Androgenic and Anabolic Possibilities of Mucuna Pruriens

Renata Leite Tavares^{1, 2}, Maria da Conceição Rodrigues Gonçalves^{1, 2}, Jailane de Souza Aquino^{1, 2}, Raquel Suelen Brito da Silva^{3, 4} and Alexandre Sérgio Silva^{3, 4,}

¹Department of Nutrition, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil

²Nutritional Sciences, João Pessoa, Brazil

³Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil

⁴Physical Education, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil

Cite this paper:
Renata Leite Tavares, Maria da Conceição Rodrigues Gonçalves, Jailane de Souza Aquino, Raquel Suelen Brito da Silva and Alexandre Sérgio Silva. Androgenic and Anabolic Possibilities of Mucuna Pruriens. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2017; 5(12):925-927. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-5-12-7

Abstract

Mucuna pruriens is an Indian legume composed by high amounts of proteins and carbohydrates and small concentration of lipids. It has been used ethnopharmacologically as hipoglicemic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, hypolipidemic and mainly to Parkinson Disease treatment. Since Mucuna pruriens improves spermatogenesis, testis weight and increased the production of testosterone in rats, it has been assumed that mucuna has anabolic potential for muscle hypertrophy, so it has been commercially exploited as an ergogenic aid. This mini-review shows, in addition to promoting increased testosterone, increase in epididymal protein, thus confirming that its extracts may have influence on androgenic aspect. Despite this, it is necessary to confirm these findings in humans, since the studies analyzed were made only in animal model.

Keywords:
legume anabolism hypertrophy strength exercise

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