The amazing Super food - Maca
There are indeed a handful of foods that can rightly be called “ Super Foods “ due to their greater than normal amounts of high quality nutrients present in their makeup. These “ Super Foods “ offer people an opportunity to help their bodies get healthier and stronger by aiding the body to both heal and protect itself. Prevention thus become a most powerful tool that we can all begin to adopt now. Proper food as well as exercise and growth of Spirit are all needed and must begin to work together as the new recipe for a healthy life. Maca is a wonderful food that must surely take its rightful place as one of the premium “ Super Foods “ available to us.
Maca has a long history as a wondrous food in South America. Found growing only in the very remote and high Andes regions of Peru and Bolivia, the primary maca cultivation area is more or less limited to the puna agro-ecological zone of the central region of the Peruvian Andes, namely the Junin province. Very few plants of any kind grow in this region, not even weeds can survive here. The environment is harsh at 4,000- 4500 m (12,800- 14,400 ft). It is a beautiful but stark region where only some low growing grasses and bitter potatoes can survive. The mighty maca plant however, thrives here. High violent winds, frost, searing sunlight, hot and cold temperature extremes and air low in oxygen are the characteristics that make up the climate of this region. Along with this harsh climate, the soil in this region is fairly poor and rocky for most plants to grow in but it never the less is very rich in minerals and trace elements ,indigenous to this area. It is maca's intake of these impressive compounds that allows it to be one of the most nourishing foods known to man.
 What is maca?
Maca is an annual plant grown primarily for its root. It's botanical classification is as follows:
Division - FANEROGRAM
Sub-Division - ANGIOSPERMAE
Class - DICOTYLEDONEAE
Order - ROHEDALE
Family - CRUCIFERAE (BRASSICACEAE)
Gender - LEPIDIUM
Species - Lepidium Peruvianum, Lepidium meyenii
Common names - Maca
Maca grows similarly in size and proportion to the turnip and radish, to which it is related. As it is an annual plant, its seeds are its only means of reproduction.
Maca's role as a food in South American history
The use of maca has early archaeological
origins dating back to 1,600 BC but the maca plant seems to have
been domesticated by the Incas approximately 2000 years ago. It
was considered a gift from the gods by the Peruvian Indians. Not
only was it used as a nutritional food and traded for other foods
grown at the lower elevations, the Andean highlanders depended
on maca to counteract permanent fatigue caused by altitude and
the lack of oxygen. It was used to build physical strength and
mental agility in Inca warriors before going into battle. It was also used
as herbal medicine and as a hallucinogen in religious ceremonies.
The Spanish livestock, after the conquest of Peru, was actually
saved from poor fertility problems in the highlands, once they
were fed maca. When the Spanish realized maca's importance, it
was even used as a form of money, as payment for taxes by the
Peruvians to the Spanish.
One can only come to the conclusion that maca was (and still is) very important as a nutritional food for its indigenous population. Its benefits were well known from early times Peruvians and are only now being discovered by the Western world.
Plant Chemicals in Maca
The nutritional value of dried maca root is very high. It contains 60-70% carbohydrates, 10-14% protein, 8.5% fiber and 2.2% lipids. Protein is in the form of polypeptides and amino acids and the amino acid profile is quite extensive. Maca also contains calcium, potassium, iron, good levels of essential fatty acids and other vitamins and minerals. If these properties are not enough to catch one's attention, the latest maca research has shown that it is also a storehouse of biologically active compounds.
Maca contains:
macamides & macaenes – the 2 powerful major active components unique to maca and standardized
aromatic isothiocyanates – a natural preservative and insecticide
p-methoxybenzyl isothiocyanate - aphrodisiac
glucosinolates – cancer preventative compounds
natural sterols – energy and strength building compounds
alkaloids
tannins
saponins
leukoanthocyanates
Research into maca and its nutritional value is ongoing. Excellent information can be further viewed and studied ( search for “maca” or “lepidium meyenii”) from websites such as Pub Med:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Entrez Pub Med is a service of the U.S National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. |
