To determine the effect
of oral administration of a purified lipidic extract from Lepidium
meyenii (MacaPure M-01 and M-02) on the number of complete
intromissions and mating in normal mice, and on the latent period of
erection (LPE) in rats with erectile dysfunction.
Mice and rats were randomly
divided into several experimental and control groups. A 10% ethanol
suspension of M-01 and M-02 was orally administered for 22 days to the
experimental groups according to the dosage specified by the
experimental design. On day 22, 30 minutes after the dose was
administered to the male mice, 2 virgin female mice were placed with 1
male mouse. The number of complete intromissions of each male mouse in
3 hours was recorded. In an assessment of 1 day of mating, each male
mouse was cohabitated with 5 estrous female mice overnight. The number
of sperm-positive females was recorded. The LPE was measured to assess
the sexual function in rats with erectile dysfunction. By using a
YSD-4G multifunction instrument, an electric pulse at 20 V was applied
to stimulate the ratÕs penis, and the duration from the start of the
stimulus to full erection was measured in seconds as the LPE. Results.
In the normal male mice, the number of complete intromissions during
the 3-hour period was 16.33 ± 1.78, 46.67 ± 2.39, and 67.01 ± 2.55
for the control group, M-01 group, and M-02 group, respectively. In
the assessment of mating, the number of sperm-positive females
increased from 0.6 ± 0.7 in the control group to 1.5 ± 0.5 in the
M-01 experimental group. The LPE of male rats with erectile
dysfunction was 112 ± 13 seconds with a regular diet (control group).
The oral administration of M-01 at a dose of 180 or 1800 mg/kg body
weight and M-02 at a dose of 45, 180, or 1800 mg/kg body weight
reduced the LPE to 54 ± 12 seconds, 54 ± 13 seconds, 71 ± 12
seconds, and 41 ± 13 seconds, respectively. The LPE of the surgical
rats treated with M-01 at the lowest dose (45 mg/kg) was 121 ± 12
seconds; thus, the change was not significant.
Oral administration
of M-01 and M-02 enhanced the sexual function of the mice and rats, as
evidenced by an increase in the number of complete intromissions and
the number of sperm-positive females in normal mice, and a decrease in
the LPE in male rats with erectile dysfunction. The present study
reveals for the first time an aphrodisiac activity of L. meyenii, an
Andean Mountain herb. UROLOGY 55: 598-602, 2000. © 2000, Elsevier
Science Inc.
The dried maca
roots were collected from Peru in 1998. A voucher specimen was
deposited in the Herbrio de Museo de Historia Natural Ô J. PradoÕ
Un. H. S. Lima, Peru. Primary extraction was carried out using
methanol or ethanol and water as a solvent by way of a proprietary
extraction process. The alcohol extract was further purified through a
series of chromatographic processes.[3] The resulting lipidic
fractions were formulated with an excipient, such as maltodextrins or
tricalcium phosphate, and were dried to a powdered extract. M-01 and
M-02 were two formulas standardized in the content of macaene and
macamide, novel multiunsaturated fatty acids and their amides.
The macaene and macamide of the purified standardized product, M-01
and M-02, were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography,
and included three new compounds, N-benzyl octanamide,
N-benzyl-16-hydroxy-9-oxo -10E, 12E, 14E-octadecatrieneamide, and
N-benzyl-9, 16 -dioxo-10E,12E,14E-octadecatrieneamide and 17 other
analogues of macaene and macamide. The product also contained 3.72%
free fatty acids, which included 0.14% caprylic acid, 0.13% capric
acids, 0.97% lauric acid, 0.38% myristic acid, 0.67% palmitic acid,
0.92% palmitoleic acid, 0.17% stearic acid, 0.21% oleic acid, 0.69%
linoleic acid, and 0.33% linolenic acid. Other minor constituents were
0.03% to 0.04% sterols (campesterol, stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol)
and 0.10% to 0.15% benzyl isothiocyanate. All of the above mentioned
constituents were determined by gas chromatography - mass
spectrometry. For the study of the effect of maca on mounting behavior
in mice, a total of 45 male and 90 virgin female mice (a strain of
Shenyang, grade II) were obtained from the Experimental Animal Center
of China Medical University. The study groups included control, M-01
and M-02 groups; 15 males and 30 females were randomly placed in each
group. The age range of the mice at the start of the experiment was 8
to 10 weeks; the body weight was 25 ± 1g. Each animal was identified
by ear tags or color codes. The control group received a common
granulated feed in 10% ethanol suspension for 22 days. A 10% ethanol
suspension of M-01 and M-02 was administered twice daily by gavage to
the animals in the experimental groups at a daily dosage of 40mg/g
body weight for 22 days. On day 22, 30 minutes after the dose was
administered to the male mice, 2 female mice were placed with 1 male
in a cage kept in darkness. The male began to copulate immediately.
