7. Safety and Toxicity
One large double blind study noted no significant adverse effects from 15-30g of Mucuna Pruriens powder over the course of 12-20 weeks aside from one patient suffering from vomiting, which was deemed unrelated to the bioactivity of Mucuna but rather its digestability and palatability.[19]
In rats, doses of 32mg/kg or above are associated with 'some adverse side effects' (hyperventilation, reduced spontaneous motor activity, spontaneous erections) that appeared 1 hour after ingestion transiently, and doses up to 100mg/kg are free from more significant side effects for up to 12 weeks (study termination).[27]
7.1. Case studies
There were once reports of psychosis associated with Mucuna Pruriens ingestion (bean form), in which 203 cases of acute psychosis were recorded over a 6 week period during famine in Mozambique.[51] This was thought to be due to women (of which constituted 85% of the affected) eating raw beans prior to sufficient preparation, and the results may have been a combination of protein deficiency paired with Levodopa, Bufotenin and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (all of which are constituents of Mucuna Pruriens). It is highly unlikely these results can be extrapolated to first world supplementation.
