: What the Research Actually Shows.

One more point from Nell 2013: it tested 8 mg and 25 mg for tolerability and did not assess whether either dose does anything [5]. A 2017 trial tested 25 mg and 50 mg daily for six weeks [18]; we found no published human trials above 50 mg.

Why can't you compare milligrams between brands?

Because "mg of kanna" can mean different things. It might be milligrams of a standardized extract, milligrams of an unspecified extract, or milligrams of the alkaloids inside an extract.

• Standardized versus unspecified. Zembrin is a named, standardized extract. Most clinical data belong to it. A can that says "kanna extract" without naming or describing the standardization could contain a very different amount of the active alkaloids at the same milligram figure.
• Extract versus alkaloids. Kanva Botanicals reports 3.75 mg of Sceletium alkaloids per serving [11]. That is a statement about the alkaloids, not the amount of extract, so it cannot be set next to a figure like 35 mg or 50 mg of extract.
• Label versus third-party reports. Some figures come from brand pages, some from press releases, some from third-party blogs. We mark which in the table below.

The takeaway: a larger number on the front of a can does not mean more of the studied material. The only comparison that holds is within the same named extract, such as Zembrin at 25 mg versus Zembrin at 50 mg. Even then, 50 mg sits at the top of what has been tested in the published trials.

How much kanna is in a drink?

Stated amounts per serving run from 3.75 mg of alkaloids to 500 mg of an unnamed extract. This table lists what we could verify on 2026-10-28, with the source for each figure. We did not lab-test any product.

Silly is made by Psilly Goose, which publishes this site. Figures can change as brands reformulate; check the current label.

A few things stand out. Only the Upstate Elevator cans name Zembrin together with a milligram figure on the brand's own page. Two of three Upstate flavors carry 50 mg, the higher of the two doses tested in a six-week trial of older adults [18]. Myce's 500 mg is twenty times the 25 mg studied figure on paper, but it is an unnamed extract, so there are no matching clinical data and the comparison tells you little. The Brightside's 15 mg comes from a press release, not from the brand's product page, so check the can.

Also check what else is in the drink. Upstate's cans and Kanva's shot pair kanna with kava, and GIÓ lists additional ingredients including kava and caffeine according to the third-party report. The kanna number tells you only part of what you are drinking.

How do people approach a first serving?

The general practice with any new supplement or functional ingredient is to start with a small amount, wait, and see how you feel before having more. That is a common-sense habit, not a kanna-specific rule or medical advice.

For context, the lowest dose in the published human trials was 8 mg [5], the most commonly studied was 25 mg [1][2][3][4], and the highest was 50 mg [18]. Because extracts differ, a can's milligram figure can't be placed precisely within that range, and no drink has been tested in a published trial.

Pay attention to the first serving in particular. Headache and upset stomach are the commonly reported side effects of sceletium [16]. If you have a reaction, stop and talk to a health professional.

What do brands say about daily limits?

Brand guidance varies, and none of it is a clinical recommendation. Silly's own product page says the brand recommends not drinking more than six Psilly Goose beverages infused with kanna within 24 hours [15].

That is the brand's stated ceiling, and we are repeating it for transparency, not endorsing it as a safe or studied amount. Do the arithmetic: six cans at 35 mg is 210 mg of an extract whose standardization is not stated on the label, while the longest published trial used 25 mg of Zembrin per day [5]. Nobody has tested that exact combination for safety or effect. Adding up kanna across several products in one day, such as a drink, a chew and a capsule, compounds the uncertainty.

There is also no official regulatory dose. The FDA has not reviewed sceletium for safety and effectiveness, and product content can vary [16]. In rats, a toxicology study of Zembrin found no adverse effects at very high doses (600 mg/kg/day in a 90-day study) [17], but animal studies do not tell you what is appropriate for a person.

Who should check with a doctor first?

Anyone taking medication that affects serotonin should speak to a doctor or pharmacist before using kanna in any form. Interaction concerns have been raised with MAOIs, SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotics, triptans and St. John's wort, and how those interactions work is not fully understood [16]. Kanva's label says not to use its product with SSRIs or SNRIs [11], and Silly's product page warns of serotonin syndrome risk with serotonin-boosting medication [15].

There are no data on kanna during pregnancy or breastfeeding [16]. If you are pregnant, nursing, planning pregnancy, or managing a health condition, ask a clinician first. More detail is in Is Kanna Safe?, and the legal status page covers where kanna can be sold.

This page is general information. It is not medical advice, and these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Kanna products are not intended for the diagnosis, prevention or management of any disease.

References

1. Terburg D et al. Acute effects of Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin), a dual 5-HT reuptake and PDE4 inhibitor, in the human amygdala and its connection to the hypothalamus. Neuropsychopharmacology 2013;38(13):2708-16. PubMed
2. Reay J et al. Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin) ameliorates experimentally induced anxiety in healthy volunteers. Hum Psychopharmacol 2020;35(6):1-7. PubMed
3. Hoffman JR et al. Ergogenic effects of 8 days of Sceletium tortuosum supplementation on mood, visual tracking, and reaction in recreationally trained men and women. J Strength Cond Res 2020;34(9):2476-81. PubMed
4. Chiu S et al. Proof-of-concept randomized controlled study of cognition effects of the proprietary extract Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin) targeting phosphodiesterase-4 in cognitively healthy subjects. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2014;2014:682014. PubMed
5. Nell H et al. A randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial of extract Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin) in healthy adults. J Altern Complement Med 2013;19(11):898-904. PubMed
6. Upstate Elevator. Pink Grapefruit Uplift Spritz (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Upstate Elevator
7. Upstate Elevator. Lychee Blood Orange Uplift Spritz (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Upstate Elevator
8. Upstate Elevator. Blackberry Zinger Unwind Soda (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Upstate Elevator
9. BevNET. Introducing On the Brightside, the feel-good soda (press release), July 8, 2026. BevNET
10. PricePlow. On the Brightside soda (sponsored post), August 5, 2026. PricePlow
11. Kanva Botanicals. Release + Relax kanna kava relaxing tonic (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Kanva Botanicals
12. Myce. Spicy (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Myce
13. GIÓ. Berry Mule (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Drink GIÓ
14. PricePlow. Zembrin delivery formats. PricePlow
15. Psilly Goose. Silly (product page, accessed 2026-10-28). Psilly Goose
16. WebMD. Sceletium: uses, side effects, interactions. WebMD
17. Murbach TS et al. A toxicological safety assessment of a standardized extract of Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin) in rats. Food Chem Toxicol 2014;74:190-9. PubMed
18. Dimpfel W, Gericke N, Suliman S, Chiegoua Dipah GN. Effect of Zembrin on brain electrical activity in 60 older subjects after 6 weeks of daily intake: a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 3-armed study in a parallel design. World J Neurosci 2017;7(1):140-171. SCIRP

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