Mucuna Pruriens (Magic Velvet Bean): Benefits, Dosing, Where To Buy, And More!

Mucuna pruriens is a natural nootropic with many mental and physical benefits.

It does everything from boosting dopamine to male sex hormones.

The following article goes deep into the benefits of mucuna pruriens, who it’s good for, and how to best use it.

Mucuna Pruriens – Frequently Asked Questions

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History of Mucuna Pruriens As A Traditional Medicine

Mucuna pruriens is native to Southern China and eastern India. Before its discovery as traditional medicine, farmers planted it as forage, silage, hay, green manure, and cover crop.

More popularly known as velvet bean, mucuna, Bengal bean, or cowhage, traditional medicine started between 1500-1000 BC.

Ayurvedic tradition believes Mucuna has aphrodisiac and neuroprotective benefits and can cure nervous disorders. These conditions include parkinsonism, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. It can also help reduce inflammation and pain in the subjects.¹

What is L-dopa?

Mucuna’s main phenolic compound is levodopa (L-dopa). Levodopa is an amino acid that serves as a precursor in dopamine conversion. It triggers the dopaminergic receptors in the brain.²

Treating Parkinson’s Disease with L-dopa from Mucuna is preferable as it does not have adverse side effects compared to synthetic L-dopa.
Adverse effects of synthetic levodopa are mostly cardiovascular, including hypotension, cardiac arrhythmia, dizziness, and faintness. It also includes anorexia, abdominal and bowel disorders, psychiatric symptoms, and abnormal leg movements.³

Evidence showed that whole Mucuna extracts are better than pure L-dopa since other Mucuna components also provide neuroprotective effects.⁴

Mucuna Pruriens Benefits

Boosts Mood

Evidence showed that dopamine levels predict your mood. High levels of dopamine lead to mania, while deficient dopamine contributes to depression.⁵

L-dopa also affects serotonin neurotransmission. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects your mood and feelings of well-being. There is strong evidence that serotonin neurons suffer from oxidative stress caused by high dopamine levels.

Testosterone

One of Mucuna Pruriens’ central claims to fame is its ability to raise male testosterone levels.

Testosterone levels have profound effects on a man’s physiology AND psychology. Sexual arousal and the ability to maintain an erection are some of the most pressing issues for a man approaching 40.

Mucuna seed powder improves sexual desire and copulatory behavior, supporting claims of Mucuna’s aphrodisiac effect in Ayurvedic medicine.⁶

It also helps improve the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis response. This helps increase testosterone and other hormones necessary to enhance male fertility following Mucuna supplementation.⁷

Muscle mass increase and an overall decrease in fat cells are among the key benefits of having healthy testosterone levels.⁸

Bodybuilders and athletes significantly benefit from this action of Mucuna.

Male Fertility

Mucuna treatment has shown profound effects on male fertility.

Several studies demonstrate its ability to improve sperm count, motility, and semen volume in men with low fertility markers.⁹¹⁰

A similar study also suggests Mucuna seed powder’s effectiveness in restoring spermatogenesis and improving overall semen and sperm quality to increase fertility in men with low sperm count and unhealthy semen profile.¹¹

Neuroprotective (anti-Parkinson’s)

Mucuna Pruriens has demonstrated many neuroprotective benefits in clinical studies.

The incidence of dyskinesia (involuntary muscle movements) in patients with Parkinson’s disease showed improvement after Mucuna seed powder administration. This result presents the advantages of L-dopa from Mucuna over synthetic L-dopa preparations.¹²

Another study documents the effectiveness of L-dopa preparation from Mucuna cotyledon powder. Compared to synthetic L-dopa preparation, Mucuna cotyledon powder restored levodopa, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.¹³

These findings demonstrate a promising future for using Mucuna cotyledon to treat low L-dopa and other related hormones.

