Table 1.

Study characteristics.

Author & year	Study type	Sample size (N)	Age (mean [SD])	Gender		PD duration (mean years)	Treatments	Dose	Outcomes	Efficacy findings	Safety findings
				Male (N)	Female (N)
An Alternative Medicine Treatment for Parkinson's Disease: Results of a Multicenter Clinical Trial. HP-200 in Parkinson's disease study group, 1995 [30]	Clinical trial	60	59 (9)	46	14	4.1	HP-200 containing 33.33 mg levodopa per gram	- LD naïve group patients averaged 5 ± 2 sachets/day - Carbidopa/levodopa-treated patients averaged 7 ± 3 sachets/day 1 sachet = 1.5 g M. pruriens	Efficacy Safety	Improvement in voluntary motor response, quality-of-life-related symptoms, disability symptoms. Any observed dyskinesia.	There was no observed dyskinesia in either levodopa (LD)-naïve patients or those previously treated with LD/carbidopa (LD/CD) after M. pruriens administration; however, nausea, vomiting, and insomnia were noted in both groups
Katzenschlager et al. 2004 [31]	Randomized clinical trial	9	62.2	4	5	12.4	Levodopa/carbidopa, 15 or 30 g M. pruriens	15 g M. pruriens (≈500 mg levodopa) 30 g M. pruriens (≈1000 mg levodopa) Compared with 200 mg levodopa/50 mg carbidopa (standard LD/CD)	Efficacy Pharmacokinetics	Improvement in voluntary motor response but similar for involuntary motor response, “full on stage” with prolonged duration and reduced time to reach, increase in AUC & Cmax, reduced Tmax but similar Tk, some AEs observed	One patient withdrew due to brief vomiting after consuming 30 g of M. pruriens. Among the patients who completed the trial, two experienced nausea following 30 g of M. pruriens treatment, and one reported dizziness after taking 15 g of M. pruriens
Cilia et al. 2017 [32]	Randomized clinical trial	18	61.8 (9.10)	13	5	9.8	Levodopa, M. pruriens, dopamine agonists, iMAO-B, iCOMT, amantadine, anticholinergics	Low-dose (M. pruriens-Ld): 12.5 mg/kg of levodopa from M. pruriens High-dose (M. pruriens-Hd): 17.5 mg/kg of levodopa from M. pruriens	Efficacy Safety	Improvement in voluntary motor response, involuntary motor response, and quality-of-life-related symptoms; reduction in therapy-related complications; no improved disability; AEs observed	Adverse events were compared across multiple treatments, with excessive daytime somnolence occurring significantly more often in the M. pruriens group compared to LD plus dopa-decarboxylase inhibitors (LD + DDCIs)
Cilia et al. 2018 [33]	Randomized clinical trial	14	61.1(10)	11	3	9.4	LD, M. pruriens	The mean levodopa dose from M. pruriens was 4144.7 mg/day, consistent with the 5.7% calculation	Efficacy Safety	Improvement of voluntary motor response in ITT and PP populations, improvement in quality-of-life-related symptoms, improvement in nonmotor response in PP population but not in ITT, similar score for disability scale, reduced time of on phase with troublesome, some AEs observed	There were reported symptoms such as revulsion, nausea, excessive daytime somnolence, dizziness, worsening of PD symptoms, psychiatric effects, and other prolonged events in patients continuing M. pruriens treatment; some patients discontinued the trial due to dizziness or other adverse effects
Sakata et al. 2024 [34]	Randomized clinical trial	7	66.1 (7.2)	2	5	11.2	LD/CD, M. pruriens	Each patient received a single dose of 100/10 mg LD/CD tablets, and 11 g of M. pruriens reagent contained 442.2 mg of levodopa	Efficacy	Improvement in voluntary motor response but similar score for involuntary motor response, “full on stage” with prolonged duration and reduced time to reach increase in AUC and C max, reduced Tmax

Note: N = number, LD = levodopa, LD/CD = levodopa/carbidopa, M. pruriens = Mucuna pruriens, HP-200 = an extract from Mucuna pruriens containing L-dopa, AUC = area under the plasma concentration curve, C_max = the peak plasma levodopa concentration, T_max = time to peak, T_k = apparent elimination half-time, ITT = intention-to-treat population, PP = per-protocol population, IMAO-B: monoamine oxidase-B inhibitors, iCOMT = catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor, LD + DDCI = levodopa with dopa-decarboxylase inhibitor.

Abbreviations: AEs = adverse events, PD = Parkinson's disease, SD = standard deviation.