Mucuna pruriens, commonly known as velvet bean, contains L-Dopa. Mucuna has been used for generations in India to treat Parkinson's disease. L-dopa is used to make dopamine, an important brain chemical involved in mood, sexuality, and movement. Studies in rats show mucuna pruriens supplements influence dopamine content in the cortex of the brain. Mucuna pruriens has antioxidant properties.
Parkinson's disease has a low prevalence in India except in the small Parsi community. Parkinson's disease has been known in India since ancient days and the powder of Mucuna Pruriens seeds has been used for its treatment.

Composition of Mucuna Pruriens
Nutritional analysis reveals mucuna pruriens contains crude protein ranged from 20-29 %, crude lipid 6-7%, total dietary fibre 8-10%, ash 3% and carbohydrates 50-60%.

Mucuna Pruriens and neurotransmitters
It is widely believed that mucuna pruriens influences the dopamine system, however there may be other factors involved. A study was designed to elucidate the long-term effect of Mucuna pruriens on neurotransmitters in various regions of the rat brain. Mucuna Pruriens was mixed with rat chow and fed daily ad lib to rats for 52 weeks. Controls received no mucuna pruriens. The rats were sacrificed at the end of 52 weeks and the neurotransmitters were analyzed in the cortex, hippocampus, substantia nigra and striatum. Oral administration of mucuna pruriens had a significant effect on dopamine content in the cortex with no significant effect on levodopa, norepinephrine or dopamine, serotonin, and their metabolites. The failure of Mucuna pruriens endocarp to significantly affect dopamine metabolism in the striatonigral tract along with its ability to improve Parkinsonian symptoms in the 6-hydorxydopamine animal model and humans may suggest that its anti-Parkinson effect may be due to components other than levodopa or that it has a levodopa enhancing effect