"Treating Parkinson’s Disease with Fava Beans (Faba or Broad Beans)"
Increased risk of Parkinson’s disease has been associated
with exposure to pesticides, consumption of dairy products,
a history of melanoma, and traumatic brain injury.
Why is the risk of Parkinson’s disease increased among
individuals with high milk and dairy consumption?
It could be the animal fat. Maybe the animal protein.
So why not a plant-food diet for the risk
and management of Parkinson’s Disease?
There are phytochemicals that may target the underlying cause,
but in terms of treatment, ancient sacred texts from
thousands of years ago refer to trembling individuals who were
prescribed a plant from the bean family to treat the condition.
In my last video I talked about the use of velvet beans,
but in 1913 the miracle drug L-dopa was discovered for the first time,
in faba beans, also known as fava beans or broad beans,
as a natural source of L-dopa to consider.
The amount varies considerably based on a number of factors,
but typically it looks like they have about 10 times less
than velvet beans, but that’s okay since you can eat larger quantities
since fava beans are an actual food instead of a powdered supplement.
The important thing is that amount of L-dopa in fava beans
is enough to be pharmacologically active in Parkinson’s disease.
In fact, there are some reports indicating that Parkinson’s patients
might respond better to the beans
than to standard L-dopa preparations in pill form.
But anecdotal reports that patients may gain benefit
from a broad bean rich diet don’t cut it.
What you have to do...
is put it to the test.
Parkinson’s patients were fed about one and a third cups
of cooked fava beans, and during the next four hours
a substantial clinical improvement was noted.
In fact similar to the improvement seen after receiving
the standard pharmacological combination of L-dopa plus carbidopa,
the decarboxylase inhibitor drug I talked about in the last video
that boosts L-dopa levels in the brain.
No surprise that there was a similar effect
since they had very similar L-dopa levels in the blood.
In fact, half the time you could hardly tell the beans from the drugs.
How could there be the same levels
if the bean L-dopa lacked the carbidopa booster drug.
Because fava beans may not only be a natural source of L-dopa,
but a natural source of the carbidopa booster too.
So the consumption of fava beans has the potential
to increase the levels of L-dopa and carbidopa in the blood,
with a marked improvement in the muscle movement performance
of the patients with Parkinson disease, without any side effects.
In fact they work so well you have to be careful
about abruptly stopping them.
There’s a condition called neuroleptic malignant-like syndrome
characterized by fever, rigidity, all sorts of neurological problems,
muscle breakdown, altered levels of consciousness,
which is usually precipitated by an abrupt withdrawal
of the L-dopa drug, caused by an acute dopamine-deﬁcient state.
Well, you can see the same thing if you’re treating
your Parkinson’s with fava beans
and then all of a sudden you stop them.
Ten days before hospital admission, this poor guy’s garden
ran out of beans, leading to a severe crippling rigidity.
This case demonstrates that alternative therapies
carry similar risks to traditional agents,
because in this case they really are the ultimate traditional agent.
There are some downsides you don’t see with the drug, though.
Like fava-induced flatulence.
You also have to be careful with fava consumption if you’re on
MAO inhibitor drugs often used as anti-depressants,
since there can be drug interactions.
And then there's the risk of a condition known as favism.
There's a genetic mutation that occurs in about 1 in 20 people,
and at even higher rates in those of African,
Asian, and Mediterranean descent,
in which people lack an enzyme that’s necessary to detoxify
certain compounds found in fava beans,
and without the enzyme fava bean consumption
can cause your red blood cells to rupture.
Thankfully, genetic testing for this mutation is widely available
and affordable, and so it seems prudent to screen patients
with Parkinson’s for this favism,
what's called G6PD deﬁciency mutation,
prior to putting them on daily fava bean consumption.
If you want to give fava beans a try.
fresh green fava beans have significantly more L-dopa than dried,
so much so that dried fava beans
may not provide any clinical benefits.
Roasting and boiling removes some or even all of the L-dopa,
though other studies have found that about a half cup
of cooked favas contain approximately 250 mg.
Sprouted favas may have the most, increasing up until day 9,
by which time the indigestible flatulence sugars may be eliminated,
offering another advantage of fava bean sprouting.
But you don’t know if fava bean sprouts help...
until you put them to the test.
Researchers fed Parkinson’s patients a salad with about
a half cup of freshly chopped fava sprouts
and observed substantial clinical improvement.
Other beans, just like regular beans also naturally
have L-DOPA, though at lower amounts.
Soybeans have a bonus compound that may act as
an L-dopa boosting carbidopa compound.
What if you fed people soybeans
on top of their regular Parkinson’s meds?
Given people just one and a half spoonful’s worth of roasted soybeans
led to a significant improvement over the drugs alone
with significantly fewer involuntary movements hours later.
Until more information is available, Parkinson’s combo drugs
like Sinemet should remain the first-line therapy,
but adding beans to one’s diet may only help.