Maca Root Benefits for Hormones, Fertility & More

So, just to clarify everyone’s confusion – if we purchased Raw Maca Powder – the reap the benefits fully, it should be cooked/baked/ toasted prior to ingestion. Otherwise, purchasing a processed gelatinized form of Maca, ready for ingestion, is recommended for the same benefits?

Hi, Mama!
Just an FYI, you copied much of your info from a Natural News article, which is fine. But, you must state your sources. Otherwise, you could get in trouble for plagiarism. From one Mama to another.
Nice site 🙂

I have been using raw maca powder for the past 6 weeks or so- usually in my morning yogurt or oatmeal-only a teaspoon or so. About 2 weeks ago, I started with (what I thought was) a stomach virus–pain in stomach, nauseous and frequent trips to the bathroom. It has been non-stop ever since and I am now being tested for various ailments, including celiac and crohns. In reading these posts, I am wondering if it could be a side effect of taking maca? My husband has been using it also–with no problems. Has anyone else experienced this issue while taking maca?

Pls where can I get Maca in Nigeria? Ibadan Oyo state to be precise and how much is it?

I bumped into maca root powder accidentally & decided to try it – as a food source. Tried it with all the healthy goodies I add to my salads. Is best in the creamy ones as it tends to soak up all the liquid. I like it added to my boiled mashed breakfast egg along with avocado & mild curry powder – ok I admit I have strange taste buds! Maca root powder reminds me a bit of corn starch with a light sweet flavour. I especially like to add it to my homemade chocolate treats – it helps prevent the coconut oil from separating from the cocoa & other goodies as I’m making it.

Not sure if this has been addressed or not, but I use maca powder in my oatmeal every morning. My 2 1/2 yr old son LOVES to eat my breakfast and always ends up eating more than a few bites of it. Is this something to be concerned about with the maca in there? I use about a tsp of powder in 1/2 a cup of oatmeal with cocoa oil and almond butter and other yummy stuff…

Hi, i just bought maca powder and Raspberry leaf tea, but a have a question, can i take both at the same time?? , or should i take just one? Thank you

Katie,
While looking to purchase maca, I came across this review posted on Amazon. I think that it carries some important information that users should be aware. It’s rather lengthy. I had seen a similar warning about maca on Amazon from another reviewer. It was posted at Navitas Naturals Organic Raw Maca Powder, 16-Ounce Pouches

“Maca powder = maca flour. I have cooked with maca flour ten years, as a baking and cooking ingredient/flavoring. In Peru, maca flour, or “harina de maca” is a relatively cheap regional culinary flour. Raw Reform is a great specimen of this culinary flour; ideal for cooking, an excellent nutty flavor, it’s bitterness subsiding with heat. A decade ago I could buy ‘harina de maca’ for $8/kg (and in Peru, it’s a mere $2-4/kg) – now I see this same inexpensive Peruvian cooking flour sold as a “raw superfood” at an inflated price. It’s very odd to have witnessed this metamorphosis.

The reason I gave this ONE star is simple – this company (among several others) suggests that you to eat this flour raw. Like other cruciferous roots, maca can be particularly difficult to digest when raw. Not only is it fiber-dense, it contains lots of goitrogenic compounds (a term which means ‘thyroid-interfering,’ not “goiter causing”) – that’s why the raw root and it’s flour is so bitter – it’s no wonder people have digestive issues and occasional hormonal (thyroid) complaints with raw maca. The one time I ate it raw, I experienced the stomachache too. Maca is dense in fiber and thyroid inhibiting/goitrogenic compounds (glucosinolates and isothyocyanates), both of which are lessened greatly or deactivated by heat. Among the people who grow it, maca is not considered healthy unless cooked. It is therefore a great paradox that the “raw food” crowd has gotten hold of this vegetable that has always been, and by all accounts always should be cooked. This supplement is being backed by people whose basic food philosophy avoids the plant’s very identity in human use. It would be like eating turnip flour, raw (except maca can even more bitter than this, in fact most of the lepidiums are). Back into antiquity, maca has had to be cooked in order to be gentle on digestion, on metabolism, and it has been cooked traditionally for this purpose.

I have used the raw maca flour in cooking since 2002 where I first read about it in Chris Kilham’s book “Tales from the Medicine Trail” and began following an interest in this ancient food. I do use raw maca flour for cooking, baking, in pancakes, confections, etc. Where you can get it inexpensively, it is excellent for such uses. For therapeutic effects and everyday drink mix usage, presently I employ a ‘black gelatinized’ maca – it seems to be the strongest type energetically and for sexual effects, and ‘black root’ is my personal preference. ‘Gelatinized’ means that it’s soluble fibers have been neutralized (broken down), and it’s goitrogens denatured – it is a little more concentrated over the powder / flour. Naturally, it is less bitter than any uncooked flour product. The gelatinized processing was developed specifically to address the digestion/goitrogen issue inherent with the root. That’s the process’ entire purpose – that’s why it even exists. Several different companies employ a starch gelatinization processing method for maca.

The trend in “health food” circles says to eat maca raw, in order to glean the mood, stamina, and sexual benefits which Andean people have known for thousands of years. These merchants never mention how the plant has always been prepared – cooked – perhaps the most crucial aspect of it’s identity. Why argue from antiquity about all the health benefits, while ignoring the food’s ethnobotany? It’s a mix of mistaken understanding, and because there’s profit in re-selling a highly marked up culinary flour. I see $20.00 – $25.00 a pound slapped on maca flour in health food stores — on a product which can be found $2-4 a kilogram in Peru ($1.36 – $1.81/lb!). This is precisely why some regional foods / surpluses suddenly become “superfoods.” In maca’s case there is a genuine positive effect being felt… so, like the mood boost one feels with coffee, maca is an easy sell.

Pay a price of $20/lb only for the gelatinized product, which has actually been processed for immediate consumption. Do not pay this for a re-packed culinary flour.

I love maca! I heat up a cup of milk, add a bit of honey, some vanilla extract and a tablespoon of maca powder and whisk very well. Makes a very tasty evening drink!