After a sequence of precopulatory behavior, the male mounted the
female from the rear and clasped his forelegs about her laterolumbar
region. While clasping the female, the male palpated her side with
rapid movements of his forelimbs, and simultaneously his pelvic region
moved in rapid piston-like thrusts. After a final and unusually
forceful thrust, the male lunged backward. This backward lunge was
indicative of intromissions or complete copulation. The number of
complete intromissions within 3 hours was recorded manually by an
observer.[4]
For the assessment of 1 day of mating, a strain of Beijing mice (grade
II) with a body weight of 24± 1 g was used. Twenty male mice were
randomly divided into two groups of 10. One group served as the
control and received a common granulated feed. The experimental group
received oral M-01 at dose of 4g/kg body weight for 1 day only. On the
same day at 5 PM, each male mouse was placed in a separate cage. The
female mice were brought intro estrus with a single subcutaneous dose
of estradiol benzoate and progesterone. The next morning (7:00 to 8:00
AM), a vaginal smear from each female mouse was examined under a
microscope for the presence of sperm. The number of sperm-positive
females in each cage was recorded. The average number of
sperm-positive females was calculated for the control and experimental
groups. To study the effect of maca on erectile function in rats with
erectile dysfunction, 90 grade III Wistar male rats were obtained from
the China Medicinal and Biological Institute. Ten rats per test
article (M-01 and M-02) at three different dose levels and 10 rats
each in three different vehicle control groups were used. All male
rats, except the normal and testosterone-treated rats in th\e control
group, were weighed and enesthetized using 4.5 mg/g body weight of
0.6% pentobarbital subcutaneously injected for the surgical removal of
the testes. The body weight of the rats at the start of the experiment
was 200 ± 20 g. After surgical removal, sodium penicillin (2000 U/kg
body weight) was injected for 3 days (one injection daily). The
control group consisted of three subgroups: normal rats,
testes-removed rats, and testosterone-treated rats. The rats in the
control group received a regular oral diet by gavage. The test
articles were administered by gavage to the male rats at a dose of 45,
180, or 1800 mg/kg body weight for 20 days. The testosterone
propionate control group consisted of normal rats injected
subcutaneously with 20mg/kg body weight of testosterone propionate
(one injection daily for 3 days before the experiment). On day 20, 30
minutes after dose administration, each male rat was placed in a
restraining device, and an electrode of the YSD-4G multifunction
instrument gave an electric pulse at 20 V to stimulate the ratÕs
penis. The latent period of erection (LPE), the time to reach a full
erection from start of the stimulation, was then recorded. Pairwise
statistical comparisons between the control and treated groups were
done with StudentÕs t test. Mean differences were considered
statistically significant if P<0.05.
TOP
The maca extracts M-01 and
M-02 were orally administered to the normal male mice experimental
groups at a preliminary dose of 40 mg/g body weight for 22 days. The
number of complete intromissions during the 3-hour study period (after
a 22-day feeding) increased to 46.67± 2.39 times (P<0.01) in the
M-01 experimental group and to 67.01± 2.55 times (P<0.01) in the
M-02 experimental group compared with 16.33± 1.78 times in the
control group (Fig. 1 and Table 1).
