Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is a plant that belongs to the Brassicaceae family of plants. It grows in high altitude parts of South America, particularly in the Andes. It has been prized by the local inhabitants of the Andes for centuries and traditional wisdom is that the plant can significantly improve physical performance. Maca is available as a dietary supplement and in this role a number of studies have investigated its effects on physical performance in animals. In one such study 3 weeks supplementation with maca improved the swimming to exhaustion times of rats by 25 to 41 % at 30 and 100 mg/kg body weight, respectively. In addition the maca also decreased serum lactate dehydrogenase and lipid peroxidation in skeletal muscle. At the same time hepatic and skeletal muscle glutathione levels increased, suggesting that the antioxidant status of the tissues had improved. Maca may therefore be an effective ergogenic aid in animals and this effect might increase with increasing dose.
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