Lupin poisoning
Encyclopedia
Lupin poisoning affects people that eat incorrectly prepared lupin beans.
Mediterranean cultures prefer the historic bitter lupin beans with the required toxin-removal by traditional leaching in water preparation methods due to the better flavour that results. Improper preparation of bitter lupin
i with insufficient soak
ing allows pharmacologically significant amounts of the anticholinergic
alkaloid
s to remain in the bean
s, and poisoning symptoms result.
While the alkaloids found in raw and dried beans are bitter and unpalatable to many, with merely insufficient soaking the level is reduced. Some people like bitter herbs and may mistakenly prepare and eat lupini without enough soaking if they haven't learned of its unique preparation requirements. There are several references in medical literature to poisoning caused by errors in lupini preparation. Dry lupini beans are rarely sold with instructions.
The Italian tradition is to soak the beans for a week or two in a pillowcase or fabric bag in a stream.
s, confusion, slowed thought and disorientation, flushed face and/or fever
, high heart rate
and blood pressure
, tremor
s, difficulty with or slurred speech, un-coordination, dizziness, burning dry mouth, stomach
pain, and anxiety
or "malaise".
Some of the symptoms are described in Biodiversity Canada's Lupin Bean listing:
Many human symptoms are described in the Australian government's evaluation of lupin food and livestock fodder export safety standards in the medical literature review section:
Current media describes the symptoms when referring to recent Australian Medical Journal reports of poisoning from overly bitter lupin flour used in foods reported in the media.
Lupin bean poisoning is uncommon enough that poison control responders may not suspect it in Canada and the US. It is important to store dry lupini beans in their original container so that the label is present in case it must be identified if someone becomes ill from eating poorly prepared beans. The poisoned person may not remember what they ate during poisoning episode, and the bean preparation is long enough that confusion may result from the time lag alone.
White lupin beans closely resemble fava and lima bean
s and may be confused with a new variety of these by people who are not from the cultures familiar with traditional lupini preparation methods that ensure safety and minimize bitterness. Given increased public interest in multicultural ingredients, Mediterranean diet
s and legume eating for health (in a world where most legumes are safe to eat cooked as a major source of dietary protein without special preparation), a requirement for preparation instructions on lupin bean packaging at the retail level might be a good public health idea and avert accidental poisonings.
Lupins are very attractive flowering plants, and are often referred to as ornamental plants causing human poisoning in the legume family.
Mediterranean cultures prefer the historic bitter lupin beans with the required toxin-removal by traditional leaching in water preparation methods due to the better flavour that results. Improper preparation of bitter lupin
Lupin
Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines , is a genus in the legume family . The genus comprises about 280 species , with major centers of diversity in South and western North America , and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins...
i with insufficient soak
Soak
Soak can refer to:* Soakage, a source of water in Australian deserts* Soak testing, a method of system testing in computing and electronics...
ing allows pharmacologically significant amounts of the anticholinergic
Anticholinergic
An anticholinergic agent is a substance that blocks the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the central and the peripheral nervous system. An example of an anticholinergic is dicycloverine, and the classic example is atropine....
alkaloid
Alkaloid
Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
s to remain in the bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, and poisoning symptoms result.
While the alkaloids found in raw and dried beans are bitter and unpalatable to many, with merely insufficient soaking the level is reduced. Some people like bitter herbs and may mistakenly prepare and eat lupini without enough soaking if they haven't learned of its unique preparation requirements. There are several references in medical literature to poisoning caused by errors in lupini preparation. Dry lupini beans are rarely sold with instructions.
Safe preparation
Safe preparation involves the following steps:- Soaking the bean overnight in four parts water to one part beans.
- Draining, boiling in the same ratio of water to beans with salt for two hours.
- Draining the beans and putting them in a bucket in an unused shower or laundry sink under a quickly running cold tap for seven to fourteen days until the bitter taste is gone from the beans and they are enjoyable to eat.
- Boiling the beans with salt for two hours until the bean is no longer crunchy.
- PicklingPicklingPickling, also known as brining or corning is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation in brine to produce lactic acid, or marinating and storing it in an acid solution, usually vinegar . The resulting food is called a pickle. This procedure gives the food a salty or sour taste...
the beans in salt and vinegarVinegarVinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
and water brineBrineBrine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
, and keeping them refrigerated if proper canning hygiene is not followed.
The Italian tradition is to soak the beans for a week or two in a pillowcase or fabric bag in a stream.
