Maca
There Maca or Peruvian maca (botanical name Lepidium meyenii) is a "plant Ginseng" which includes seven "perennial" varieties, all native to South America and more precisely to the mountain ridge of the Andes.
During the pollination period, Maca produces small 5-petaled white - straw yellow inflorescences; the respective fruits are minute and dry in consistency. Once (since the "golden age" of the Incas) it was widely cultivated by the populations andean; today it is much less so and production is limited to the plateau of Puna (Pasco) et al Junìn, between 3500 and 4500 meters above sea level. Its production determines the characteristic "impoverishment of the soil" which requires a fallow (rest from the crops) of about 5 years.
In light of this, it is not difficult to believe that Maca is a particularly "rich" vegetable in nutrients useful to the body ... even if this does not justify any "special" effect on the human being. But be careful, being a tuber, the leaves of Maca are NOT consumed (wider at the base and smaller towards the apex), but rather the small roots and the attached fleshy portion which - it is rumored ... - as well as being edible, if consumed correctly they WOULD INCREASE fertility in both women and men.
Eat Maca
The Maca tuber is consumed both fresh and dehydrated; Fresh Maca is boiled or roasted, while dried Maca (in the sun for a whole month!) can be found in water and consumed like fresh Maca, or pulverized to become an essential ingredient in sweets and / or spirits.
Maca chemistry and composition
The pre-Columbian civilizations, between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, cultivated Maca on the Peruvian plateau by virtue of its high energy density and the intense overall nutritional value of the drug (tuber and roots).
Maca (depending on the variety) contains a protein portion that varies between 10 and 18g per 100g of edible portion (while the rest of the energy is provided by carbohydrates and lipids); the peptides contained in it are of medium biological value and composed of discrete quantities of essential amino acids such as: leucine phenylalanine, lysine, valine, isoleucine, threonine, methionine and histidine. This characteristic has made Maca an indispensable tuber because, on the Andean plateau, foods of animal origin (containing high biological value proteins) are not particularly easy to find .... to the detriment of the overall protein quality. It is assumed that the association of Maca with other foods containing its limiting amino acids was able to complete the essential amino acid pool by balancing the diet of the settled populations.
Also noteworthy is the average intake of mineral salts including both micro and macro elements; Maca contains excellent quantities of: potassium (K - 2050mg per 100g), calcium (Ca - 150mg per 100g), ferric or trivalent iron (Fe3 + - 16.6mg per 100g), copper (Cu - 5.9mg per 100g), zinc (Zn - 3.8mg per 100g); sodium (Na) and manganese (Mn) not determined. The vitamin content of Maca is also not negligible. , which favors in particular the water-soluble ones of group B.
Curiosity: Maca also contains typical and exclusive molecules of this tuber, the macaridines (benzylated derivatives of 1,2-dihydro-N-hydroxypyridine) and the macamides (benzyalkamides); Maca essential oil contains phenyl acetonitrile, benzaldehyde and 3-methoxyphenyl-acetonitrile.
Property
Maca has always been considered (like the other Ginsengs) a tuber with exceptional characteristics; in addition to the various nutritional facets already listed, it is attributed tonic, aphrodisiac, fertility-promoting and adaptogenic properties, but no conclusive studies are yet available that demonstrate its indiscriminate beneficial action nor its mechanism of action on increasing fertility..
Use of Maca
Maca is an essential ingredient of Peruvian ethno-medicine, and you know, traditions should not be underestimated.
Maca can be useful as a "tonic" in sports supplementation and as a supplement to low-calorie slimming diets, but the consumer does not necessarily expect miraculous results; its effect is somewhat subjective and, if for some it seems irreplaceable, for others it is worth little more. of a glass of water.
Maca is also recommended due to its aphrodisiac potential and increased fertility observed in some Peruvian studies; the suggested dosage is about 1.5g of purified extract to be divided into 3 doses: morning, afternoon and evening on a full stomach.
Science in favor of Maca
About the "male man
The administration of Maca improved sperm production and sperm mobility in a WAY INDEPENDENT OF DOSE AND HORMONAL AXIS. A subsequent study compared Maca to a placebo and again obtained positive results on DESIRE and independent of the hormonal axis. .
On the female rat
Older studies have reported an increase in fertility in female rats, associated with an increase in estrogen and follicular stimulation.
On the male rat
The same work, but on male rats, observed an increase in spermatogenesis and ejaculation, while the high dosage of maca appears to significantly reduce the inter-copulatory interval. , sperm production and, in subjects with erectile dysfunction, a reduction in the latency period of erection.
Side effects
The use of Maca is contraindicated in pregnancy and lactation but in the HEALTHY subject it has not shown side effects of any kind.
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