Maca root (Lepidium peruvianum / Lepidium meyenii) was used by Inca´s troops to increase their strength, concentration and energy. At the present many people are increasingly consuming maca as a dietary supplement. This superfood may will be the most important natural health enhancer of this century.

Incas had the high traditional knowledge to cultivate this peruvian root. The empire of the Incas was the largest and powerful in America.

Maca has been consumed for centuries as food by inhabitants of the Peruvian Central Andes due to the nutritional and medicinal properties. It has been cultivated for more than 2,000 years in the central Andes of Perú.

It is cultivated betweem 3,800 and 4,500 meters over sea level, in lands with negative climates for any other type of cultivation. Being resistant to high altitude, frost, hail, snow and other climatic factors typical of its habitat. Likewise, its cultivation in areas with high mineralization allow Maca to be one of the most complete superfood, due to the variety of nutritional values that obtains from the soil.

Experimental scientific evidence showed that this peruvian product has nutritional, energizer, and fertility-enhancer properties, and it acts on sexual dysfunctions, osteoporosis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, memory and learning, and protects skin against ultraviolet radiation. Clinical trials showed efficacy on sexual dysfunctions as well as increasing sperm count and motility. Peruvian Maca root is a plant with great potential as an adaptogen and appears to be promising as a nutraceutical in the prevention of several diseases (a).

This superfood is a rich source of essential amino acids, vitamins B1, B2, B12, C, D3, E, complex carbohydrates, carotene and minerals including calcium, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium and iron. Maca contains  macaenes, macamides and macaridines, novels polyunsaturated fatty acids. Maca also contains sterols, such as campesterol, stigmasterol and
-sitosterol; and benzylisothiocyanates (glucosinolates secondary metabolite). Glucosinolates are the most important secondary metabolite.

Maca is present in nature in different external colors or phenotypes. Several studies showed that different colors of maca produce different biological responses and have different phitochemical constitution. The most frequent studied have been red, black and yellow varieties.

Peruvian Maca Root