In the assessment of 1 day of mating, the oral administration of M-01
at a dose of 4g/kg body weight increased the number of sperm-positive
females from 0.6± 0.7 in the control group to 1.5 ± 0.5 (P< 0.01)
in the M-01 experimental group (Fig.2 and Table II). In the third
study, three control groups were used to evaluate the LPEs of the
experimental groups. The LPE of the surgical control group was 112 ±
13 seconds. The LPE of the normal control group and
testosterone-treated control group was 78 ± 13 seconds and 50 ± 12
seconds (P< 0.05 compared with the surgical group). As predicted,
the surgical rats demonstrated the weakest sexual ability, as
exhibited by the longest LPE values, and the testosterone-treated rats
demonstrated the strongest sexual ability, as shown by the shortest
LPE values. The LPE of the surgical group was reduced to 121 ± 12
seconds, 54 ± 12 seconds, and 53 ± 13 seconds when treated with M-01
at a dose of 45, 180, and 1800 mg/kg body weight, respectively. The
LPE of the surgical group was reduced to 71 ± 12 seconds, 73 ± 12
seconds, and 41 ± 13 seconds when treated with M-02 at the same dose
levels (Fig. 3 and Table III).
Maca was widely used during
the precolonial and colonial periods of Peru under the Spaniards. V‡squez
de Espinoza, who visited Peru around 1598, and Cobo, who was in Peru
from 1603 to 1629, gave descriptions of the plant and its uses.[5,6]
H. Ruiz of the Royal Spanish Botanical Expeditions in 1777 to 1778
found it in cultivation close to Lake Junin and briefly described its
use. In modern works, it is not mentioned in most of the
ethnobotanical publications. Recently in Peru, Chac—n [2] and
Pulgar[8] were interested in its medicinal properties.[7]
It was first observed by the Spaniards that in the Andean highlands,
their domestic animals, cattle, sheep, chickens, and even their men
had a reproduction rate markedly inferior to that in Spain. The
chronicles frequently referred to this phenomenon and to the problems
created by the lack of young animals. It was stated that Andeans
recommended feeding maca to the animals and that the Spaniards noticed
the positive effects of this feed. Today, maca is used by both Andean
and other women who desire pregnancy.
TOP
Two Andean mountain herbs,
anu and mac, are both cultivated by the Andeans for their edible
underground tubers, and both carry the reputation as having putative
effects on human reproductive potential. In his study of the two
plants, Johns[9] demonstrated that although anu and maca belong to two
different plant families, each has similarities in chemical
composition - both contain glucosinolates as their major secondary
metabolite. Further analysis revealed that M-01 and M-02 contain
benzyl isothiocyanate as the major isothiocyanate and p-methoxybenzyl
isothiocyanate in a relatively small amount. A correlation of these
compounds with fertility still requires confirmation.
In 1961, Chac—n [2] conducted a laboratory test to determine the
effect of maca in rats. However, the experimental design was far from
satisfactory. It failed to demonstrate a positive effect of maca in
the increase of reproduction in rats, according to LeonÕs
comments.[1] The results from the present in vivo study of the effect
of the two maca formulas M-01 and M-02 on the mounting behavior in
normal mice illustrated that purified maca products signigicantly
enhance the sexual libido and potency in male mice. The dose in this
experiment was used as a guideline for a preliminary study. Other dose
levels will be studied in the future. In the 1-day mating assessment,
the one-time oral administration of M-01 at the dose of 4.0 g/kg
significantly enhanced sexual ability. Typically, the dosage used in
animal in vivo tests is 10 to 100 times higher than used for humans.
The results of the in vivo study on the rats with erectile dysfunction
indicated that the purified maca products, M-01 and M-02, at doses of
45, 180, and 1800 mg/kg body weight, except for the 45-mg/kg dose of
M-01, were all effective in improving the erectile function of the
testes-removed rats. As demonstrated by the decrease in LPE, the
erectile function of the surgical group treated with the extract was
significantly better than that of the surgical control group and was
almost identical to that of normal rats. The decrease of LPE in
treated rats might be due to the higher concentration of the macaene
and macamide, a group of biologically active components. Similar LPE
results after the medium and high doses of M-01 and all three doses of
M-02 suggest that the concentration of the maximum possible intake by
the animal might have been reached. From a perspective of
phytochemistry, M-01 and M-02 are both fractionate products from maca
and are similar in composition, except that M-01 contains more
polysaccharide and less macaene and macamide that M-02. This may
account for the smaller degree of improvement in LPE in the surgical
rats treated with M-01 at the lowest dosage (45 mg/kg). Further
studies to identify the active constituents responsible for the
increase in the sexual function in mice and rats and the mechanism of
action are in progress. All animals except two control subgroups, the
normal and the testosterone groups, were anesthetized and underwent
surgery to remove the testes. It may be necessary to include a sham
group to study the effects of surgery without removal of the testes in
a further study of the subject.
