A. Sotelo et al., COMPARATIVE-STUDIES OF THE ALKALOIDAL COMPOSITION OF 2 MEXICAN ERYTHRINA SPECIES AND NUTRITIVE-VALUE OF THE DETOXIFIED SEEDS, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 41(12), 1993, pp. 2340-2343
The seeds of two species of Erythrina were studied in connection with
their alkaloid content and nutritive value. The alkaloids present in t
he seeds were the main toxic components that impede the use of the see
ds as food since the whole seeds killed the experimental animals. Howe
ver, the detoxified seed flour showed a good-quality protein; although
the process did not destroy the trypsin inhibitors present in the see
d, it did not affect the growth of the weanling rats.