Mucuna Pruriens or velvet beans are called ‘kaunchbeej’ in hindi. Mucuna Pruriens is a plant from India, the Caribbean or Africa. It is a climbing shrub that has the ability to grow white, lavender, or purple flowers. It belongs to the family of legumes, thus has caloric content and also a good source of protein.
Components of kaunchbeej
Kaunchbeej contains L-DOPA, or Levodopa, the precursor to dopamine and seen as the main constituent of kaunchbeej. The three catecholamines are also present in Mucuna. It also contains serotonin and its precursor 5-HTP. It also contains a great amount of phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidants, which play a role in releasing oxidative stress.
Dopamine is commonly known as the ‘feel-good hormone’ and dopamine deficiency can cause depression.
How does Kaunchbeej or velvet beans help us with stress and depression?
- Regulates your stress levels and mood enhancer
Velvet beans can help with stress and depression. Dopamine and serotonin from kaunchbeej can help manage your mood swings. In study, dopamine-boosting action of Mucuna pruriens extract improved mood and symptoms of depression in mice. It also reduced their stress levels, showing all the desired characteristics of a good antidepressant.
Velvet beans lower your body’s cortisol (the stress hormone) levels. Altered heart rate, blood pressure, headaches result from stress. Therefore, the bean may control your anxiety. - Better Sleep
Kaunchbeej can improve sleep. In a study of 18 people, a combination of Mucuna pruriens with another tropical herb (Chlorophytum borivilianum) improved sleep quality by 50% after about 4 weeks. - Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a degenerative disease that affects the nervous system. It is caused by deficiency of dopamine. As kaunchbeej is a good source of L-Dopa, it can help enhance levels of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease. Studies have found that Mucuna Pruriens (1500mg Levodopa equivalent) was found to improve symptoms of Parkinson’s over a period of 12 weeks. Kaunchbeej seems to be a promising natural ingredient for Parkinson’s disease.Apart from helping mood, cognition and sleep, kaunchbeej is also found to be effective in improving sperm concentration and quality and increase in testosterone in infertile men. Kaunchbeej has been found to improve sperm quality including motility, concentration and count. In one trial, kaunchbeej seed powder reduced psychological stress and cortisol levels in 60 infertile men after 3 months. Therefore, kaunchbeej can also regulate stress levels related to fertility.
Summary
Mucuna is a medicinally and biochemically valuable plant used from ancient days. It has large number of bioactive compounds. The content of phytochemical compounds and other bioactive agents present in Mucuna fluctuates from species to species. The main constituent L-Dopa and serotonin helps regulates stress levels, stabilise mood and improve sleep quality.
Good Nutrition Calm & Balanced Relax Shot is a unique combination of herbal extracts from traditional Indian herbs including the goodness of Kaunchbeej along with Jatamansi, Jatiphala, Safed Musli, Vacha and Sarpagandha. This exceptional blend relaxes your mind, calms your nerves, reduces stress, improves your quality and quantity of sleep and helps in overall rejuvenation, while minimising the feeling of fatigue.