Two maca formulas, M-01 and
M-02, significantly enhanced the libido and sexual potency in normal
mice. The number of complete intromissions during a 3-hour period in
normal male mice treated with M-01 and M-02 were 2.9 and 4.1 times
higher, respectively, than that of the normal mice in the control
group.
Moreover, one -time oral administration of M-01 in a study of 1-day
mating showed that the number of sperm-positive female mice in the
experimental group was 2.5 times higher than in the control group. The
results indicate that the bioavailability of the active ingredients in
mice was immediate.
Finally, M-01 and M-02 improved the erectile function in rats with
erectile dysfunction. The LPE of testes-removed rats that were treated
with different doses of M-01 and M-02 was reduced to that of normal
rats, with the exception of the LPE after the low dose of M-01. The
present study reveals for the first time an aphrodisiac effect of L.
meyenii, an Andean Mountain herb from Peru. UROLOGY 55: 598-602.2000.
© 2000, Eelsevier Science Inc.
TOP
1. Leon
T: The Ô MacaÕ (Lepidium meyenii): a little known food plant of
Peru. Econ Bot 18: 122-127, 1964.
2. Chac—n RC: Estudio fitoquimico de Lepidium meyenii Walp. Thesis,
University Nac. Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru, 1961.
3. Zheng BL, Kim CH, He K, et al: A process for the isolation and
purfication of Lepidium meyenii. Patent pending, 1999.
4. National Clinical Test Procedure, FDA of China, 1998.
5. Hermann M, and Heller J: Andean Roots and Tubers: Ahipa, Arracacha,
Maca and Yacon, Rome, IPGRI, 1997, pp 175-195.
6. Cobo B: Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles
81: 430,1956.
7. Riuz H: Relaci—n historia del viaje a los reinos del Perœ y
Chile, 1777-1778, Madrid Acad. De Ciene Exaetas: Fis y Nat 1:
526,1952.
8. Pulgar VJ: Las Maca Lepidium sp. Poderoso feeundante vegetal. La
voz de Huancayo 24: 10, 1964.
9. Johns T: The anu and the maca. J Ethnobiol 1: 208-212, 1981.
TOP
KEY: SE = standard error; L = low dose; M = medium dose; H = high
dose.
Low dose, 45 mg/kg; medium dose, 180 mg/kg; high dose, 1800 mg/kg. A
statistical method of one-way analysis of variance was used.
Two animals each were considered outliers in the surgical control,
M01H, and M02H groups.
* Probability = not significant. P <0.05 by pairwise comparison
results with the surgical control group.
From Pure World Botanicals, Inc., South Hackensack, New Jersey;
Shenyang Medical College, Shenyang; Liaoning College of Traditional
Chinese Medicine, Shenyang, Liaoning; and Chinese Academy of Preventive
Medicine, Beijing, PeopleÕs Republic of China Reprint requests; Qun Yi
Zheng, Ph.D., Pure World Botanicals, Inc., 375 Huyler Street, South
Hackensack, NJ 07606 Submitted: July 14, 1999, accepted (with
revisions): October 20,1999 © 2000, Elsevier Science Inc.
Whether
discussions today are about estrogen replacement therapy, increasing
male potency, or improving other hormonal functions, the solutions
mentioned are generally drugs currently on the market. Lately, however,
we've been hearing marvelous reports about a hearty plant root
cultivated high in the andes of Peru. Known as “maca”, this ancient
nutritional source and efficacious endocrine system remedy is being
dispensed by health professionals as a safe and natural substitute for
drugs. Maca, in fact, has been used by Peruvian consumers for many
centuries, from before the time of the Incas.
Promoting
the introduction of maca into the United States market, Viana Muller,
Ph.D., is cofounder and President of New World Botanical's, a New York
City-based company which manufactures and imports there own product.
“Once
in a decade an herb used by native peoples for thousands of years comes
to our attention and it seems so important to health that we wonder how
we ever got along without it before,” says Dr. Muller. “Maca is that
kind of herb.”
