Essential For Optimal Health
L-Dopa Extract is an amino acid with a LARGE NUMBER OF HEALTH BENEFITS, primarily known for it's conversion into dopamine. Dopamine is an essential component of our body and it is required for proper functioning of the brain.The numerous Health Benefits of L-Dopa Extract have been researched for over 50 years, but it's availability has been very limited - Until Now!. It was recently discovered that the plant bean "Mucuna Pruriens" contains significant amounts of L-Dopa. This is great news because now L-Dopa Extract is available to everyone.
Better Absorption and Utilization
Mucuna Pruriens gives us an "All Natural" source of L-Dopa Extract. Because the L-Dopa is extracted from a natural plant source, our body actually absorbs and utilizes a higher percentage. The improved absorption means you experience better results with smaller servings.
Because the L-Dopa is from an "All Natural" source, the L-Dopa has no side effects. With "Mucuna Pruriens" L-Dopa Extract, you have better absorption and no side effects.
Health Benefits of L-Dopa Extract
Although L-Dopa Extract is well known for it's treatment of Parkinsons, there are many other benefits. L-Dopa Extract has been shown to significantly increase the body's natural production of human growth hormone (HGH). This is very important because Increasing HGH has powerful Health benefits for both men and women.Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is the most powerful hormone in the human body and it controls the aging process.Our HGH production declines as we get older, leading to many of the problems associated with aging. HGH has been heavily researched over the past few decades, and there have been over 20 cinical studies performed on it. Here are the primary observations from the HGH Clinical Studies:
May Increase Your HGH Levels!
Mucuna (Mucuna Pruriens), also known as velvet bean and cowitch, is an herb used as a minor food crop and medicinal bean in India, West Africa, and Central America. It is indigenous to India and is a popular medicinal in that region. It is widespread over most of the subcontinent and can be found in bushes, hedges and dry-deciduous.Mucuna can be a very beneficial supplement for bodybuilders. It is high in the amino acid L-Dopa which helps maintain healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
Another benefit of Mucuna, is that it may increase the production of HGH (Human Growth Hormone). An increase in HGH levels can increase the body's ability to build lean muscle and break down fat.
Mucuna has also been shown to have diuretic effects. It increases tissue resiliency and improves coordination. Mucuna can also increase testosterone levels, which in turn can lead to increased muscle mass and strength.
Brief Benefits
Strengthened immune system.Increased lean muscle mass.
Improved mood and sense of well being.
Enhanced libido sexual performance.
Increased energy levels.
Improved skin texture appearance.
Decreased bodyfat and cellulite.
Regeneration and healing of organs.
Infusion of the pods is a good remedy for dropsy.
The seeds are used in leucorrhoea, menorrhagia, spermatorrhoea, Parkinson's and as an aphrodisiac. They are one of the best tonics and used as powder to improve vitality.
Root is used as a remedy in facial paralysis and nervous disorders. Decoction of the roots purifies the blood, cures rheumatism, asthma, cough, stone in the bladder and improves vitality. it is also used for fevers, edema, and elephantiasis.
Leaf paste is applied to ulcers.
This herb is being investigated as a possible remedy for AIDS.
Mucuna Pruriens:Biological Activities and Clinical Research.
Velvet bean has demonstrated little toxicity; however, it has been documented in animal studies to cause birth defects and should not be used during pregnancy. Traditionally, velvet bean has been used as a nerve tonic for nervous system disorders. Due to the high concentration of L-dopa in the seeds, it has been studied for its possible use in Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a common age-related neurodegenerative disorder affecting more than four million people worldwide. It is associated with progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in specific areas in the brain. Dopamine does not cross the blood-brain barrier and therefore cannot be used directly as a treatment. However, L-dopa (levodopa) does gain access to the brain-where it is converted to dopamine. There are two controversies surrounding side-effects of the current pharmaceutical supplementation of L-dopa.Over the long term, supplemented L-dopa appears to lose its effectiveness. A second area of controversy questions whether L-dopa is toxic to dopamine neurons; there is little evidence, though, to support this statement.
