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ABSTRACT

The global population is increasing at an alarming rate. Due to the increasing population, there is pressure on present agriculture to produce more food for the needs of human beings. The under-utilized legumes are the alternate source over the conventional legumes to meet the demand for food. Mucuna pruriens is one such underutilized tropical legume medicinal plant to have a rich nutritional value and also antinutrient factors that were hindering its utilization as food. So, the antinutrient factors should be eliminated or reduced by common processing methods by cooking and autoclaving. Velvet bean is widely used in the preparation of drugs that contain L-Dopa the major pharmaceutical compound that was extracted from the seed of velvet bean and used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Velvet bean seeds are a rich source of protein, fat, and carbohydrates and potassium. Other minerals such as Ca, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu are also predominantly found in its seed.

Keywords: Velvet bean, protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals, phenols, tannins, and L-Dopa 

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5. Velvet bean [Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC]_its nutritional, antinutritional composition, and medicinal properties (30-36)_compressed.pdf