Maca
About Maca
What Is Maca?
Maca is a heart shaped root vegetable of the Brassicaceae (cruciferous) family that looks like a radish but grows like a sweet potato - the colour varies from creamy yellow or light pink to dark purple or black. Maca is the world’s highest cultivated crop traditionally grown in the Junin Plateau of the volcanic mineralized Peruvian Andes Mountains at 4100metres. Maca is a whole food - in fact, a functional food who’s label ‘superfood’ is due to the many and varied components of its nutritional composition including numerous minerals, vitamins, 18 amino acids, essential fatty acids, and sterols known for their ability to reduce intestinal cholesterol absorption.
Maca also contains glucosinolates (known for antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic properties) and the unique alkaloids macaina 1-4, macaenes and macamides, found no where else in the botanical kingdom, whose properties are just beginning to be understood by modern science. As a nutritional supplement, Maca has generalized tonic effects on the biochemical functioning of the human, namely the nourishment and consequent enhancement of endocrine function.
Maca has heaps of potassium (60mg per serve) that acts as a catalyst in carbohydrate and protein metabolism, and along with sodium (also present), are the two most important electrolytes that regulate the body’s heartbeat and muscle contractions and speed cellular detoxification.
Amino acids are the primary component of most bodybuilding formulas as they are either oxidized by the body to produce ATP energy (Krebs cycle), or used to synthesize new proteins for body growth and repair (anti-inflammatory action). Maca contains 18 amino acids, including eight of the nine essential aminos.
Manufacturers Web site: www.macapower.com.au
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