Mucuna pruriens, commonly known as velvet bean or cowitch, is used as a minor food crop and medicinal bean in India, West Africa, and Central America. Toasted ground seeds are used as a coffee substitute. It is regarded as anodyne, antidotal, diuretic, nervine, psychedelic, and powerfully aphrodisiac.

It is used as a tea, a strong decoction and a smoke.

According to Ayurveda, this herb is a powerful nervine tonic and aphrodisiac, applicable to the treatment of disorders of the male or female reproductive tract, and the spasms associated with Parkinson's or Bell's Palsy.

A clinical study confirmed the efficacy of the seeds in the management of Parkinson's disease by virtue of their L-Dopa content, the precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine.(1) Mucuna pruriens, recognized as an aphrodisiac in Ayurveda, has been shown to increase testosterone levels (2), leading to deposition of protein in the muscles and increased muscle mass and strength(3). It is also known to enhance mental alertness and improve coordination(4). Isolated chemicals include bufotenine and DMT.

1. Manyam, B.V., et. al. (1995) J. of Alternative and Comp. Med., 1 (3) 249-255.

2. Amin, K.M.Y. (1996) Fitoterapia, 67:53-58.

3. Bhasin, S., et. al. (1996) New England J. of Med., 335, 1-7.

4. Singh, R.H. et al. (1989) J. Res. Ayur. Siddha, 1(1):1-6.

In 1937, 31 years after levodopa was synthesized in Switzerland, Indian scientists isolated levodopa from Mucuna pruriens beans. At the time, the importance of levodopa was unappreciated in India and the West. In 1967, following the establishment of the role of levodopa in Parkinson disease, a screening of 1000 species of 135 plant families revealed that only plants from the Mucuna family contained sufficient levodopa to consider commercial development.

Recently Dr. Bela Manyam, Professor of Neurology at the Scott & White Clinic, Temple Texas, part of the Texas A & M Medical School, a National Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence, treated Parkinson patients with a powder made from the whole bean of Mucuna pruriens. Mucuna pruriens is a legume, and as a legume it's a rich source of tocopherol, or Vitamin 'E.' Vitamin 'E' has a variety of beneficial effects.

Because of it's bulk, Mucuna pruriens acts as a laxative, aiding digestion and counter-acting, in part, the constipation associated with Parkinson disease. Finally, Mucuna pruriens, like other plant extracts, may contain other, as yet unidentified anti-Parkinson drugs. Dr. Manyam and associates prepared a formulation of Mucuna pruriens and studied it in Parkinson disease.

http://leda.lycaeum.org/Trips/Mucuna_pruriens.5427.shtml

'I am experienced with this substance so I should have been prepared! It started with a slight tingling in my forearms and around my neck. In the beginning I ignored it, but it soon took complete control of my mental state. As it hit me I noticed the telltale cloud of sparkly purple filaments floating about my head. I could have marveled at the way the sun reflected from these microscopic hairs, but I confess I was otherwise engaged. As I raced up the hill ripping off my shirt I could barely contain the mounting anxiety. I left my machete down below along the fence I had been clearing. Now I could only think of running cool water over my burning arms and face. That was forty-five minutes ago, now, after standing in the shower for 30 minutes it seems to have subsided. Mucuna Pruriens indeed!'

Beware of overindulgence.