99% ldopa products are not really 'mucuna'

Firstly, this isn't a negative post about ldopa supplements or mucuna. In fact, I have several containers of both.

There's a number of articles and studies online that are quite positive about mucuna as a prescription levodopa alternative. Here's one that was posted in a recent thread: healthunlocked.com/api/redi...

(Note: some of the conclusions in that paper are not universal across all the papers, notably the one re dyskinesia. But it provides decent background).

One of the key takeaways from everything I have read re mucuna is that mucuna seeds are only about 4 to 9% ldopa. Which means they are 91 to 96% other stuff, which the studies seem to speculate provide some benefit:

"In the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, some results in groups of patients and in experimental animals show that, apart from natural levodopa, Mucuna pruriens has other ingredients that show outstanding features. It must contain other substances that improve the absorption of levodopa and metabolic efficiency, as explained below.

To date, 50 substances have been identified in the powder of its seeds [2]. Other still unidentified components must exist in Mucuna, such as portions or mixtures of alkaloids, proteins, peptides, polysaccharides, glycosides, glycoproteins, and several phytochemicals including tryptamine, alanine, arginine, glutathione, isoquinolone, mucunine, nicotine, prurienine, serotonin, tyrosine, etc.,"

The point here is that if you are using a 99% ldopa product (the one I have and is regularly mentioned here is the one from nutravitashop.com), you are not getting any of these other substances that are speculated to provide some benefit.

I haven't yet read a study where the mucuna used is a 99% ldopa extract.

In summary: if you are chasing the benefits of mucuna you may have read about, it is worth considering whether the product you are using or considering using accurately reflects the preparations used in the studies where those benefits were observed.

Again, I'm not negative about any of these products. If you are using 99 ldopa supplements with good results then I'm not suggesting you change that. I just think that, with mucuna threads here every couple of days, it is a worthwhile distinction.

[park_bear]

Well said. I would add that any Mucuna extract that concentrates levodopa, even if it falls way short of 99%, is removing most of the benefits of the rest of the Mucuna.

[Hidden in reply to park_bear]

Agreed. I think the Barlowe's powder is 40 per cent ldopa with the 60 percent being filler, so it is in the same bucket, as is basically any product where they have filtered off all of the other substances found in actual mucuna seeds.

[Cons10s in reply to Hidden]

I add 4-9% Mucuna to my smoothies with Moringa and have for years but not on a daily bases. Depends on my smoothie kick.

[WinnieThePoo]

Or put another way , if you have a 99% levadopa product you might just as well have levadopa made in a lab, because it is absolutely identical

[Hidden in reply to WinnieThePoo]

Agreed. I was just wary of travelling down that path for fear of starting an argument about 'natural' versus meds. I don't see how anyone can think a finely processed white powder at 99% ldopa is a 'natural' product (when it's parent seed was more like 7% ldopa) but some seem to think it is and if that helps them with it, then fine.

[Cons10s in reply to WinnieThePoo]

It can’t be identical as proven when I purchased the LFA machine and attempted to make my own tablets. A 1/4 teaspoon of Powder made tablets the size of a B1, and that was before the binder and of course carbidopa. The tablet would be huge.

[WinnieThePoo in reply to Cons10s]

Levadopa is C9H11NO4

Wherever it comes from.

Chances are the pots claiming to be 99% aren't really.

But the levadopa identified in Mucuna is C9H11NO4 just like the stuff in sinemet.

[Cons10s in reply to WinnieThePoo]

It most have a potency enhancer or Siniment tablets would be huge.

[rescuema]

Good to witness you actually evolving on this forum. Now you're taking B1 along with other supplements and Mucuna. 👍

[Hidden in reply to rescuema]

Your perception of me may be evolving, but I have owned all of these products (various bottles of mucuna, the ldopa, the B1) for some time (years). I dont take any of them at the moment. There are some other pretty boring ones i do take (fish oil is an example).

I'd be interested in a mucuna product that mimicked the seed (with anything poisonous removed) but there don't seem to be loads of them around. I think it would be impractical long term (low ldopa concentration would meab big doses) but would be curious about the therapeutic impact of the 'other stuff'.

[rescuema in reply to Hidden]

Well actively supplementing or not, at least you're exercising like hell now which is also great, because you weren't such a fan not too long ago. BTW, I wouldn't be dismissive of products such as Barlowe's. It's good to see that you've read the link I've posted, but part of the problem going with 4-9% straight mucuna is that it gets very taxing and cumbersome to consume all that amount of seed powder several times a day, and the amount of l-dopa can vary substantially by batch. I'm not a fan of 99% purity but some of the concentrated forms do allow for ease of daily consumption for the needed l-dopa in a controlled amount. Many macuna studies actually used concentrated pharmacologically processed MP extracts, not the au naturel seed powders. Part of the difference and benefits of MP trials was also the fact that dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor such as carbidopa wasn't part of the MP equation.

[Hidden in reply to rescuema]

Understood re the mucuna.

I have never opposed vigorous exercise and have argued several times in its favour. I take issue with several things that John Pepper has said (much of what he says, actually) but that is not because I am anti-exercise (though that is john's standard accusation for anyone that questions his claims). For another thread.

[Cons10s]

I do have the Mucuna Seed Powder and add it to smoothies, although I stopped making smoothies in June because of a diet. I was just looking at it the other day thinking I needed to add it back in to my regimen along with Bacopa which has some positive effects on movement from what I read.

[jocelyng]

So, what product do you recommend? The NutraVita product that was recommended to me says 100% and Amazon has a dozen varieties of capsules (which I would much prefer). I want to give this a try, but it’s very confusing. FWIW, I don’t take C/L now.

[CaseyInsights in reply to jocelyng]

Try this: DopaBoost

Detail info here: Patient Education and Clinical Research

shop.designsforhealth.com/d...

Purchase here - Amazon

amazon.com/Designs-Health-D...

No fiddling with dosage 🌺

[jocelyng in reply to CaseyInsights]

Thanks. Do you take this?

[CaseyInsights in reply to jocelyng]

No I don’t at this point. I used it for 3 months, when as a retiree I took up a short term assignment. Half the recommended dose.

But my spouse - PWP - has used it for over a year and a half. She refuses to fill her neurologist prescription for Sinemet.

She says DopaBoost just works better ✨✌🏾✨

[jocelyng in reply to CaseyInsights]

Nice! Two at once or am/pm? With food or empty stomach?

[CaseyInsights in reply to jocelyng]

It is a Manuca/Levodopa product. With this product you take before or after meals.

One bit of advice though.

If you wish to take matters into your own hand, you will need to do your research.

If you are not so inclined I would suggest you stick to the advice given you by your neurologist 🤗

[jocelyng in reply to CaseyInsights]

Thanks. He doesn’t recommend it but he doesn’t recommend anything non-pharmaceutical.

[Somic67]

Well said.