GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Could your next prescription be a plate of beans?
That’s what researchers are trying to figure out with a new study, according to a recent article by the UF/IFAS.
More specifically, experts are investigating how to help victims of Parkinson’s disease manage tremors, a common symptom of the condition.
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Per the UF/IFAS, levodopa — a medication used to treat Parkinson’s — becomes dopamine in the brain to help manage proper muscle movement.
“The challenge is that the medication can be difficult to get in certain regions of the globe, so researchers began looking into plants that might produce the same compounds that can be grown worldwide,” the article reads.
As it turns out, the answer may lie with the invasive velvet bean.
WHAT’S A VELVET BEAN?
Velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens) is a legume that grows in many tropical areas of the world, including places like Africa, the Caribbean and parts of Asia.
According to experts, these beans are considered highly invasive in the Sunshine State — and within South Florida in particular.
While it’s not considered an outright threat to public health, officials with the ATTRA state that it can cause severe itching thanks to its stinging hairs.
That said, the velvet bean also contains L-DOPA, which is the primary active ingredient in levodopa.
HERE’S WHAT RESEARCHERS ARE DOING
“Velvet bean produces unusually high levels of L-DOPA compared to most other plants,” said Jeongim Kim, associate professor of horticultural sciences. “We want to understand how that compound is made and how its production is regulated.”
Now, the UF/IFAS has revealed that researchers are working on creating new cultivars of velvet beans with even more L-DOPA.
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By doing so, they may be able to better understand how these plants create the compound and how it can be used to potentially treat the Parkinson’s symptoms.
According to the report, one such collection of cultivars from Africa, Latin America, Europe and the U.S. is already being evaluated at the UF/IFAS Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!
Even aside from figuring out how genes affect L-DOPA production, the report notes that researchers are also working to make velvet beans more palatable to American consumers.
While velvet beans have those itchy, irritating hairs on the outside of their pods, plant breeding could fix that while keeping the L-DOPA levels intact.
Furthermore, Kim is looking into other options for producing L-DOPA.
“Because velvet beans aren’t widely consumed in the United States, the team is exploring whether the project’s insights could be used to boost the small amounts of naturally occurring L-DOPA in plants that people already eat, such as fava beans or soybeans, bringing them closer to what velvet beans can produce,” the report reads.
For more about the ongoing research, you can visit the University of Florida’s website here.