Velvet bean is now being considered as an alternative to the pharmaceutical medication levodopa. In one case study it was given to a Parkinson's patient for 12 years instead of the pharmaceutical L-dopa medication. It was found to slow the progression of Parkinson's symptoms (such as tremors, rigidity, slurring, drooling, and balance), and to have none of the side-effects of the current pharmaceutical L-dopa. Numerous in vivo studies also have been conducted in rats and humans. In one human study, the bean powder was given to 60 patients (26 previously treated with L-dopa and 34 had never taken L-dopa). There were statistically significant reductions of Parkinson's symptoms in all study subjects. In addition, a (2002) U.S. patent was awarded on Velvet bean citing its use "for the treatment of disorders of the nervous system, including Parkinson's disease."
Several in vivo studies have been conducted on the blood-sugar-lowering effect of Velvet bean. These studies all validate the traditional use of the plant for diabetes. An ethanol-water extract of the root, fruit, and seed dropped blood sugar levels in rats by more than 30%. At 200 mg an ethanol extract produced a 40% fall in blood glucose within one month, and a 51% reduction at four months. In other studies a decoction of the leaf reduced total cholesterol in rats; the seed had the same effect.
The root, fruit, leaf, and seed has shown significant in vivo antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and fever reducing activities in various clinical research with animals. Traditionally the seed has been used by indigenous peoples throughout the world for snakebite and several in vivo studies validate this traditional use. In rats, a water extract of the seed inhibited venom-induced blood and coagulation alterations, and reduced lethality of the venom. The antivenin effect of velvet bean is thought to be due to an immune mechanism, as proteins in the seed were documented to raise antibodies against the venom.
Velvet bean has a long history of traditional use in Brazil and India as an aphrodisiac. Clinical studies in India have validated that the plant does indeed have aphrodisiac activity. It also has reported with anabolic and growth hormone stimulant properties. The anabolic effect of the seed is due to its ability to increase testosterone. In 2002, a U.S. patent was filed on the use of velvet bean to stimulate the release of growth hormone in humans. Research cited in the patent indicated that the high levels of L-dopa in mucuna seed were converted to dopamine which stimulated the release of growth hormone by the pituitary gland. L-dopa and dopamine are also effective inhibitors of prolactin. Prolactin is a hormone released by the pituitary gland; increased levels are considered to cause erection failure in males. In one study, oral intake of the seeds in 56 human males was able to improve erection, duration of coitus, and post-coital satisfaction after only four weeks of treatment. The seed also has documented fertility promoting and sperm producing effects in human males (being able to improve sperm count and motility).
Monoterpene Alkaloid Isolated From Mucuna Pruriens.
Materials and Methods Plant material:1. Sampling: Before evaluation of Mucuna pruriens, a sample was drawn for analysis. Considerable care was exercised to ensure that this sample was truly representative. The fresh plant was collected from Sohana, near 8 Mohali in February 1999.
2. Preliminary examination: Macroscopic and quantitative microscopic examination (lycopodium score method) for foreign matter was carried out and it was removed.
3. Extraction: The drug was dried in shade and was pulverized using Waring blender. The drug was passed through various sieves to ensure uniformity of the powder. The powdered drug (100g) was subjected to extraction with 200 ml of carbon disulfide. The carbon disulfide extract of leave and stem of Mucuna prureins was subjected to sterilization using filtration process. (The analytical specifications of the extract are attached in sheet number:1).
4. Detection of Alkaloid: The carbon disulfide extract was further extracted with water: chloroform mixture. The extract was made solvent free, treated with dilute hydrochloric acid and filtered. The filtrate was tested with alkaloidal reagents and it gave orange brown precipitate with Drangendroff's reagent and cream precipitate with Mayer's reagent.
5. Extraction of alkaloid: Moistened carbon disulfide extract was treated with alkali and free from the residues by treating with methyl alcohol and further deffated with petroleum ether. The, the drug was then extracted with ethyl acetate. This treatment freed the plant the pigments, sugars and other secondary constituents. The methyl alcoholic solution was evaporated to thick syrup and subjected to partition between aqueous acid solution and organic solvent.
After continued extraction with solvent for some time, aqueous phase was made alkaline with ammonia. Basic aqueous solution was extracted with solvent followed by drying of alkaloid containing solution normally with sodium sulfate. Then filtration was carried out, which was further subjected to evaporation to yield the alkaloidal principle.
