An adaptogenic plant
Maca is an extract of a Brassica-family plant, found in the Andes of Peru. Its traditional uses include helping the body adapt to stress, helping with symptoms of menopause, and supporting sexual function. Maca's active ingredients are four compounds known as alkaloids which act on the endocrine glands to balance the effects of steroid hormones including estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

Support for balanced hormones
Maca's effects appear to be specific to the age, sex and neuroendocrine condition of each individual. It raises levels of hormones that are too low, and lowers levels of those that are excessively high. As an adaptogen, Maca helps to fight stress and increase energy. It also helps to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose. In men, Maca helps to maintain sexual function. In women, it helps to normalize menopause and premenstrual symptoms.

A natural solution
Maca is a natural balancer of steroid hormones. Its effects help the body to regulate its own production of natural sex hormones. AOR's Maca comes from an ecologically responsible, pesticide-free source.

Maca (Lepidium peruvium chacon), a plant native to Peru, is a cruciferous plant whose roots are eaten as a vegetable by the native peoples. Along with a rich mineral content, Maca contains four alkaloids -- the so-called macainas -- which clinical and anecdotal experience suggests may nourish the endocrine glands in an adaptogenic fashion. That is, by balancing the effects of major steroid hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, Maca may create effects that are specific to the age and neuroendocrine condition of the individual, elevating low levels of some hormones while lowering levels of hormones present in excess. It is thus reported by some clinicians that Maca assists in the maintenance of male sexual function, can be helpful in normalizing menopausal and premenstrual symptoms, including helping to maintain bone structure, fights stress and increases energy, and helps maintain healthy blood glucose levels.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in healthy men aged 21-56 found that supplementation with Maca for 8-12 weeks improved sexual desire.

Animal experiments give some insight into Maca's remarkable effects. It was found that, compared to control animals, rodents fed either maca root powder or isolated macainas showed greater follicle maturation (females) and higher sperm production (males) within three days of testing. It is believed that macainas mechanism of action involves the hypothalamo-pituitary axis, resulting in gender¬specific increases in sex hormone secretion and also adrenal stimulation. If correct, this hypothesis would mean that persons taking Maca are actually increasing endogenous production of their natural sex hormones -- a significant improvement over supplying such hormones externally through HRT or even phytoestrogens. Indeed, this might conceivably result from increased hypothalamic sensitivity, the loss of which is believed by some to be a major cause of aging.

AOR's Maca is grown in an environment free of pesticides and fertilizers. The harvesting process is socially as well as ecologically responsible: the root is purchased directly from traditional cattle herders in the Andes. The decision-making process on land use is communitarian/consensus-based, with the communal council having final say on crop planting and harvesting. This allows these peoples to retain aspects of their traditional culture while integrating to a necessary degree into the prevailing cash economy.