“Now women have an alternative to hormone replacement therapy
[HRT],” Dr. Muller continued. “Maca works in an entirely different
and more satisfactory way for most women than the phytoestrogenic herbs
like black cohosh and licorice root. These herbs have become popular
with menopausal women who refuse to take the drugs of HRT.”
"And men, too, find in maca an herb that will counteract the
difficulties they may experience in maintaining good sexual
relationships as they age, due to a general slowing down in the output
of the endocrine glands," said Dr. Muller.
TOP
Maca's cultivation goes back perhaps five millennia. It was an
integral part of the diet and commerce of the high Andes regions. When
they controlled that certain South American area, the Incas found maca
so potent that they restricted its use to their Royalty's court. Upon
overrunning the Inca people, conquering Spaniards became aware of this
plant's value and collected tribute in maca roots for export to Spain.
Maca was used as an energy enhancer and for nutrition by the Spanish
Royalty as well. But eventually knowledge of maca's special qualities
died out, being preserved only in a few remote Peruvian communities.1
In the 1960s and later in the 1980s, German and North American
scientists researching botanicals in Peru, rekindled interest in maca
through nutritional analyses of what was designated as "the lost
crops of the Andes." The publication of a book by that name
introduced maca to the world.2
At an international conference in 1991, the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recommended that Peruvians
should return to eating traditional, native Andean foods. Maca was
included in the FAO list as a means of combating nutritional problems
being caused by people switching to processed foods and high-sugar
drinks. The reintroduction of maca has established healthy eating once
again in the Peruvian diet.
Proteins, as polypeptides, make up 11% of the
dry maca root and 14% of whole maca paste. Calcium makes up 10% of
maca's mineral count. Magnesium and potassium are also present in
significant amounts. Other maca minerals include iron, silica, and
traces of iodine, manganese, zinc, copper, and sodium. Starch, a
hexosane polysaccharide in maca, contains the triple minerals, calcium,
phosphorus, and iron.
Vitamins found in maca comprise thiamin, riboflavin and ascorbic acid.
Carbohydrates, coming from maca's cellulose and lignin, are
polyholosides.
Amino acid proteins in maca include aspartic acid, glutamic acid,
serine, histidine, glycine, threonine, cystine, alanine, arginine,
tyrosine, phenylalanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, lysine,
tryptophan, proline, hoproline, and sarcosine.
These investigations on the food content of maca were carried out in
1979 at the Institute of Nutrition in Lima.
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The scientist responsible for most of the
current knowledge of the maca plant is Gloria Chacon de Popivici, PhD, a
Peruvian biologist trained at the University of San Marcos, in Lima,
Peru. Dr. Chacon wrote her dissertation in the early l960’s on the
maca root, and did groundbreaking work on the plant by discovering a new
species. By analyzing its chemical actives, she pinpointed their
hormonal effects.
Dr. Chacon also authored a book describing the root's nourishing
micronutrients: La importance de Lepidium peruvianum Chacon (Maca) en la
Alimentacion y Salud del ser Humano y Animal 2,000 Ados Antes y Despues
de Cristo y en el Siglo XXI. Published in Lima, in 1997, the book is a
definitive study on maca and discusses its use from 8000 BC to the
present and into the 21st century.3
Having become interested in the almost extinct maca root in 1960 as an
undergraduate biology student at the University of Lima, Dr. Chacon went
on to do extensive research. During a botanical field trip to the
Central Highlands of her native Peru, she encountered an amazing and
little-known plant whose root, she learned from the local population,
had powerful energizing and fertility effects.
A search of botanical literature revealed that a plant closely
resembling maca had been identified in 1843 by the German botanist,
Walpers. He called it Lepidium meyenii Walpers, but the plant he
described was a perennial without the same medicinal effects as Peruvian
maca. It grows in parts of Bolivia and Chile. The young student was
excited to realize that she had located and identified a new species,
which she called Lepidium peruvianum Chacon. It is a classification
accepted by major herbariums in the United States and Europe as a true
new species. Curiously, in Peru it is still called by the erroneous
name, Lepidium meyenii Walpers.4
This biologist/author has done the most
important scientific work to date on the maca plant. In particular, Dr.
