For Kids
Mucuna puriens is an ornamental creeper up to fifteen meters long with distinctive purple flowers, which has been used in folk medicine since the Middle Ages. In traditional Indian medicine, it is then literally a treasure – even aphrodisiac effects are attributed to this powerful herb. The most powerful part of the flower are its velvet beans, which could almost be said to be the mythical golden beans of Ayurveda.
These velvet beans are not just miracles of Ayurveda – they contain a very active substance called L-DOPA, which is a precursor of dopamine, to which it is converted by the enzyme dopapecarboxylase. This substance has been used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease since the second half of the last century. Unfortunately, the EU Commission regulation does not allow us to mention this property as a health claim.
Mucuna puriens je az patnact metru dlouha okrasna liana s vyraznymi purpurovymi kvety, ktera se v lidovem lecitelstvi vyuzivala uz od stredoveku. V tradicni indicke medicine je to potom doslova poklad – dokonce jsou teto mocne bylince prisuzovany afrodiziakalni ucinky. Nejmocnejsi casti kvetiny jsou potom jeji sametove fazolky, o kterych by se dalo takrka rict, ze jsou bajnymi zlatymi fazolkami ajurvedy.
Tyto sametove fazolky nepatri mezi zazraky ajurvedy jen tak – obsahuje totiz velice ucinnou latku jmenem L-DOPA, ktera je prekurzorem dopaminu, na ktery je konvertovana pomoci enzymu dopa-dekarboxylazy. Tato latka se jiz od druhe poloviny minuleho stoleti vyuziva pri lecbe Parkinsonovy choroby. Bohuzel nam narizeni komise EU neumoznuje, uvest tuto vlastnost jako zdravotni tvrzeni.
