The Mac Life: Maca Root Benefits
The Mac Life: Maca Root Benefits
By Daniel Rocha LMT CPT CNS
Maca is a hardy perennial plant cultivated in the Andean Mountains and traditionally used for nutritional and fertility-enhancing purposes. Animal studies have indicated improvement in sexual behaviors, such as increased copulatory attempts due to maca, and anecdotal evidence supports using maca to treat sexual dysfunction in humans. In humans, maca has been shown to increase sexual desire, but the mechanism by which maca exerts its purported aphrodisiac and fertility-enhancing properties is unclear.
Maca is rich in fiber, essential amino acids, fatty acids, and other nutrients, including vitamin C, copper, iron, and calcium. This root contains bioactive compounds responsible for the medicinal effects in sexual dysfunction regulation, neuroprotective effects, action in memory enhancement, antidepressants, antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory activities, and skin protection.
In published studies of maca for women, early postmenopausal women treated with maca showed significant decreases in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and increases in luteinizing hormone (LH) production, improving menopausal symptoms. For the postmenopausal female population], it is apparent that maca ameliorates postmenopausal symptoms through an androgenic mechanism; a case report in the British Medical Journal detailed a case of testosterone assay interference by maca, suggesting that maca contains an unspecified compound with a similar moiety to the human testosterone molecule and that it may be exercising its androgenic effects through actions at the testosterone receptor on target organs without affecting the level of testosterone or gonadotrophins. This explains why studies in men demonstrate a lack of development of maca on serum hormone levels. So, ladies, it's a safe supplement to use to increase your sex drive, regulate hormones, and makes life a bit more pleasant. So grab a bottle today.
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Dording, C. M., Schettler, P. J., Dalton, E. D., Parkin, S. R., Walker, R. S. W., Fehling, K. B., Fava, M., & Mischoulon, D. (2015, April 14). A double-blind placebo-controlled trial of maca root as a treatment for antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction in women. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2015/949036/.