Chacon isolated four alkaloids from the maca root and carried out animal
studies with male and female rats given either powdered maca root or
alkaloids isolated from the roots. In comparison with the animal control
groups, those receiving either root powder or alkaloids showed multiple
egg follicle maturation in females and, in males, significantly higher
sperm production and motility rates than control groups.
Dr. Chacon established that it was the alkaloids in the maca root, not
its plant hormones, that produced fertility effects on the ovaries and
testes of the rats. “These effects are measurable within 72 hours of
dosing the animals,” she offered in a recent telephone interview from
Lima, Peru. Through the experiments, she deduced that the alkaloids were
acting on the hypothalamus-pituitary axis, which explains why both male
and female rats were affected in a gender-appropriate manner. This also
explains why the effects in humans are not limited to ovaries and
testes, but also act on the adrenals, giving a feeling of greater energy
and vitality, and on the pancreas and thyroid as well.5
“Implications of Dr. Chacon's discovery of the pituitary stimulating
effects of maca are enormous,” Dr. Muller said when I spoke to her
recently. “What it appears to mean is that hormone replacement
therapy, even the natural varieties, Will no longer be the gold standard
for optimizing health from a holistic point of view.”
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Now practicing complementary medicine with an
emphasis on the use of medicinal herbs, one of the earliest modern
pioneers in the therapeutic use of this ancient herb for an urban
population is Hugo Malaspina, MD, a respected cardiologist in Lima. Dr.
Malaspina has been using the maca root in his practice for a decade and
makes the following observation: “There are different medicinal plants
that work on the ovaries by stimulating them. With maca, though, we
should say that it ‘regulates’ the ovarian function.”
Dr. Malaspina, who uses maca therapy for both his male and female
patients, recalls that he first heard about this extraordinary herb
through a group of elderly gentlemen who, while well along in years were
still lively and interested in enjoying sexual activities. “One of
this group (they were all over 70) started taking maca and found he was
able to perform satisfactorily in a sexual relationship with a lady
friend. Soon everyone in the group began drinking the powered maca as a
beverage and enjoying the boost that the root was giving their hormonal
functions. I have several of these men as patients, and their
improvement prompted me to find out more about maca and begin
recommending it to my other patients,” Dr. Malaspina stated.
What makes maca so effective, according to Dr. Malaspina, is that rather
than introducing hormones from outside the body, maca encourages the
ovaries and other glands to produce the needed hormones. The
cardiologist-turned-holistic physician said, “Maca regulates the
organs of internal secretion, such as the pituitary, the adrenal glands,
the pancreas, etc. I have had perhaps 200 female patients whose
perimenopausal and postmenopausal symptoms are alleviated by taking
maca.”
Another Peruvian pioneer in the therapeutic application of maca
integrated into a modern medical practice is Jorge Aguila Calderon, MD.
An internist, Dr. Aguila Calderon is former Chief of the Department of
Biological Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Human Medicine at the
National University of Federico Villarreal in Lima. Like Dr. Malaspina,
he prescribes maca for a wide variety of conditions, including
osteoporosis and the healing of bone fractures in the very elderly.
“Maca has a lot of easily absorbable calcium in it, plus magnesium, and
a fair amount of silica which we are finding very useful in treating the
decalcification of bones in children and adults.”
Along with prescribing an excellent diet and certain lifestyle changes,
Dr. Aguila Calderon has helped patients overcome male impotence, male
sterility, and female sterility by employing maca therapy. Additional
problems he treats with maca are rickets, various forms of anemia,
menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats, climacteric
and erectile difficulties in men, premature aging, and general states of
weakness such as chronic fatigue.
Physicians in the United States believe this herb has the potential of a
balanced answer to the effects of aging on the endocrine system. Many
who have tried phytoestrogens and/or precursor hormones such as DHEA or
pregnenolone, or even natural hormone replacement therapy and have been
dissatisfied, are getting excellent results from their use of maca root.
