That's how people refer to maca, a plant that is grown at over 4,000 meters above sea level in the Andean region, mainly in Peru, and whose root has been consumed in that area since 8,000 BC, according to records from the seventeenth century and several researchers. Despite growing in inhospitable areas, maca is available to everyone. It is not difficult to find it in powdered form in health food stores. It is also sold online and has a price that ranges between US $25 and US $35 for 500 grams. It has become so popular that exports of Peruvian maca increased by 109% between 2013 and 2014, and only last year totalled $28.7 million dollars.
This growth has led authorities to create Promaca, an entity to professionalize producers, boost supply internationally, and encourage its industrialization process. "As an industry, we take the challenge of supporting the development and international promotion of maca, our flagship product," said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Magali Silva Velarde-Alvarez, on February 12 after signing an inter-institutional cooperation with the aim.
"Peru produces between 90% and 95% of the maca sold internationally, but it is also produced at a much smaller scale in Bolivia and Ecuador," William Arteaga, coordinator of the Department of Agribusiness PromPeru, the Commission for the Promotion of Peru Export and Tourism, told BBC. "According to the news, China is also producing maca, it imported seeds and it is planting them," he said. "However, it is a hermetic country and we have no information regarding that."
The export format with the highest growth was powdered Peruvian maca (which amounted to US $17 million in 2014), 111% over the previous year, and accounted for 58% of maca shipments to the world. Maca is also sold as a whole, in pieces or in capsules. The main destination markets were the United States (US $ 9.7 million), Hong Kong (US $5.3 million), China (US $5 million) and Japan (US $1.49 million).
According to Arteaga, these figures are partly due to the promotion and presence in specialized events such as food supplement fairs, but especially because the maca's good properties have been demonstrated. Gustavo F. Gonzales Rengifo, a biologist and endocrinologist, director of the Laboratory of Endocrinology and Reproduction at the Faculty of Sciences and Philosophy of the Cayetano Heredia University in Peru is an expert in those properties. Gonzales specializes in reproductive health in height, reproductive physiology, medicinal plants, and environmental and occupational health.
Energizer and anxiolytic
"In 2001 we discovered that maca improved both male and female fertility," he said. "And in 2005 we realized that the different varieties, colors, have different properties." Based on this discovery, the Height Research Institute began to investigate the qualities of two maca varieties, namely the black and red maca.
Throughout different research, "we realized that the black variety favored memory and learning. It increased sperm count and mobility, had energizing properties and, in general, decreased anxiety states," he said.
"As for the red variety, we found that it could reverse osteoporosis, among other things," he said. The expert said they had conducted these studies in animals, but that other parts of the world had developed similar studies in humans with similar results.
In 2010, however, they investigated the results of maca consumption in people. They did it in the Central Andes of Peru, a region that produces the plant. Scientists took a sample of 1,000 people in the area, and compared the health of those who did not consume maca with those who consumed it. The score achieved by consumers over 75 years old was so high it seemed they had not aged, said Gonzales.
Aphrodisiac, not viagra
Based on these studies, and their own experience, several naturopathic practitioners and doctors treat their patients with maca. Some prescribe it for insomnia, fatigue or anxiety, as well as a complement to hormone therapy during menopause or to increase the libido.
"We found that it does enhances sexual desire," Gonzales said, referring to one of the many investigations undertaken on maca. Thus, one could say it is an aphrodisiac. "However, it does not benefit people with erectile dysfunction, as is often stated," he added.
The research conducted so far on the toxicological aspects of the South American herb, uña de gato, (Uncaria tomentosa) and maca (Lepedium meyenii) concluded that they showed little toxicity in laboratory animals.
"No toxicity"
Ten years later, Gonzales insists on the same. "We haven't found anything that shows it's toxic," he said. As an example, he said, the inhabitants of the Central Andes consume 40 to 50 grams of maca root per day, "30 times more than what people who buy maca in capsules or powder at a store does, and it hasn't been hazardous for them," he said.
According to our studies, he continued, we can't speak of contraindications. "Much of the negative effects people talk about have not been scientifically proven," he said, referring to the popular belief that maca should not be given to pregnant women, children, or people with hypertension. He adds: "Until 2000, people said hypertensive patients shouldn't consume it, but we found that it lowers blood pressure."
The expert believes that the plants' virtues are due to the hostile conditions in which it grows. "It grows 4,000 meters above sea level, where nothing grows. It's been cultivated for at least 2600 years so we know it has survived all that time. It has developed chemicals that have allowed it survive," he said. And it is those chemicals that consumers are increasingly demanding, and which have made maca a natural hot item.
Source: BBC / North Journal