Maca. A superfood from the Andes that packs a punch in energy, stamina, fertility, and mental wellbeing.
Maca has been a revered Andean dietary staple with a rich history that transcends thousands of years, and whose benefits are backed by both ancient wisdom and modern science.
An essential in my daily routine, Maca root is an exceptional source of protein, fiber, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals but its secret lies in its distinctive bioactive compounds - Macaene and Macamide. Tune in as we unearth the secrets of Maca root.
Find episode links, notes and artwork at:
https://blog.dirobi.com
This show is for informational purposes only.
None of the information in this podcast should be construed as dispensing medical advice.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Maca. A superfood from the Andes that packs a punch in energy, stamina, fertility, and mental wellbeing.
Maca has been a revered Andean dietary staple with a rich history that transcends thousands of years, and whose benefits are backed by both ancient wisdom and modern science.
An essential in my daily routine, Maca root is an exceptional source of protein, fiber, essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals but its secret lies in its distinctive bioactive compounds - Macaene and Macamide. Tune in as we unearth the secrets of Maca root.
Find episode links, notes and artwork at:
https://blog.dirobi.com
This show is for informational purposes only.
None of the information in this podcast should be construed as dispensing medical advice.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Hello and welcome to the DiRuby Health Show. I've been doing this podcast a long time and just can't believe I've never done this particular episode before. Why? Because I'm going to talk about the wonders of Makarut and I take Makarut every single day of my life. I have for a long time, but I don't believe it's ever come up on the show. It might have been mentioned once or twice, but unless my memory is completely letting me down which is possible I don't believe I've ever done a deep dive into Maka, its history, health benefits, why you should include it in your own diet.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing product. It comes from the Andes. It's got a thousands of years old history. I think I said that wrong, but you get the idea. It's scientifically known as Lepidium Mayeni. It's a traditional food crop with a really rich history, as I mentioned, over thousands of years. It's native to the Andean region of Peru and if any of you have ever hiked in Peru Machu Picchu or anything and you've watched those guys, those Sherpas, I don't know, do they come Sherpas in Peru? I don't know, I've never done it myself, but my friends tell me that those guys haul a pack on their back that's bigger than they are and take tourists up those mountains and the tourists are dying. And those guys climb like mountain goats and have amazing endurance and strength. Is that all due to Maka? No, but a little bit probably is.
Speaker 1:Maka is something that is treated almost as sacred in that region. It's a dietary staple. Now we know about it for at least 2000 years, anyways, from historical records and tradition that has been an essential part of the Peruvian diet. The Incas revered it for its nutritional value and potential medicinal properties. They believed it enhanced energy, stamina and fertility, and it's so valuable in that area that it has even been used as a form of currency over the years. It's a very interesting crop and, despite its long history, little is known about its origin, but the Peruvians swear by it and have used it for thousands of years. So what does modern science say? Well, when we study it, we find out that those ancient people actually were pretty darn smart. What they figured out anecdotally and from experience and their personal health tests proves to be true in the lab. It is packed with protein, fiber, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals, but what sets it apart are unique bioactive compounds known as Mikin and Makamedi. These compounds are believed to be responsible for most of the roots claimed health benefits Energy and stamina has been proven in the lab that Makka does increase energy and stamina. It's a natural health boost. Unlike caffeine, it's not as strong as caffeine. However it is a legitimate energy and stamina increase without any of the jolts or negatives or jitters of caffeine.
Speaker 1:One arena that the ancients thought it had efficacy in is fertility and reproductive health. Historically it has been used to enhance fertility in that area of the region. If a couple is having a hard time having a child, makka is one of the solutions and there have been studies on this, including a double-blind randomized pilot dose-finding study. And it does suggest that Makka can positively impact reproductive health, probably not as powerful as modern methods, but as a natural alternative, something well worth trying for couples having trouble conceiving. So there's just not a ton of research. So what we find is promising, but more research needs to be done to find out just how much efficacy Makka has on fertility.
Speaker 1:But again back to the anecdotal stuff. Many people report increased libido when taking Makka. Also, mood and mental well-being Makka has a positive effect on mood. Some studies suggest it can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. So again, a really positive benefit there and in our modern society. I think almost all of us deal with some level of anxiety and maybe a little bit of depression from time to time. This is one of the reasons why I take it every single day, for all these and other benefits. Given its nutritional profile and potential health benefits, it's no wonder that it has surged in popularity in recent years.
Speaker 1:I have used it a variety of ways. I used to buy it as a powder and mix it into drinks and whatnot, for the energy boost, reproductive benefits, overall well-being, etc. All of the above the anxiety, mood regulation. For all these reasons I've used it. Unfortunately, it doesn't taste good. Just let's put it out there. If we want to put a happy spin on it, we might call it having a, describe it as having an earthy flavor. If we're a little more negative, we might say it tastes like dirt. It is a very natural flavor, but it's not great. For this reason personal reasons as much as any others. But to also help out other people we have put 250 milligrams of maca and Mimi's Miracle Multi. So this is fantastic for me because I just swallow the pills, I don't have to taste it, and that's how I've taken my maca ever since we developed Mimi's Miracle Multi.
