Rick, what problem are your having?? I wonder if Zandopa involves heating the velvet beans.....

Might be relevant:

English Title: Heating raw velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens) reverses some anti-nutritional effects on organ growth, blood chemistry, and organ histology in growing chickens.
Personal Authors: Carew, L. B., Hardy, D., Weis, J., Alster, F., Mischler, S. A., Gernat, A., Zakrzewska, E. I.


Abstract:

Velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens) represent an interesting food and feed commodity because of the presence of harmful, but also potentially beneficial components that have been poorly studied. We developed a joint research project between the University of Vermont in the USA and the Escuela Agricola Panamericana (Zamorano) in Honduras to study the role of velvet beans (VB) in chicken nutrition and to determine methods for improving their usefulness and safety.

The results of these studies, using the chicken as a research model, have application to all monogastric animals including humans with whom such research cannot be done. The two experiments described herein measured the effects of raw VB on the anatomy and blood chemistry of the chick, and the role that heating the velvet beans has on reversing any harmful effects inherent in the beans themselves.

Consumption of unprocessed, raw velvet beans by broiler chickens reduced body weight gain. Weights (relative to body weight) of the pancreas, gizzard, and proventriculus (stomach), as well as lengths of the small and large intestines, and ceca, increased in birds fed raw VB.

Most of these changes were partially or wholly reversed by dry heating (i.e. toasting) the beans. It is likely that the effects of heating reflect, to some degree, partial destruction of anti-nutritional factors. Effects of VB on liver and heart weights were inconclusive. Significant changes were also found in blood components.

Plasma creatinine was reduced to a similar degree in chicks fed both raw and heated VB, and most likely reflects changes in muscle mass or metabolism concurrent with feeding either form of VB. Plasma cholesterol levels were also consistently reduced in chicks fed raw VB compared to their pair-fed controls. These findings agree with our previous results and work done by others in a rat model. However, heating VB caused an even further reduction in plasma cholesterol. This may indicate the presence of a cholesterol-lowering substance in VB.

Some anti-nutritional factors in VB may be heat-resistant and may explain such effects, although the effect of dietary fiber cannot be ruled out.

Alanine aminotransferase was elevated in chicks fed both raw and heated VB compared to their pair-fed controls, and this is often an indication of liver damage. Intake of raw VB had inconsistent effects on plasma thyroxine and triiodothyronine, and little effect on the plasma content of sodium, glucose and alkaline phosphatase.

The microanatomy of the pancreas, liver, small intestine and kidney was altered in chickens fed raw VB. Increases in pancreatic necrosis, hepatic cellular degeneration and thinning of the mucosal muscular layer of the small intestine appeared to be at least partially a consequence of the reduced growth rate, as shown by pair feeding comparisons, and not to the VB themselves.

However, kidney damage, as shown by invasion of blood into the renal tubules, was directly a result of feeding raw VB. Heating VB partially reversed this effect.

Heating VB also partially reversed the thinning of the intestinal musculature. It is concluded that the many anti-nutritional factors in VB affect diverse parameters in growing chickens. Such anti-nutritional/toxic effects of raw VB may have similar effects on other monogastric species, including humans. Heating VB can reduce some of these deleterious effects, and our results suggest that heating can be an important adjunct to other processing methods to improve the nutritional value of VB. For greater accuracy, however, standardized methods of processing and analyzing VB must be developed to reduce observed variability.

Publisher: Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan

\http://www.cababstractsplus.org/goog...No=20043167771