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DESCRIPTION | |
| Properties/Actions: | Antifatigue, Aphrodisiac, Nutritive, Immunostimulant, Steroidal, Tonic |
| Phytochemicals: | Alkaloids, Amino Acids, Beta-ecdysone, Carbohydrates, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, p-methoxybenzyl isothiocyanate, Phosphorus, Protien, Saponins, Stigmasterol, Sitosterol, Tannins, Zinc, Vit B1, Vit B2, Vit B12, Vit C, Vit E |
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Traditional Remedy: |
5 to 20 grams of powdered root in tablets or capsules,
stirred into water or juice, or sprinkled over food twice daily. If an
extract is desired, a cold infusion is best to protect the fragile
saponins. See Traditional Herbal Remedies Preparation Methods page if necessary for definitions. |
Maca is a hardy perennial plant cultivated high in the Andean Mountain at altitudes from 11,000-14,500 feet. It has one of the highest frost tolerances among native cultivated species. It has a low-growing, mat-like stem system which at times goes unnoticed in a farmer's field. Its scalloped leaves lie close to the ground and it produces self-fertile small off-white flowers typical to the mustard family which it belongs to. The part used is the tuberous root which is pear shaped, up to 8 cm in diameter and off-white in color. Unlike many other tuberous plants, Maca is propagated by seed. Although it is a perennial, it is grown as an annual, and 7-9 months from planting are required to produce the harvested roots. The area where Maca is found high in the Andes is an inhospitable region of intense sunlight, violent winds and below freezing weather. With its extreme temperatures and poor rocky soil, the area rates among the world's worst farmland, yet over the centuries, Maca learned to flourish under these conditions. Maca was domesticated about 2000 years ago by the Inca Indians and primitive cultivars of Maca have been found in archaeological sites dating as far back as 1600 B.C.
To the Andean Indians, Maca is a valuable commodity. Because so little else grows in the region, Maca is often traded with communities at lower elevations for other staples like rice, corn, and beans. The dried roots can be stored for up to seven years. Native Peruvians have traditionally utilized Maca since before the time of the Incas for both nutritional and medicinal purposes Maca is an important staple in the diets of the people indigenous to the region since it has the highest nutritional value of any food crop grown there. It is rich in sugars, protein, starches, and essential minerals, especially iodine and iron. The tuber is consumed fresh or dried. The fresh roots are considered a treat and are baked or roasted in ashes much like sweet potatoes. The dried roots are stored and later boiled in water or milk to make a porridge. In addition, they are often made into a popular sweet, fragrant, fermented drink called maca chicha. In Huancayo, Peru, even Maca jam and pudding are popular. The tuberous roots have a tangy taste and an aroma similar to butterscotch.
Maca has been used medicinally for centuries to enhance fertility in humans and animals. Soon after the Spanish Conquest in the South America, the Spanish found that their livestock were reproducing poorly in the highlands. The local Indians recommended feeding the animals Maca and so remarkable were the results that Spanish chroniclers gave in-depth reports. Even Colonial records of some 200 years ago indicate that payments of roughly 9 tons of Maca were demanded from one Andean area alone for this purpose. Its fertility enhancing properties were supported clinically as early as 1961, when researchers discovered it increased the fertility of rats. This energizing plant is also referred to as Peruvian ginseng, although Maca is not in the same family as ginseng.
The nutritional value of dried Maca root is high, resembling cereal grains such as maize, rice and wheat. It has 59% carbohydrates, 10.2% protein, 8.5% fiber and 2.2% lipids. It has a large amount of essential amino acids and higher levels of iron and calcium than potatoes. Maca contains important amounts of fatty acids including linolenic, palmitic and oleic acids. It is rich in sterols and has a high mineral content as well. In addition to its rich supply of essential nutrients, Maca contains alkaloids, tannins and saponins. A chemical analysis conducted in 1981 showed the presence of biologically active aromatic isothiocyanates, especially p-methoxybenzyl isothiocyanate, which have reputed aphrodisiac properties. Initial analysis of Maca indicate that the effects on fertility are a result of the glucosinolates. Alkaloids are also present, but have not yet been quantified.
Maca is growing in world popularity due to its energizing effects, fertility enhancement and aphrodisiac qualities. Other traditional uses include increasing energy, stamina and endurance in athletes, promoting mental clarity, treating male impotence, and helping with menstrual irregularities and female hormonal imbalances including menopause and chronic fatigue syndrome. It is used as an alternative to anabolic steroids by bodybuilders due to its richness in sterols. Today, dried Maca roots are ground to powder and sold in drug stores in capsules as a medicine and food supplement to increase stamina and fertility. In Peruvian herbal medicine, Maca is also used as an immunostimulant, for anemia, tuberculosis, menstrual disorders, menopause symptoms, stomach cancer, sterility and other reproductive and sexual disorders as well as to enhance memory.