Speaker 1:It's another reason why some of you may wonder if you've taken our multi, why there's three fairly substantial sized capsules that you take in the morning and yet it has fewer ingredients than many other multis. And the reason for this is very clear. Most multis are designed to impress people with the label. The label has everything. It has every vitamin and every mineral and everything but the kitchen sink thrown into there and they look really good on the label and people feel like, okay, it does, crossing off all the bases. However, the fact is that we do get enough vitamins and many minerals from our diet. There's just a few that are really, really tough.
Speaker 1:So what we decided to do is, instead of having everything but the kitchen sink in Mimi's Miracle Multi, we decided to put together something that would really be effective and awesome for people over about the age of 30 and not put in anything there and that they didn't need. We felt like that was just false marketing. So some of the ingredients that are really hard to get out of diet, such as Zinc, chromium, gtf, maka is one of them we put those in other ingredients. There's only 16 ingredients in Mimi's Miracle Multi, the idea being that we teach the undiet seven principles of healthy living. People are encouraged to eat five to nine servings of veggies, and when you do that and you have a good, rounded out diet, you're going to get enough calcium and magnesium. Generally speaking, you're going to get enough vitamin C, for sure. You can test this. Of course, I recommend that you do Get nutritional blood panels done on a regular basis and then supplement those things you're missing. But what we did is the research on what's almost everyone missing and we put those in Mimi's Miracle Multi along with proactive compounds like Maka and Choline CoQ10, so that people would have something that was functional, what I consider a functional multi. So they're getting something that really makes them feel good, makes them perform better, gives them more energy and isn't just some. You know, cross off the list, I'm getting 50 vitamins and 50 minerals and I'm you know whether I need them or not. Mimi's Miracle Multi is much more targeted, including adding Maka, so you're getting 250 milligrams per day of all these benefits that I just described.
Speaker 1:If you go to blogdirobicom and search for this episode there, once we publish this, you can read the books and see the scientific studies I'm referring to. It's fairly strong. We quote from Native Food and Medicine of Peru. Maka, adaptogen and Hormonal Regulator, which is on booksgooglecom. The Chemical Composition and Health Effects of Maka from Science Direct. Lepidium Mayenne Multidirectional Health Effects Review. From Sian Do, there's a book called Medicinal Roots and Tubors for Pharmaceutical and Commercial Applications Science Direct again Maka and Indepen sorry, maka and Andean Crop with Multiformicological Functions.
Speaker 1:So there is quite a bit of research, some decent studies and 2,000 years of anecdotal evidence that maka is a fantastic thing to add to your diet. So obviously the simplest way I know of to get it is to take our Mimi's Miracle Multi, which will give you all those other benefits as well. You can also try it, as I did. You can buy it on Amazon. It's not very expensive. Get the powder, see if you can stomach the taste and add it to a green smoothie, for example, or other foods. And you know, do it however you wish. But adding some maka into your diet is probably an inexpensive but very high return type of nutritional habit for you to make.
Speaker 1:There's three what I would consider functional powders that I have in my diet, and what I mean by that is obviously like flour is a powder and a pre-workout is a powder.
Speaker 1:But as far as functional powders, there's three that I take that kind of have a very specific purpose, and one of them is maka, which I get from the Multi. Another one is psyllium husk, which I buy it's very inexpensive from Amazon and I take one tablespoon per day mixed into a drink, and that drink includes the third functional powder that I take, which is our own greens and red superfood, which fills out many of the other blanks for me, including mushrooms, which is another one. I find very hard to get a variety of mushrooms on a regular basis without them just going soggy in a drawer in the fridge and call me wimpy or lame or lazy or whatever you want. Mushrooms is another one that's way up there with maka in my mind is something that I want all the nutritional benefits from but just find it very inconvenient, and most grocery stores only carry one or two types of mushrooms and they're not the ones with the really great health benefits anyway. So I just throw that in as kind of a final kind of thing for you to think about is is there are certain powders and nutritional elements out there that could make up a really important part of our diet.
Speaker 1:Giving us some of these elements that are hard to get just from food alone. For me, those are psyllium husk, maka and a greens and reds powder and see how that resonates with you, and if you might want to consider a similar type of a strategy to get a lot of these phytonutrients that are very difficult to get. I mean when I say very difficult to get. This comes from Peru, right, so this is not the type of thing that could have been enjoyed by ancient Europeans or North Americans by any stretch of the imagination, and so today's modern shipping and commerce is really a miracle that we can access these foods, powders, plants and various phytonutrients and zoo chemicals from all around the world. That would be simply impossible for our ancestors to do so. With that being said, thank you so much for listening to and supporting the Dirobi Health Show. I hope you're enjoying it. I hope this episode on maka has been interesting to you. Until next time, this is Dave Sherwin, wishing you health and success.