Could Maca Root Hold Secrets to Slowing the Aging Process?

December 4, 2023

Why is maca, a caramel-tasting superfood with millenary origins, catching the eye of modern science? In the quest for optimal health, maca emerges as a natural powerhouse endowed with a spectrum of medicinal properties with neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic effects that could revolutionize how we fight aging and approach holistic wellness. If you want to plant life-extending seeds, let’s find what science knows about this healing root.

How Does Maca Boost Health?

Nestled in the high altitudes of the Andean region – where few crops dare to thrive – grows maca root, also known as Lepidium meyenii or Peruvian ginseng. Maca is a plant deeply entrenched in the traditions of indigenous communities and was the go-to superfood of long-gone Incan warriors for engaging in battle and increasing sexual desire.1,2 But what makes maca root supplements unique, and how do we separate myth from reality? We turn to the lens of clinical research for clarity. Let’s start.

Maca’s Cognitive Benefits

Maca’s cognitive benefits—particularly improving cognitive function in aging and stroke recovery—arise from its systemic biological effects, including reducing oxidative stress and inflammation. A key aspect is how macamides —unique compounds found only in maca— inhibit FAAH, an enzyme pivotal in regulating CB1 and CB2 receptors. These receptors, part of the endocannabinoid system, regulate neural development, plasticity, and injury response. By modulating the receptors via FAAH inhibition, macamides support neural health, aiding the maintenance and repair of brain tissue essential for cognition and mentally resilient aging.1-4

The Anti-Inflammatory and Neuroprotective Properties of Maca

Maca’s ability to reduce IL-6—a prominent inflammatory cytokine—points to influential anti-inflammatory properties that may improve quality of life as we age. Such reduction proves key in addressing chronic aging-related conditions—especially increasingly prevalent neurodegenerative disorders. These disorders involve excessive neurotransmitter production that damages neurons over time. Mitigating inflammation helps maca support neurological well-being, accentuating its therapeutic potential to manage and possibly prevent age-associated neurodegenerative diseases.1-4

Maca and Cancer Prevention 

Maca shows significant antioxidant ability in several studies—its extracts exhibit an anti-peroxidative effect that crucially reduces oxidative stress-linked cell damage. In lab cultures, these extracts hinder cancer by stimulating androgen receptors, an anti-proliferative tactic, and directly attacking various cancer cell lines. This twin action—easing oxidative damage while battling cancer cells—highlights maca’s potential to impair cancer growth and spread.2,3

Maca for Diabetes Management

Maca is gaining interest in diabetes management—it can lower blood glucose and lipid oxidation, consequently preventing oxidative liver damage. Research also finds maca increases insulin levels, contributing to balanced blood sugar. For aging individuals, this means better glycemic control, easing diabetes complications, and insulin resistance. Maca may become a key player in maintaining metabolic health amid age-related concerns through these interconnected effects, but more research is required.1-4

How You Should Consume Maca?

Maca’s caramel taste plays well with smoothies; however, before you add massive amounts of gelatinized maca powder– a pre-cooked, easier-to-digest variant- to your high-speed blender, remember that prudence is key in your relationship with dietary supplements. While maca is considered safe in food quantities, its long-term effects are not entirely understood, and it may interact with certain hormone-sensitive conditions, causing adverse reactions.5 Despite their historical and scientific backing and potential health benefits, before taking maca supplements to enhance sexual function or other alternative medicine products, they should be approached tactfully and integrated into health regimes under professional guidance by experts in complementary and alternative medicine.

Why Do We Age?

The anti-aging potential of supplements, like maca, should be framed within the context of the aging process as it’s contemporarily understood by medical science. Like the passage of time, aging seems inevitable, but is it? Current scientific models detail a complex convergence of hereditary, external, and behavioral factors integral to aging. At its essence, aging marks a steady decrease in physiological prowess, increasing vulnerability to diseases and weakening cellular restoration.6 However, in contrast to a beloved pair of jeans that wears thin with time, your body retains latent renewal capacities – influenced by your choices– that ongoing research is decoding.

A study found that a diet rich in whole grains, legumes, and nuts, for example, may extend lifespan. Starting a healthy diet at the age of 20 could increase the life expectancy of women by more than 10 years and men by 13 years. Even those who start at 60 and increase their intake of fruits, vegetables, and fish may add up to 8 more years to their life expectancy.7 Aging isn’t just a tale of decline; it’s an opportunity you can seize. Tiny, deliberate actions could unlock extra years of vitality.

Can Maca Extend Your Lifespan?

Discovering that your choices can extend your lifespan might tempt you to buy every maca extract available in health food stores. Hold that thought. The age-old quest for longevity often falls prey to the allure of quick fixes. However, navigating a longer, healthier life requires a more thoughtful, nuanced approach. The true power of supplements like maca lies when they are a piece of a holistic plan to tackle the many components of the variables that can influence how fast or slow you age, like controlling underlying medical conditions, optimizing nutrition, sleep, and exercise levels, for example.8

Kyla, the leader in individualized anti-aging programs, leverages a proprietary AI engine that –relying on advanced algorithms and the assistance of medical experts– interprets thousands of data points in individual health profiles to strategically incorporate supplements like maca root for longevity and improved life quality. This fusion of maca’s age-old benefits with Kyla’s innovative technology foreshadows a new age in supplementation. It’s a shift from generalized to personalized supplement use, where the potential of anti-aging supplements like maca is customized to the nuances of an individual’s aging journey, synergizing with the body’s natural renewal capacities.

Conclusion

Wondering if maca and other supplements could unlock anti-aging possibilities for you? Get strategic with Kyla’s Anti-Aging Program. Our AI engine explores your health background, identifies risks, and generates actionable strategies–with the guidance of medical experts– to thoughtfully integrate science-backed supplements into your life, mapping out a unique journey to a longer, healthier future.

References

  1. Peres ND, Bortoluzzi LC, Marques LL, Formigoni M, Fuchs RH, Droval AA, Cardoso FA. Medicinal effects of Peruvian maca (Lepidium meyenii): A review. Food & function. 2020;11(1):83-92.
  2. Wang Y, Wang Y, McNeil B, Harvey LM. Maca: An Andean crop with multi-pharmacological functions. Food Research International. 2007 Aug 1;40(7):783-92.
  3. Lee E, Park M, Kim B, Kang S. Effect of Black Maca Supplementation on Inflammatory Markers and Physical Fitness in Male Elite Athletes. Nutrients. 2023 Mar 27;15(7):1618.
  4. Maca: Medlineplus supplements [Internet]. U.S. National Library of Medicine; [cited 2023 Nov 17]. Available from: https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/natural/555.html
  5. Wang S, Zhu F. Chemical composition and health effects of maca (Lepidium meyenii). Food chemistry. 2019 Aug 1;288:422-43.
  6. MURPHY C. How we age the science of longevity. S.l.: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRES; 2023.
  7. Fadnes LT, Økland JM, Haaland ØA, Johansson KA. Estimating impact of food choices on life expectancy: A modeling study. PLoS medicine. 2022 Feb 8;19(2):e1003889.
  8. Hood L, Price N. Age of scientific wellness: Why the future of medicine is personalized, predictive, data-rich, and in your hands. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 2023.
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