6. High performance liquid chromatography of alkaloid: HPLC was done to obtain finger print analysis of the alkaloid. The chromatographic studies resulted in a single peak at 257 nm confirming the presence of alkaloidal principle.
Conclusions: Alkaloids are known to exist in seeds of Mucuna pruriens. Tryptamine alkaloids like mucanine, mucananine and pruridine are reported to be present in Mucuna pruriens. However this is for the first time that presence of alkaloidal principles has been detected in leaves and stem of the plant. The further investigations in determination of the nature of alkaloids must be undertaken.
Beans,roots and leaves:a brief history of the pharmacological therapy of parkinsonism.
It is not clear whether parkinsonism as it is now defined - a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the basal ganglia characterized by sharply reduced striatal dopamine levels - has always affected a significant minority of aged persons, but suggestive evidence to this effect is reviewed. THe major discussion commences, however, with the administration of various plant alkaloids to parkinsonism patients in the second half of the 19th century.Antiparkinsonian therapy since this time can be divided into a number of phases:
1. Employment of alkaloids derived from solanaceous plants: initially hyoscyamine, then hyoscien/scopolamine.
2. With the outbreak of encephalitis lethargica during the First World War, parkinsonian patient numbers increased dramatically, leading to a multiplicity of new directions, including high dose atropine and harmala alkaloid therapies.
3. The "Bulgarian treatment",popularized in western Europe in the mid-1930s, was also a belladona alkaloid-based therapy, but associated with greater efficacy and few side effects. This approach, whether as actual plant extracts or as defined combinations of belladona alkaloids, remained internationally dominant until the end of the 1940s.
4. Following the Second World War, synthetic antiparkinsonism agents were developed with the aim of overcoming the deficiencies of belladonna alkaloid therapy. These agents fell into two major classes: synthetic anticholinergic agents, such as benzhexol, and antihistaminergic drugs,including diphenhydramine.
5. A complete change in direction was heralded by the discovery in 1960 of the striatal dopamine deficit in parkinsonism. This led to the introduction of L-DOPA therapy, the first approach directed against an identified physiological abnormality in the disorder.
6. Subsequent developments have thus far refined of supplemented the L-DOPA effect. Recent attempts to develop neuroprotective or -restorative approaches are also briefly discussed.The history of antiparkinsonian therapy illustrates the fact that the nature of experimental clinical pharmacology has markedly changed during the 20th century: No longer the preserve of individual physicians, it is now based firmly on fundamental laboratory research, the clinical relevance of which is not always immediately apparent, and which is only later examined in clinical trials. It is nonetheless concluded that antiparkinsonian therapy was never 'irrational', but has always been necessarily rooted in current knowledge regarding neural and muscular function.
The achievements of L-DOPA therapy, the first successful pharmacological treatment for a neurodegenerative disorder, derived from the fruitful union of hte skills and contributions of different types by laboratory scientists, pharmacologists and clinicians.
L-DOPA:Discovery,Identification and Safety.
Discovery of L-DOPA.
The Windsor bean is one of the many varieties of the fava bean (Vicia faba Linnaeus). As a favorite dish, this bean was cultivated in the garden of Fritz Hoffmann, owner of Hoffmann-La Roche Limited. In 1913 a Roche biochemist, Marcus Guggenheim analyzed Windsor beans from Hoffmann's garden. He isolated dihydroxyphenylalanine or dopa. The amino acid was thought biologically inert and little attention was paid to the discovery. ("Therapy for Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease", Irena Rektorova, MD, European Parkinson's Disease Association, 2002)Almost a century earlier, James Parkinson published an article concerning his observations of three patients suffering from palsy. Parkinson was the first to carefully describe the symptoms of the men, all over age 50. His 1817 An Essay on the Shaking Palsy was so astute that today the disorder carries his name, Parkinson's disease. ("The Story of Shaking Palsy", History of PD, Mayo Clinic)
D-dopa and L-dopa:
Dopa has two forms: dextrorotary or D-dopa and levorotary or L-dopa. The molecules are stereoisomers or mirror-images of each other. In 1938, animal and human studies found an enzyme that converted L-dopa into dopamine. But it would not be discovered until 1960 that people with Parkinson's disease had severe dopamine deficits.