Baqla
Do not self-treat with Baqla
If this is an emergency
Some reactions to Baqla need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Who should avoid Baqla?
- Never eat broad beans, in any form or amount, if you have G6PD deficiency (an inherited fault in red blood cells). Cooking does not make them safe.
- Do not give broad beans to a child who has not been tested if G6PD deficiency runs in your family, until a doctor has checked.
- Do not eat broad beans if you take an MAOI antidepressant (a type of older antidepressant) such as phenelzine or tranylcypromine.
- Do not add broad beans to your diet if you take levodopa or other Parkinson's disease medicines without first asking your neurologist.
- Do not eat them if you have ever had an allergic reaction to fava beans or other pulses.
- Avoid large or sudden changes in how many green beans or pods you eat if you take warfarin or another blood-thinning medicine (a drug that slows blood clotting).
- Do not eat raw or undercooked dried beans.
When should you see a doctor?
Get emergency help straight away if, within a day or two of eating broad beans, you or your child has dark brown or tea-coloured urine, yellow skin or eyes, sudden deep tiredness, a fast heartbeat, breathlessness or pale skin. These can be signs of red blood cells breaking down and need hospital care.
Call emergency services for swelling of the lips or tongue, a spreading rash or trouble breathing after eating them.
See your doctor soon if you take an MAOI antidepressant and get a pounding headache or chest pain, or if your Parkinson's symptoms change after you start eating beans. Ask your doctor about a G6PD test before eating broad beans if your family comes from the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa or Southeast Asia.
- What it is: Baqla is the broad bean, Vicia faba, a nourishing food and single drug of the Persian and Unani tradition that is dangerous for people with G6PD deficiency.
- Active ingredients: Levodopa (L-dopa), Vicine, Convicine, Protein and fibre, Folate (a B vitamin), Vitamin K
- Side effects: Usually just wind and bloating, but favism in G6PD deficiency can be severe and needs emergency care.
- Pregnancy & breastfeeding: Avoid in pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
What is Baqla?
Baqla is the broad bean, Vicia faba. It is a single drug in the Persian and Unani tradition, used mostly as a food and as a simple remedy made from the bean, the pod or the flower. Persian and Unani writers used it as a nourishing food and applied poultices of the flour to the skin.
For some people, eating broad beans is dangerous. People with G6PD deficiency (an inherited fault in red blood cells) can suffer favism, a sudden and severe breakdown of red blood cells. This can be life-threatening, and it is the main reason Baqla is not a casual home remedy.
The evidence verdict is simple. Baqla has a long and clear place in traditional practice, but good human trials of it as a medicine are very thin. Traditional use tells you people have relied on something for a long time; it is not proof that it works.
How does Baqla work?
Broad beans are a food first. They supply protein, fibre, folate (a B vitamin) and potassium, which is how most of their effect on the body is best explained.
The beans also contain levodopa, often called L-dopa. The body turns L-dopa into dopamine, a brain chemical that is low in Parkinson's disease. This is why fava beans are talked about in that setting, but the amount in a plate of beans varies a lot and cannot be measured at home.
The harmful side works differently. Two chemicals in the bean, vicine and convicine, stress red blood cells. In people who lack the G6PD enzyme, that stress can burst the cells.
What forms does Baqla come in?
Fresh green beans, shelled and cooked.
Dried beans, soaked and boiled.
Flour ground from the dried bean, used in cooking and, in tradition, in skin poultices.
The pods and flowers, used as a water decoction (a drink made by boiling the plant in water) in some Persian sources.
Standardised medicinal extracts are not a normal commercial product. Most of what you can buy is food.
Where it comes from:
Broad beans are one of the oldest farmed crops of the Mediterranean and the Near East, grown for thousands of years. Persian and Unani physicians, including writers in the tradition of Avicenna, listed Baqla as a cooling, nourishing food and used its flour on the skin.
Favism was also noticed early. Ancient writers recorded that beans harmed some people badly, long before anyone knew why.
What does Baqla help with?
- General nourishment and building up after illness: This is the best-supported use, and it is a food use rather than a drug use. Broad beans give protein, fibre and folate (a B vitamin) in a cheap, filling form. Persian and Unani texts value Baqla as a strengthening food for thin or weak people.
- Constipation and sluggish bowels: Reasonable as part of a normal diet. The fibre in beans adds bulk to stool, which is a general effect of all pulses and not special to Baqla. There are no trials testing broad beans alone for constipation.
- Parkinson's disease symptoms: This is the most talked-about use and the one that needs the most care. Broad beans contain levodopa, the same chemical as a standard Parkinson's medicine, but the dose in food swings widely and cannot be controlled. Do not use beans in place of your medicine, and do not add them without telling your neurologist.
- Skin complaints treated with poultices: Traditional only. Bean flour mixed with water was laid on swellings, boils and irritated skin in Persian and Unani practice. We found no clinical studies testing this.
What are the side effects of Baqla?
- Wind, bloating and stomach cramps
- Loose stools when you first eat more beans
- Favism: sudden breakdown of red blood cells in people with G6PD deficiency
- Dark or tea-coloured urine, yellow skin or eyes, and deep tiredness during a favism attack
- Allergic reaction, including rash, swelling or trouble breathing
- Very high blood pressure if eaten with MAOI antidepressants (a type of older antidepressant)
- Extra or jerky movements in people taking Parkinson's medicines
Good to know:
For most people, broad beans cause nothing worse than wind and bloating, which settle as your gut gets used to them.
Favism is the serious risk. It happens only in people with G6PD deficiency, but in them it can be severe, needing hospital care or a blood transfusion, and deaths have been recorded, most often in young children. G6PD deficiency is common in people whose families come from the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa or Southeast Asia.
Pollen from the flowering plant can trigger the same reaction in a few very sensitive people.
Options to discuss with a clinician
Better-studied options exist for each of the reasons people reach for this bean, and every one of them belongs in a conversation with a doctor, pharmacist or qualified herbalist rather than being started on your own.
- **Constipation and sluggish bowels.** Psyllium Husk, supplemental fiber, Inulin, Magnesium, Probiotics and Olive Oil (Zaytoon) all have reasonable evidence behind them. A pharmacist can tell you which fits your pattern, and a doctor should look into any new or persistent change in bowel habit, since the cause matters more than the remedy. - **Parkinson's symptoms.** This is specialist territory — a neurologist (nerve and brain doctor) directs treatment. Alongside prescribed care, ask that team about Exercise and Tai Chi, both of which have good evidence for movement, balance and falls. - **Building up after illness.** Ask your doctor about testing for specific gaps rather than guessing; Vitamin D is one they commonly check. A dietitian can shape a realistic eating plan. - **Skin complaints.** Get the rash or wound looked at before anything goes on it. Honey has been studied in wound care, and your clinician can say whether it suits your particular skin problem.
Graded pages for the options named above:
- Olive Oil (Zaytoon) — evidence grade A, traditional tier T3
- Supplemental fiber — evidence grade A, traditional tier T0
- Psyllium Husk — evidence grade A, traditional tier T3
- Probiotics — evidence grade A, traditional tier T0
- Magnesium — evidence grade A, traditional tier T0
- Vitamin D — evidence grade A, traditional tier T0
- Exercise — evidence grade A, traditional tier T3
- Tai Chi — evidence grade A, traditional tier T2
- Inulin — evidence grade A, traditional tier T0
- Honey — evidence grade A, traditional tier T3
Review status
This page has not been signed off by a pharmacist and is not published. It is shown here for a policy decision only.