WBC NUTRITION COMMITTEE:

Maca powder

By Dr. Phillip Goglia

Originating from a root, maca powder contains over 20 amino acids and many other good-for-you nutrients. Its main benefits include balancing hormones and improving your mood and memory.

Fun Fact: Maca is known to improve sexual desire. Time to get it poppin’!

Peru, in South America is where you’ll find the Maca plant. It is considered an adaptogen, meaning that is helps the body and mind adapt to stresses of all kinds and exerts an overall normalizing effect on the person who consumes it.

Maca root is loaded with vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, good fats, amino acids and plant sterols, making it a very nutritious whole food. It has been called a “potent superfood” and can improve our health in many ways.

Some of it’s many health benefits include increasing physical strength, stamina and energy. In fact, Maca is so good at boosting energy and endurance levels, it’s being taken by many athletes.

Maca root is most notably known for it’s ability to improve sexual function and libido. It has been used to solve infertility conditions and is said to increase the production of sperm and semen volume. It can be used as a treatment for impotency and erectile dysfunction also.

Consumption of this root will increase sex hormones, such as testosterone. For these reasons, it’s very popular with men of all ages.

Maca is also a natural hormone balancing agent, which is helpful to men and women alike. Women use it to alleviate the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes, mood swings and sleeping problems. Too much or too little estrogen is a problem that plagues many women. Maca dramatically fixes these problems.

It works as a hormone regulator that can bring balance back to your body. This will help get rid of troublesome and painful menstrual and menopausal symptoms. Many naturopaths recommend women take maca root as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy. It can also be helpful to women going through pre-menopause and post-menopause.

It’s also reported to support endocrine health, help reduce stress, relieve depression, failing memory and impart a general sense of wellbeing.

Maca calms the nerves because of it’s fatty acid, phosphorus, calcium and B1 and B12 vitamin content. These are all very beneficial to the nervous system.

It can also be used as an aid to digestion and to improve healthy appetite. It’s vitamin C, calcium and sterol content help build muscle and it’s starch content enhances physical endurance. And best of all, these healthy compounds are easily assimilated by the body due to maca’s beneficial alkaloids.

Maca Uses

Increase energy
Increase strength and stamina
Improve cognitive functioning
Improve mental clarity and memory
Enhances learning and mental ability
Reduce anxiety, stress and depression
Normalize progesterone, estrogen and testosterone
Decrease mood swings and hot flashes
Treat hormonal imbalance
Menstrual relief
Regulate hormones
Relieve symptoms of menopause
Regulate menstrual cycles
Treat chronic fatigue
Treat insomnia
Improves sexual function in men and women
Enhance fertility
Treat erectile dysfunction
As an antioxidant and anti-carcinogen
Improve mental wellbeing
Treat infertility
Increase libido
Benefit pituitary gland
Stimulate the immune system
Overcome physical and mental stress
Fuel the endocrine system
Treat exhaustion
Improve the functioning of the circulatory system
Make skin look younger
Strengthen teeth and bones
Kill bacteria and fungus