The cultivation of Maca is increasing in the highlands of the Andes to meet
the growing demand world wide for medicinal uses. In this severely economically
depressed region, the market created for Maca will offer new and important
sources of income for the Indigenous Peoples of the Andes. A new cultivar of
Maca has been identified in the major growing regions of the highlands which
will supply much of this new demand and it has been named Lepidium
peruvianum Chacon sp.
| ETHNOBOTANY: WORLDWIDE USES | |
| Peru | Anemia, Aphrodisiac, Energy, Fertility, Impotence, Memory, Menopause, Menstrual Tonic, Tuberculosis |
References/Footnotes:
Doctor's Comments on Maca by Chris Kilham
"As maca has become increasingly popular, its use has spread to medical practices. In the November, 1998 Townsend Letter for Doctors, physicians commented on the therapeutic uses of maca. Hugo Malaspina, M.D., a cardiologist practicing complementary medicine in Lima, Peru, has been using maca in his practice for ten years. He commonly recommends maca to women experiencing premenstrual discomfort or menopausal symptoms. "There are different medicinal plants that work on the ovaries by stimulating them," he says. "With maca though, we should say that it regulates the ovarian function." Dr. Malaspina further notes that "maca regulates the organs of internal secretion, such as the pituitary, the adrenal glands, and the pancreas. I have had perhaps two hundred female patients whose perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms are alleviated by taking maca."Dr. Malaspina first found out about maca through a group of sexually active older men who were taking the herb with good results. "One of this group started taking maca and found he was able to perform satisfactorily in a sexual relationship with a lady friend. Soon everyone in the group began drinking the powdered maca as a beverage and enjoying the boost that the root was giving their hormonal functions. I have several of these men as patients, and their improvement prompted me to find out more about maca and begin recommending it to my other patients."
Aguila Calderon, M.D., is the former Dean of the Faculty of Human Medicine at the National University of Federico Villarreal in Lima. He says, "Maca has a lot of easily absorbable calcium, plus magnesium and a fair amount of silica. We are finding it very useful in treating the decalcification of bones in children and adults." In his practice, Dr. Calderon uses maca for male impotence, erectile dysfunction, menopausal symptoms, and general fatigue.
Chicago physician Gary F. Gordon, former President of the American College for Advancement in Medicine, is also a maca supporter. "We all hear rumors about various products like maca," he says. "But using this Peruvian root myself, I personally experienced a significant improvement in erectile tissue response. I call it nature's answer to Viagra. What I see in maca is a means of normalizing our steroid hormones like testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen. Therefore it has the facility to forestall the hormonal changes of aging. It acts on men to restore them to a healthy functional status in which they experience a more active libido."
ABC News / Men's Health April, 2000
A South American Sex Secret
We’re determined to be open-minded about maca, an extract from a Peruvian plant. Scientists from PureWorld Botanicals (yeah, they’re marketing the stuff) fed maca extracts to male mice and got some souped-up rodents. The maca-free mice had sex a mere 13 times in 3 hours. But the mice who received high-potency maca did it 67 times. “Maca has long been talked about as a sexual enhancer, but this is the first time it’s been scientifically shown,” says Qun Yi Zheng, Ph.D., the author of the study, published in Urology. Trials on humans are already under way. Volunteers?
Blumenthal, Mark; HerbalGram No. 20 - Spring 1989 Pg 12:
"Plant Medicine's Importance Stressed by CSU Professor
Frank Stermitz, professor at Colorado State University, believes that plant medicine has become important again, and, although some plant study is a random process, many leads to potentially useful plants come from folklore. Stermitz says,"A number of pharmaceutical companies now have groups of researchers looking at the medicinal potential of various plants in endangered areas of the tropical rain forest." He concentrates on folklore plants found in Costa Rica and Peru.
The Incas have described thousands of plants," he says. "One book I read claims 30% of the plants are still actively in use in Peru. It's a poor country, there are few doctors there and people use plants for human medicine."
