What is Maca?

Maca has been around for thousands of years in the herbal medicine world, but has gained a ton of traction recently for all of its amazing medicinal properties – including how great it is for hormone health. 

Maca has lots of boastful properties including its new recognition as a superfood, how it impacts hormones, it’s antioxidants and micronutrient profile, and it’s adaptogenic qualities. 

Maca root is a cruciferous vegetable, which is the same family as broccoli, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts.  This family of vegetables strongly impact the liver’s ability to filter out toxins and excess hormones more efficiently.  

An adaptogenic herb means that it helps your body adapt to stressors in your life such as a busy schedule or emotionally stressful time.  They also increase your resilience to stress. 

Maca Root Benefits

1. Balances Estrogen Levels

Maca root balances out estrogen levels in the body.  Estrogen is one of your primary sex hormones that control your reproductive system.  We want estrogen to be at the right amount in our body – when it’s either high or low, there are symptoms associated that affect the way we feel on a daily basis and also our ability to ovulate and conceive.  

High estrogen levels include symptoms such as:

• Irregular periods
• PMS
• Heavy periods
• Breast tenderness
• Weight gain
• Bloating
• Pre-menstrual headaches/migraines
• Mood swings
• PCOS
• Ovarian cysts and fibroids

Low estrogen levels include symptoms such as:

• Vaginal dryness
• Low libido
• Hot flashes
• Night sweats
• Anxiety
• Insomnia

Maca root balances the amount of estrogen in the body helping both menopausal symptoms associated with low estrogen and the symptoms of high estrogen.

2. Rich in Antioxidants and Micronutrients

Maca root is now coined a superfood, which means that it has lots of great vitamins and minerals to support our body. 

Antioxidants help to ward off free radicals that can be harmful in your body, cause chronic disease and damage our cells.  Glutathione is our master antioxidant, so anything to boost that is deemed very helpful in your overall health and disease prevention.

There have been studies that show when participants are given maca root, there antioxidant profile improves, but it also lowers cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar and reduces risk of heart disease.   

3. Boosts Energy Levels, Mood and Brain Fog/Memory

People that take maca root say that it makes them feel more alert, have stable energy without feeling jittery, and productive. 

This study shows that women who take maca root have decreased levels of depression in post-menopausal women. 

It likely has these benefits because it helps to regulate blood sugar and is also an adaptogenic herb, which wards off the effects of stress on your body and supports your adrenal glands.  When our blood sugar rises and falls all day, the results can make us have energy crashes. 

When your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol and adrenaline due to withstanding too much stress, that can also make us feel the “tired but wired” feeling.

4. Boosts Libido

There is evidence that maca root for women improves sex drive.  The study shows that women who took maca root showed an improvement in their libido. 

Maca root re-balances female hormones which will result in a positive effect on the libido.

Maca root has also shown that it can increase their libido as well as improving their sperm quality and motility, which is imperative to overall fertility and the chance of conception.

How To Use Maca Root?

Due to it’s increased popularity, maca is now readily available through most health food stores and online retailers. 

There are also several ways to use maca root including maca powder, gelatinized maca, single herb maca pills, or we can get it in a blend with other herbs to support female hormonal health.  

It’s popular to have maca root in a supplement with other supporting herbs as well, but you should work with a licensed healthcare provider to know which blend would be right for you and your symptoms of hormonal imbalance.

The doses are large – generally between 1-20 g daily so start with what the individual supplement you purchased says to do.

Contraindications

There are a few types of people that should avoid taking maca root.  If you have hypothyroidism, you might want to consult a healthcare professional because it can considered a goitrogen which can impair your thyroid.  

People that are taking hormone-altering medications such as post-breast cancer treatment should avoid maca root.