Maca – a Root from the Mountains

1. What Is It Actually?

Maca is a plant. It grows as a small plant with a root that looks a bit like a small turnip. This root is what people harvest and like.

Now comes the big question: what is a natural substance actually? Imagine you build yourself a bicycle. You take individual parts and put them together. A plant does something similar, only without tools. From light, water and air it builds many different substances in its leaves and roots. These substances are called natural substances. They did not arise in a factory, but in the plant itself.

A plant such as maca therefore contains not just a single substance, but a whole mixture of many. Some of them give the root its taste, some its smell. Researchers try to find out which substance does what. That is not so easy, because in such a root everything occurs mixed together – a bit like in a soup in which many ingredients swim together.

2. Where Does It Come From?

Maca comes from the mountains of Peru. There people have known and used the root for a long time. One study describes exactly this path: a plant from the mountains of Peru that has moved from tradition into science.

“Tradition” means: people pass something on over many generations, from grandparents to parents and to children. “Science” means: researchers try something out, compare it and write down exactly what they observed.

Thus a root that is at home in the mountains has become a topic for laboratories and hospitals. The people on site were there first. Their knowledge about the plant is the beginning of the story.

3. What Do Researchers Investigate?

There are over one hundred studies on maca. In 27 of them researchers worked with humans, and 18 of them were comparative studies.

What does “comparative” mean? One group receives maca, another group receives something else. Afterwards the researchers look to see whether there is a difference. In some studies the participants themselves do not know which group they are in – this keeps the comparison fair.

In these studies the focus was, for example, on how adults feel and whether processes in their bodies change. Some researchers found a difference, some did not. In one study with healthy men a messenger substance in the blood did not change – there was no connection there. Other studies collect what is known about women in a later stage of life.

Some questions have therefore already been investigated, but many remain open. Researchers continue to work on them.

4. An Experiment to Think About

Imagine you want to find out whether a root makes adults happier. How would you go about it? Perhaps like this: one group receives a small amount with the root every day, another group receives something without it. Afterwards you ask everyone how they are doing.

You quickly notice how difficult that is. Perhaps one group only feels better because it believes the root works. That is why researchers often do not tell the participants who receives what. And they need many people so that the comparison says something – and a lot of time.

What would you ask so that you really notice whether there is a difference?

For adults and professionals: the detailed page on maca (Lepidium meyenii).