by The Raw Maca Team on June 17, 2010
So, you’re looking at purchasing some Peruvian Maca to boost your health? First thing I want to do is say congratulations. I’ve been taking Maca for the past 8 years and it has boosted my energy levels more than I could imagine. During that time, I’ve tried quite a few different brands of maca products. It turns out that not all of them are the same at all. I put this little maca review guide together to help you when considering what kind of Maca supplement to buy. I hope it helps.
MACA BUYING TIP 1: Stay with the simple maca powders – unless you want to pay a lot extra. Here’s the thing about Maca – it’s pretty cheap to produce. I’ve talked to suppliers and they tell me that the simple raw powder is abundant and very reasonable to buy. But because of it’s potency, many companies try to add “value” to maca by putting it in capsules or giving it a special name like “magical maca” or whatever. With these kinds of maca products, I’ve seen mark ups as high as 300%. It’s simply a lot easier to just buy the pure powder.
MACA BUYING TIP 2: Bulk is best. I always purchase my maca a few kilograms at a time. There’s good reason for this. First, I do save some money. And second, because I have a lot of maca, I am using it consistently. If you want to improve your health with maca it is important to take big enough quantities consistently. The recommended dosage is usually around 1-2 tablespoons per day. Taking that much in capsule form is actually kind of hard to do not to mention more expensive. Maca made it that long because I always end up using it within a couple of months.
MACA BUYING TIP 3: The best place to buy maca is absolutely not your health food shop. It may be more convenient for you, but be prepared to pay up to $118 per kg! I’m not sure why that is, but unfortunately that’s the reality. The good news is that excellent quality maca is easily available online for good prices. Most places deliver within a few days. If you live in a small town, you may have no choice but to buy maca online, since it’s rare for small health food shops to stock it.
by The Raw Maca Team on May 17, 2010
In the natural health world the most promising superfood to emerge in recent years is Peruvian Maca. Maca comes from a tuber which is cultivated at very high elevation in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. Normally taken as a powder or used in cooking, maca has been used by people indigenous for thousands of years to boost strength and energy in the oxygen deficient high altitude air.
Maca became popular outside of Peru and Bolivia in the late 1990s as travelers and then importers began bringing it into the United States and later Europe. The powerful healing properties of maca impressed thousands of people who began to use it regularly.
The normal way to take maca is in powdered form. After they are harvested the roots are cut and then freeze dried. The dried chips are then ground at low temperatures into a micro powder that is easy for the body to assimilate.
A new trend in the maca market is so called “gelatinized” maca. Promoters call it a superior form of maca. They state that gelatinized maca has more nutrient content, less pathogens, less toxins and is easier to digest than organic maca powder. They also say that because it easily disoloves in water the body can assimilate it faster.
The science behind gelatinized maca isn’t particularly strong and their seems to be a good amount of debate around the actual process of making it. So is it actually better than a high quality normal maca powder?
To make gelatinized maca, producers bring the roots down the mountain, wash them in disinfectant solutions and then put them in an oven that is pressurized and operates at a very high temperature. The pressure and temperature remove any pathogens and toxins from the roots.
The people who sell gelatinized maca say that it has the same properties as the root as consumed by ancient dwellers of the Andes. This claim seems very hard to substantiate since such high pressure and heat are used to process the raw root. High heat destroys properties within whole foods such as enzymes, vitamins and mineral content.
The gelatinization process is said to do two things: remove starch to make maca easier to digest and to kill bacteria. This destructive process seems totally unnecessary if you are buying high quality maca.
Good quality maca works very well for me. I did try gelatinized maca a few times, but didn’t see much of a difference at all.
One final important note about gelatinized maca is that there are several retailers out there who claim to provide it, but are actually just selling average quality maca powder. If you do decide to buy it, do your research. Alternatively, just get some high quality raw organic maca. You’ll be glad you did.
Here is my favorite site to buy maca – they sell 100% raw, organic maca at wholesale prices everyday. Go to: http://www.raworganicmaca.info