Among the plants Stermitz and his colleagues recently identified which showed promise as medicinal tools are Lepidium meyenii, a tuber from the high Peruvian Andes that the Indians recommended as a fertility aid for humans and animals; Tecoma arequipensis, the bark of which is used in Inca medicine, mainly for hypoglycemia and diabetes; and Mussatia hyacinthina, a tree of the high upper Amazon and Bolivia, whose bark is chewed alone or with coca leaves to fight fatigue. (Rocky Mountain News Sunday Magazine, Nov. 6, 1988)Steinberg, Phillip; Phil Steinberg's Cat's Claw News; Vol. I, Issue 2; July / August 1995:
"MACA (LEPIDIUM MEYENII)
Maca is a root vegetable or tuber related to the potato family. It grows in the mountains at altitudes of 9 to 11 thousand feet, making it the highest cultivated plant in the world. Native Peruvians have used Maca as a food since before the times of the Incas for both it's nutritional and medicinal properties. The herb contains significant amounts of amino acids, carbohydrates and minerals including calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, iron, vitamins B1, B2, B12, C and E and a number of steroid glycosides.
Traditionally Maca has been used to increase energy, stamina and endurance in athletes, promote mental clarity, as an aphrodisiac for both men & women, for male impotence, menstrual irregularities & female hormonal imbalances including menopause and chronic fatigue syndrome. More recently, athletes are finding Maca to be an excellent alternative to anabolic steroids. In March of this year I attended the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California. At the show, I was given a sample bottle of Maca to use while I was there. I was amazed at how I was able to work long hours maintaining a high energy level throughout the show. I took approximately 1,000 mg of Maca three times a day along with my usual amount of Cat's Claw. I will be conducting additional research on the herb and report my findings in future newsletters."
Clinical Abstracts
Effect of a lipidic extract from lepidium
meyenii on sexual behavior in mice and rats.
Author: Zheng BL
et.al.
Journal: Urology. 2000 Apr; 55(4): 598-602 2000 0090-4295
Abstract:
OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of oral administration of a purified
lipidic extract from Lepidium meyenii (MacaPure M-01 and M-02) on the number of
complete intromissions and mating in normal mice, and on the latent period of
erection (LPE) in rats with erectile dysfunction. METHODS: Mice and rats were
randomly divided into several experimental and control groups. A 10% ethanol
suspension of M-01 and M-02 was orally administered for 22 days to the
experimental groups according to the dosage specified by the experimental
design. On day 22, 30 minutes after the dose was administered to the male mice,
2 virgin female mice were placed with 1 male mouse. The number of complete
intromissions of each male mouse in 3 hours was recorded. In an assessment of 1
day of mating, each male mouse was cohabited with 5 estrous female mice
overnight. The number of sperm-positive females was recorded. The LPE was
measured to assess the sexual function in rats with erectile dysfunction. By
using a YSD-4G multifunction instrument, an electric pulse at 20 V was applied
to stimulate the rat's penis, and the duration from the start of the stimulus to
full erection was measured in seconds as the LPE. RESULTS: In the normal male
mice, the number of complete intromissions during the 3-hour period was 16.33
+/- 1.78, 46.67 +/- 2.39, and 67.01 +/- 2.55 for the control group, M-01 group,
and M-02 group, respectively. In the assessment of mating, the number of
sperm-positive females increased from 0.6 +/- 0.7 in the control group to 1.5
+/- 0.5 in the M-01 experimental group. The LPE of male rats with erectile
dysfunction was 112 +/- 13 seconds with a regular diet (control group). The oral
administration of M-01 at a dose of 180 or 1800 mg/kg body weight and M-02 at a
dose of 45, 180, or 1800 mg/kg body weight reduced the LPE to 54 +/- 12 seconds,
54 +/- 13 seconds, 71 +/- 12 seconds, 73 +/- 12 seconds, and 41 +/- 13 seconds,
respectively. The LPE of the surgical rats treated with M-01 at the lowest dose
(45 mg/kg) was 121! +/- 12 seconds; thus, the change was not significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Oral administration of M-01 and M-02 enhanced the sexual function
of the mice and rats, as evidenced by an increase in the number of complete
intromissions and the number of sperm-positive females in normal mice, and a
decrease in the LPE in male rats with erectile dysfunction. The present study
reveals for the first time an aphrodisiac activity of L. meyenii, an Andean
Mountain herb.
Raintree sells Maca root powder by the ounce and the pound
It is an ingredient in Raintree's Jaguara Formula for Women
and Rainforest Ginseng as well as several Amazon Support Formulas
including Menopause Support, Athletic Support, and Tonic Support for Women.
Web Resources
p. 428-435. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon
(eds.), Advances in new crops. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
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