Lupin alkaloid poisoning symptoms
Symptoms of lupin bean poisoning (from excess alkaloid in cooked food) include dilated unresponsive pupilPupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...
s, confusion, slowed thought and disorientation, flushed face and/or fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
, high heart rate
Heart rate
Heart rate is the number of heartbeats per unit of time, typically expressed as beats per minute . Heart rate can vary as the body's need to absorb oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide changes, such as during exercise or sleep....
and blood pressure
Blood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...
, tremor
Tremor
A tremor is an involuntary, somewhat rhythmic, muscle contraction and relaxation involving to-and-fro movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, eyes, face, head, vocal folds, trunk, and legs. Most tremors occur in the...
s, difficulty with or slurred speech, un-coordination, dizziness, burning dry mouth, stomach
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
pain, and anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
or "malaise".
Some of the symptoms are described in Biodiversity Canada's Lupin Bean listing:
Many human symptoms are described in the Australian government's evaluation of lupin food and livestock fodder export safety standards in the medical literature review section:
Current media describes the symptoms when referring to recent Australian Medical Journal reports of poisoning from overly bitter lupin flour used in foods reported in the media.
Lupin bean poisoning is uncommon enough that poison control responders may not suspect it in Canada and the US. It is important to store dry lupini beans in their original container so that the label is present in case it must be identified if someone becomes ill from eating poorly prepared beans. The poisoned person may not remember what they ate during poisoning episode, and the bean preparation is long enough that confusion may result from the time lag alone.
White lupin beans closely resemble fava and lima bean
Lima bean
Phaseolus lunatus is a legume. It is grown for its seed, which is eaten as a vegetable. It is commonly known as the lima bean or butter bean.-Origin and uses:...
s and may be confused with a new variety of these by people who are not from the cultures familiar with traditional lupini preparation methods that ensure safety and minimize bitterness. Given increased public interest in multicultural ingredients, Mediterranean diet
Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of southern Italy, Crete and much of the rest of Greece in the 1960s....
s and legume eating for health (in a world where most legumes are safe to eat cooked as a major source of dietary protein without special preparation), a requirement for preparation instructions on lupin bean packaging at the retail level might be a good public health idea and avert accidental poisonings.
Lupins are very attractive flowering plants, and are often referred to as ornamental plants causing human poisoning in the legume family.
Other toxic legumes
The following legumes are part of food and fodder crops in many parts of the world and are toxic even when cooked. There are no known methods of preventing these toxicities other than avoiding consumption of the offending legume.- Grass pea, also known as chickling vetch – cause of lathyrismLathyrismLathyrism or Neurolathyrism is a neurological disease of humans and domestic animals, caused by eating certain legumes of the genus Lathyrus...
paralysisParalysisParalysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
, and subject of Goya's painting Thanks to the Grass Pea, of starving and paralyzed peasants in the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. Grass pea is now beginning to be sold in west coast North American health food stores along with spelt/farro as an artisanally produced, trendy ancient proteinProteinProteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
source. Do not eat this as a major part of your diet. It resembles a tiny flattened chick pea a little larger than a lentilLentilThe lentil is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...
, and is a great source of protein and neurotoxinNeurotoxinA neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
. While the neurotoxic effects may not be obvious unless the pea is eaten as a large part of the diet for several months, it is not clear whether the effects are cumulative at lower consumption levels. - Fava beans – rarely toxic to people, especially males, of Cretan origin, susceptible to favism, a rare genetic form of fatal hemolytic anemiaHemolytic anemiaHemolytic anemia is a form of anemia due to hemolysis, the abnormal breakdown of red blood cells , either in the blood vessels or elsewhere in the human body . It has numerous possible causes, ranging from relatively harmless to life-threatening...
. - The castor bean – never sold for food as its protein is very toxic, but a source of castor oilCastor oilCastor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean . Castor oil is a colorless to very pale yellow liquid with mild or no odor or taste. Its boiling point is and its density is 961 kg/m3...
for industrial use.
See also
- AlkaloidAlkaloidAlkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...
s:- LupinineLupinineLupinine is a bitter tasting alkaloid present in Lupinus spp. of Leguminosae plants. The scientific literature contains specifications for isolation and for synthesis of this compound. The bitter taste of the lupinus beans renders them unsuitable for human and animal consumption. In the past,...
- SparteineSparteineSparteine is a class 1a antiarrhythmic agent; a sodium channel blocker. It is an alkaloid and can be extracted from scotch broom. It is the predominant alkaloid in Lupinus mutabilis, and is thought to chelate the bivalents calcium and magnesium...
- Lupinine
- AnticholinergicAnticholinergicAn anticholinergic agent is a substance that blocks the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the central and the peripheral nervous system. An example of an anticholinergic is dicycloverine, and the classic example is atropine....
- Lupin milk
- Sodium channel blockers
- Antiarrhythmic agents