Gabriel Cousens, MD, practicing internal medicine in Patagonia, Arizona,
says, “Whenever possible, I prefer to use maca therapy rather than
hormone replacement therapy because HRT actually ages the body by
diminishing the hormone producing capability of the glands. Maca has
proven to be very effective with menopausal patients in eliminating hot
flashes and depression and in increasing energy levels. To find the
right dosage level, sometimes I have started the patient on maca
treatment with a half a teaspoon of powder or three capsules a day. In
some cases I have raised the dosage to a teaspoon or six capsules a day
for full effectiveness.”
TOP
Maca root, in keeping with its mode of acting through the hypothalamus
and pituitary, has a balancing and nourishing effect on the adrenal
glands. Henry Campanile, MD, a 50-year old specialist in internal and
family/complementary medicine practicing in St. Petersburg, Florida,
relates: “I happen to have been born with one adrenal gland just like my
father. I started taking cortisone in my late twenties to relieve the
fatigue which I was already feeling. Knowing the dangers of long term
cortisone use, I looked around for an alternative, and this circumstance
is what got me interested in complementary medicine. I started using
pregnenelone about 10 years ago and it has been fairly satisfactory. But
one of my patients told me about Maca™, and I started taking it about a
month ago. It is phenomenal! I haven't felt this good since I was 20
years old. I have so much energy and look so well, my patients have
remarked on it and told me how rested I seem. I've got so much energy
now I've started an exercise program."
After trying it out on himself, Dr. Campanile began using maca with his
patients. “My first patient to take the maca capsules was experiencing
hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. She started feeling much
better after using this herb for only four days. I'm also employing it
with patients who have low adrenal function.”
Garry
F. Gordon, MD, former president of the American College for Advancement
in Medicine, now Founder and President of the International College of
advanced Longevity Medicine, located in Chicago, Illinois, bases his
appreciation of maca on his own experience with it. Speaking with me
from Payson, Arizona, Dr. Gordon said, “We all hear rumors about various
products like maca. But using this Peruvian root myself, I personally
experienced a significant improvement in erectile tissue response. I
call it ‘nature’s answer to Viagra™.”
“What I see in maca is a means of normalizing our steroid hormones like
testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen. Therefore it has facility to
forestall the hormonal changes of aging,” Dr. Gordon believes. “It acts
on men to restore them to a healthy functional status in which they
experience a more active libido. Lots of men and women who previously
believed their sexual problems were psychological are now clearly going
to look for something physiological to improve quality of life in the
area of sexuality,” says Dr. Gordon. “Of course, as someone interested
in longevity, I'm aware that mortality comes on much sooner for those
individuals whose sexual activity is diminished or nonexistent. In other
words, I believe that people who engage in sex twice a week or more live
longer. I've found sexual activity to be a reliable marker for overall
aging.”
Burton Goldberg, President of Future Medicine
Publishing in Tiburon, California, whose latest book is An Alternative
Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer, is another enthusiast of maca. He
says that when he tried maca he was very pleased with the results and
began taking it regularly. “I'm a 72 year old man and this maca has
taken 25 years off my aging sex life,” declares Burton Goldberg. “That's
pretty important to me!”
Dr Garry Gordon is concerned about reproductive problems in today's
world. “Society faces a huge problem of dropping sperm counts and sex
hormone difficulties. But maca furnishes a nontoxic solution with no
downside effects. It's a therapy that appears to offer men and women the
chance for hormonal rejuvenation,” concludes Dr. Gordon. “We currently
live in an era in which almost everyone will be doing something to deal
with the hormonal consequences of aging. And Maca is now readily
available."
1. Vavilov, N. 1. The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of
Cultivated Plants. (Waltham, Massachusetts: Smithsonian Institute,
1957) p. 364.
2. King, S.R. “Four endemic Andean tuber crops: Promising food resources
for agricultural diversification.” Mountain Research and
Development. 7(l):432, 1987.
3 . Chacon de Popvici, G. La importancia de Lepidium peruvianum
Chacon (Maca) en la Alimentacion y Salud del ser Humano y Animal
2,000 Anos Antes y Despues de Cristo y en el Siglo XXI. Peru, 1997.
4. Chacon, R.C., “Estudio fitoquimico de Lepidium meyenii Walp.” Thesis
Universidad Nacional. Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru, 1961, p, 43.5.
Dini, A., et al, “Chemical Composition of Lepidium mayenii.”
Food Chemistry. 49:347-349, 1994.
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