Much evidence points to Mucuna’s ability to manage Parkinson’s disease symptoms, showing its potential as an alternative treatment regime for more expensive L-dopa drugs.¹⁴

Anti-Inflammatory

Inflammation causes many diseases, including most neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Literature frequently links these diseases with neuroinflammation and degeneration of neurons.¹⁵

Mucuna’s anti-inflammatory action effectively lowers oxidative stress, which results in lower latency and occurrence of dyskinesia.¹⁶

Antidepressant

Aside from the l-dopa in Mucuna, the hydroalcoholic extract shows potential as an antidepressant.¹⁷¹⁸

Results of imaging studies present strong evidence that links healthy levels of dopamine transporters, such as l-dopa abundant in Mucuna, and depression and further supporting the evidence of l-dopa for depression.

Stress Reduction

The high antioxidant content in Mucuna seed powder helps relieve stress by increasing the dopamine levels in the brain. Studies proved that low levels of dopamine increased inflammation, stress levels, and incidence of neurodegenerative diseases.¹⁹²⁰

The length and control of stress exposure play an important role in changes in dopamine levels. Prolonged exposure to uncontrollable and inescapable stress lowers dopamine release resulting in depleted dopamine levels in the brain.

Moreover, chronic and unmanaged stress results in maladaptive neuroendocrine responses.

This leads to severe illnesses that include psychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative, endocrine, metabolic, and autoimmune disease.

Anti-Diabetic

Hyperglycemia is the number red flag for diabetes. A blood sugar level greater than 140mg/dl (7.8mmol) can be fatal or lead to other complications.

Ideally, you want this number under 100.

Mucuna seed extract has the potential to control hyperglycemia.²²

The seed extract contains inositol derivatives, which are proven agents to control insulin resistance.²³

There are also oligosaccharides known for glycemic control.²⁴²⁵

Unexplained weight loss is another red flag to look out for in undiagnosed diabetes. However, oral administration of Mucuna seed extract helped to curb excessive weight loss associated with diabetes.²⁶

Antimicrobial/Antibacterial

Ayurvedic medicine has long claimed that Mucuna contains antimicrobial properties. Mucuna extract demonstrates efficacy against gram-positive, gram-negative, and fungi in clinical trials.²⁷²⁸

Specifically, methanol extracts of Mucuna have strong antibacterial effects on Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio cholera, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus in-vitro trials.²⁹

Antioxidants

We know that an overload of free radicals results in oxidative stress that progresses to inflammation and, eventually, to chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

The documented presence of phenols, polyphenols, and tannins increases Mucuna’s antioxidant activity.³⁰³¹

The high phenolic content of Mucuna seed extract makes it comparable to vitamin C and other commercially-available preparations in terms of antioxidant action.³²

How Mucuna Pruriens Works In The Brain

Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter responsible for maintaining the reward and movement regulation of the brain.³³

It is essential to modulate behavior, promote learning, improve memory, and enhance sleep. It also keeps the mood stable, lengthens attention, and inhibits prolactin production.³⁴

Mucuna works to improve the conversion of L-dopa to dopamine. It also helps to enhance neurogenesis and the growth and survival of resulting neurons.

HPA Axis

The HPA axis stands for the three main parts (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal) that positively interact to produce the right amount of hormones and natural processes. These are important in stress response, mood, motivation, metabolic functions, energy levels, and the immune system.

HPA axis dysfunction leads to low resistance to stress, mood swings, other behavioral changes, and lethargy.³⁵

It may further progress to neuropsychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and other metabolic disorders.³⁶

Much evidence demonstrates Mucuna treatment improving HPA axis response, leading to resolved hormonal issues. These hormones – dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline – help improve neuropsychiatric diseases, infertility issues, and metabolic disorders.³⁷

Superoxide Dismutase

Mucuna revitalizes your body’s antioxidant defense system by enhancing Superoxide Dismutase SOD levels.³⁸

Superoxide dismutase (SODs) are metalloenzymes that play an essential role in combating oxidative stress.³⁹

It works by blocking neutrophils that cause inflammation and ultimately reverses reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation.
Benefits include reversing memory deficits and selective motor neurons’ loss in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and regulating glucose levels.

