Maca Root: Health Benefits & Attributes

      Maca Root is a vegetable root or tuber, distantly related to the Mexican Wild Yam. The plant grows close to earth and produces a tuber approximately the size of an egg. The Maca root grows wild in the Peruvian Andes just below the glacial icecap. It only grows in areas of extreme weather conditions such as freezing, high winds, and intensive sunlight. The rich soil located at these high plateaus of Peru where it is very cold and oxygen poor may account for the high levels of trace minerals found in Maca Root. Interestingly, no other food plant exists in the world that will grow at so high an altitude and survive. Native shepherds learned quickly that at higher elevations where the Maca grew naturally, their grazing herds became healthier, their stamina increased, and they became much more sexually active.

      Maca's place in pre-conquest Peru as a remedy and nutritious super-food precedes written history. The first recorded uses by Spaniards in the 16th century corroborate exactly what indigenous healers of the Andes mountains had developed into their system of medicine.  
 Although this rare member of the radish family has been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years, many considered Maca to be a "lost herb" to the developing world until recently. In today's modern times, maca root is commonly traded as a medicine and energy giving herb throughout the towns and villages of Peru.

      Now, everything is changing as Maca is being eagerly sought after for its extraordinary medicinal powers and attributes. In fact, Maca root is consumed up to 3 times a day by Peruvians and other people from all around the world, (from professional athletes to the elderly), to give them energy and help recover from depression, addictions, traumas, or disease.

      With its many health enhancing properties finally becoming widely publicized, Maca root  can make people feel, look, and perform better. Let's find out why: 

      Maca is considered by top researchers to be a true adaptogen. An adaptogen is a substance which raises the non-specific resistance in an organism. It enables the body to enhance its power of resistance and adapt to external conditions. It works with the bodies natural rhythms to help rebuild week immune systems, re-mineralize poorly nourished bodies, and increase energy and endurance.

      In addition to its effect on the endocrine system, recent studies, articles, and reports show that maca effects the body and mind in a variety of other beneficial ways.

• Bio-available calcium, in conjunction with its alkaloids, make it an effective bond builder, thus reducing osteomalacia and rickets.
• Its fiber as well as glucosinolate content show promise in helping combat some cancers.
• It is an effective treatment for male impotence and erectile dysfunction, and for female menstrual irregularities and hormone imbalances, including menopause and perimenopause.
• Some of its fatty acids function as fungicides and local antiseptics, which may aid in overall immunity enhancement.
• Tannins bind and precipitate proteins, which improves the nutritional value of maca.
• Saponins and terpenoids may aid as sedative, expectorant, pain reliever, anti-tumoral, and analgesic.
• Effects general and not localized to a specific organ.
• Normalizing action irrespective of the direction of the pathological state.