Lupin consumption

The cultivation of lupin dates back several thousand years. It was grown for grazing, human consumption, medicinal purposes, and soil improvement by crop rotation ... 

Considering aU the physiological experience up to now, it was proposed that for human consumption lupin seed should not exceed an alkaloid content of 0.02 % [16]. 

Seed alkaloids concentration may fluctuate depending both on genotype and enviromnent and important variaticMis in alkaloid content between different lots of lupin can be unpredictable [15, 30]. This variability is a potential hindrance to the wider use of lupin for human consumption and a toxicological topic for cmisumers safety. 

Effects on human health reflecting neurological, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal symptoms can be observed either if lupin seeds are eaten unripe or not debittered. Symptoms of intoxication after ingestion of lupin seeds with high alkaloids content appear 1-14 h after consumption and include dry mouth, muscular weakness, disturbed balance, sweating, palpitation, blurred vision, mydriasis (i.e., dilated pupils), urine retention, gastric and intestinal troubles, and abtmdant ventricular extrasystoles [45]. 

A few poisoning cases have been reported in literature, all related to the consumption of raw lupin seeds [46, 47]. There are some cases of acute toxicity in humans who ate lupin beans, which had not been previously debittered. These subjects suffered from blurry vision, dry mouth, facial flushing, and confusion [46,47]. 

Given that the seeds of modem cultivars contain 200 mg alkaloids kg, this would imply a daily consumption of at most 10.7—37.2 g of sweet lupin seeds. This estimate suggests that good quality control of lupin-containing foods is necessary. 

Primitive varieties of lupin can contain 2% or more of total alkaloids in the dry seed, the chief individual component being lupanine (II), and consumption of such seed as a major meal component could be fatal. In practice, domestic users of lupin always... 

Shupe, J. L., Binns, W., James, L. F., and Keeler, R. F. 1968. A Congenital Deformity in Calves Induced by the Maternal Consumption of Lupine. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 19 335-340. 

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