Seminal Plasma Glutathione

Glutathione in the seminal plasma helps prevent oxidative damage to maintain sperm health. Low glutathione levels also affect follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH), which helps promote sperm production.⁴⁰

Reduced glutathione levels also affect glutathione enzymes’ activity, as shown in the low glutathione peroxidase in the seminal plasma in infertile men (10 times lower than in healthy men).⁴¹

Mucuna showed the potential to reverse the ill effects of arsenic-induced impairment in mice. After treatment with Mucuna extracts, sperm count and glutathione levels increased. Mucuna treatment also changed the number of abnormal sperms and high lipid peroxidation.⁴²

Tyrosine Hydroxylase

Tyrosine hydroxylase is an active enzyme that is essential in converting tyrosine to dopamine.

Studies show that tyrosine improves cognitive functioning; however, many people do not adequately convert tyrosine to dopamine.⁴³

Much of this is due to dysfunction in Tyrosine hydroxylase.

Fortunately, research has demonstrated tyrosine hydroxylase present in the roots, stem, leaves, pods, and immature seeds of Mucuna pruriens.⁴⁴

Recommended Dosage

Because of limited information, there is no official recommended dosage for the use of Mucuna, but some studies showed the effectiveness of Mucuna extract using the following doses:

In diabetic rats, Mucuna seed powder given at a rate of 100-200mg/kg of body weight reduced plasma glucose levels.⁴⁵

Studies also showed that 600-1200mg/kg of hydroalcoholic extract improved depressive symptoms in mice.⁴⁶

Mucuna administration to Parkinson’s disease patients with 17.5mg/kg resulted in reduced parkinsonism and improved motor skills.⁴⁷

Up to 5g has also been shown effective in human trials for Parkinson’s and fertility.

Like most supplements, it’s best to start low and slow and titrate up as needed.

Side Effects and Contraindications

When used as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease, Mucuna’s most common side effect is dyskinesia. Involuntary muscle movements following levodopa (l-dopa) treatment characterize dyskinesia.⁴⁸

However, research showed that the abnormal involuntary movements of the muscles associated with l-dopa from Mucuna are lower than those taking synthetic l-dopa.⁴⁹⁵⁰

Take extra precaution when taking Mucuna for diabetes since it can cause hypoglycemia or too low blood sugar levels.⁵¹

This condition is life-threatening, so monitor blood glucose levels regularly.

Levodopa contents in Mucuna may also result in hallucinations and psychosis.

Aggravating factors such as dehydration and infection

Stay away from Mucuna if pregnant or breastfeeding.

There is little evidence to support Mucuna’s safety in these cases, so it is best to stay safe.

Mucuna preparations should not be used in adjunct with L-dopa pharmaceutical preparations since it increases the risk of side effects resulting from decarboxylase inhibitors.⁵²

Another alarming tidbit of information to consider is levodopa degradation in Mucuna and its effects on the body.

Some researchers hypothesize that the extraction method and mode of administration may affect the degradation of l-dopa into quinones and semiquinones.⁵³

Quinones and semiquinones play a role in neuronal cell death in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Certain drugs dampen the antidepressant effect of Mucuna seed extract. Prazosin, an alpha-blocker used to relax and dilate the blood vessels, lowered Mucuna extract.

Similarly, p-chlorophenyl alanine (p-CPA) used to treat carcinoid syndrome is best to avoid when taking Mucuna extract. It reverses Mucuna’s effect on the serotonin levels of the subjects.

Consult a physician before taking any Mucuna extract as a treatment regime, mostly if comorbid conditions occur or you’re currently taking any maintenance medicine.

Pairs Well With

Ashwagandha

Green Tea Extract⁵⁴

L-Theanine⁵⁵

Reddit Reviews

Pure l dopa makes me horny and angry but mucuna gives me a good night’s sleep and a nice calm.⁵⁶

fast forward 3 weeks later and I feel amazing, not in the supraphysiological sense, but how normal should feel like. Any kind of brain fog is lifted and fatigue is non existent⁵⁷

Mucuna Pruriens Amazon Reviews

The stuff is absolutely amazing. So I abused cocaine, alcohol, and heroin so my dopamine levels were shot. I also suffer from borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder I added this to my medication routine and it’s totally worth it. I have the energy, motivation, in a better mood, no longer fatigue, and my hair is growing way faster.⁵⁸

I notice an immediate boost in my overall motivation. It puts me in a good mood right away and it seems to increase my mental drive to go do a physical work out or one of my physically stimulating hobbies (surfing/hockey).⁵⁹