Maca Root

An Andean root crop grown where almost nothing else will

All articles checked for accuracy against the GB NHC Register and all sources have citations with verified links to their relevant studies.

A hardy Andean root that thrives above 4,000 metres. Maca is an ancient food crop whose dried, milled root is now used in modern supplements.

This article explains what maca is, what’s in the root, how researchers have studied it, and how WellsparQ uses it in its formulations. It emphasises botanical facts, the regulatory position on health claims for non-nutrient botanicals, and practical notes on suitability and use.

Ingredient Snapshot

What it is

A swollen underground hypocotyl-root from the Andean plant Lepidium meyenii.

Where from

Lepidium meyenii (Peru’s high‑altitude puna), a brassica family root crop

Known for

A traditional Andean food and source of starch, fibre, protein, minerals and macamides.

In WellsparQ

• MacaVital Complex3,000 mg (extract equivalent)
• CalmaRoot Blend200 mg (Peruvian maca root)

Maca is a genuine high-altitude survivor. It grows on the Peruvian puna — the bleak grassland of the central Andes, above 4,000 metres, where frost, thin air and fierce sun defeat most crops. For centuries it has been cultivated there as a food and a traditional remedy, and its recent arrival in Western supplements is really the export of a very old Andean staple. It deserves a heritage-and-botany treatment as much as an evidence one.

The plant

Maca is Lepidium meyenii, a member of the brassica (cabbage and mustard) family — so it is a botanical cousin of radish, cress and rocket. The edible part is the swollen underground hypocotyl-root, which comes in colours from cream and yellow through red to black; the colour classes differ somewhat in composition and are sometimes studied separately ^¹. Traditionally the roots are harvested, sun-dried on the puna, and then boiled or milled into flour for porridges and drinks — maca is normally eaten cooked, not raw ^¹.

Chemistry: the interesting molecules

As a brassica, maca contains glucosinolates — the mustard-oil compounds characteristic of the family. During post-harvest drying these break down, and one distinctive result is a group of compounds called macamides (fatty-acid amides largely unique to maca), which are often used as chemical markers of maca quality ^¹². The root also supplies starch, fibre, protein with a reasonable amino-acid profile, and minerals. Notably, maca does not contain plant steroids or hormones — a point worth stating plainly, because it is sometimes wrongly assumed to ^³.

What the research examines

Maca has drawn a fair amount of clinical study, mostly small trials, in two areas. It is worth reporting precisely and without inflation.

Several systematic reviews have gathered this literature. A 2011 review in Maturitas examined maca for menopausal symptoms and concluded the trial evidence was limited and not sufficient for firm conclusions ^⁴. A 2016/2010 line of reviews (also Maturitas, and BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine) looked at maca and sexual function and semen quality, again finding a small, low-certainty evidence base and calling for larger trials ^⁵. A 2018 critical review in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology asked, in as many words, whether "the hype around the reproductive health claims of maca is justified," and answered cautiously — a useful corrective to overstatement ^³.

The honest position: interesting traditional plant, some early trials, no firm conclusions, and — decisively for a UK supplement — no authorised health claim for maca. We report the studies as evidence about the plant, never as a WellsparQ promise.

How WellsparQ uses it

Source: WellsparQ Supplements Database. In MacaVital, maca is genuinely the lead ingredient, declared as a 3,000 mg extract-equivalent — the card's "the headline botanical." The word equivalent is doing honest work: it tells you the whole-root weight the concentrated extract represents, rather than flattering the number. In CalmaRoot it is a smaller supporting player. Both are plainly declared.

Suitability and sensible use

Maca is a plant food and suits vegan, vegetarian, kosher and halal diets (check the finished product). It is traditionally eaten cooked; gelatinised maca (pre-cooked to break down starch) is common in supplements and often better tolerated. It is generally well tolerated; because it is a brassica and naturally contains iodine and glucosinolates, anyone with a thyroid condition, and anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, should speak to a GP or pharmacist before taking concentrated amounts.