Maca for Athletes and Elderly

Every athlete knows that even the slightest advantage can mean the difference between victory and defeat. It is the pursuit of this competitive edge that drives them to train and practice for countless hours in gyms and tracks all over the world. Athletes and trainers also know that physical training is only half the battle. The food and nutrition that an athlete receives is just as essential to the success of any training program. However, some determined athletes feel the need to take an extra step, and turn to performance enhancing drugs and supplements, such as steroids. The principle behind these substances is simple: they allow athletes to train harder for longer periods of time, and allow them to get faster results. The use of such substances is considered unsportsmanlike by most athletic leagues and competitions, and is often banned as a result. The use of these performance enhancers has also been linked to long term health problems, which has led many athletes to abandon the search for artificial means of boosting endurance and stamina. These days, the trend has moved towards finding natural methods that will help them achieve the same results in a safer and healthier way.

This has led to the rapid growth of the whole foods market, and the increasing demand for functional foods. Functional foods are foods that have demonstrated their capability in treating diseases, conditions, or in simply improving the overall health of a person. Among all the foods counted in this group, the one that athletes have started to pay more and more attention to is the root of the plant lepidium peruvianum, more commonly known as Maca.

Maca is more popularly known as an aphrodisiac, and has been famous for its libido enhancing properties for thousands of years. However, all Western knowledge of the potency of the maca root was lost for centuries, until its rediscovery in the latter half of the 20th Century. Since then, the ground up root, known as maca powder, has also been used increasingly for nutritional and therapeutic purposes, and has been building a reputation as one of nature’s most excellent superfoods. Maca is shown to achieve both its medicinal and aphrodisiac effects through the way that it influences the body’s endocrine system, effectively making it more efficient. The endocrine system maintains the balance of hormones in our body, in turn affecting cell growth and behavior. Maca is particularly adept at maximizing the effects of the hormone testosterone, which is responsible for the sexual characteristics of the human body, including sex drive and fertility.

Athletes, however, are well aware of another of testosterone’s uses: scientists have classified it as a steroid hormone, and it is responsible for determining muscular development, strength, and endurance. For this reason, athletes have been trying to shoot up their testosterone levels by any number of means, such as intramuscular injections, transplantable pellets, and trans-dermal gels or patches, all of which are banned or discouraged in the professional athletic community. A diet rich in maca won’t boost the body’s levels of testosterone, but will instead direct the endocrine system to use the available quantity more efficiently, which has the same positive net effect on muscular growth and development. Maca also has the advantage of boosting adrenal gland function, which is a key component that determines a person’s energy levels. And since maca is an all natural food item, its consumption is neither banned nor frowned upon by any governing sports body. Athletes can enjoy both its short term performance enhancing benefits and its long term positive health effects without having to face any of the stigma or accusations that come with the use of artificial performance enhancers.

These particular health benefits of maca are not limited to the use of athletes. Elderly people in particular can benefit just as much, or even more from a diet rich with maca. As we age, our body’s functions begin to work less and less efficiently. This of course, includes the function of the endocrine system, whose hormones are so essential in determining cell behavior. This is why growing older usually results in a decrease in sex drive, slower muscular development, and an increased risk of contracting or developing a whole host of illnesses and diseases. This gradual depletion of our hormones has long been recognized as a factor in aging, and is the reason why the most exclusive, effective, and expensive anti-aging treatments involve some form of hormone replacement therapy. These treatments, however, involve the inconvenience of multiple injections or applications and are beyond the reach of most people. Fortunately, regular maca consumption achieves essentially the same effect at a fraction of the cost, and has the additional benefits of promoting good nutrition and being much more convenient to integrate into a regular diet and lifestyle.

As part of Hidalgo Foods’ commitment to improving the quality of life of our customers, we provide athletes, the elderly, and anybody seeking a healthier lifestyle with the finest maca powder derived from plants cultivated by the same indigenous people of the Andes Mountains who have been harvesting them for millennia using the same all natural methods.

Articles:Aphrodisiac |Hormonal Theraphy |  History |How to Use Maca