Maca?

[Guest guest]

I happened to see Maca on a fertility site. From what I have heard maca seems to

increase energy & libido. But fertility? Also, how would people evaluate this

herb in Chinese Terms? Yang tonifying?

[Guest guest]

Energy and Libido are commonly secondary symptoms related to adequate

circulating hormones - i.e. the perimenopausal female who is

experiencing fatigue, low libido, and insomnia from low circulating

levels of estrogen and androgens. Hormone replacement therapy often

makes their energy and libido increase dramatically.

 

So, herbs (Chinese, Maca, Ashwaganda, etc.) that stimulate the body to

produce hormones, or hormone precursors, will improve fertility and

fecundity if that is the cause of the patient's infertility. For

example, Maca has been shown in some small studies to help male factor

infertility. If the male has lowered levels of spermatogenesis due to

low testosterone levels, it's possible that Maca may in some way

influence GnRH at the Hypothalamus to cause more LH to be released and

thereby stimulate increased Testosterone production in the Leydig

cells of the testicles.

 

Obviously these exact mechanisms of action have not been looked at

specifically, but it's these type of potential hormonal effects that

could account for an herb (like Maca) being able to increase both

Libido/Energy, and Fertility.

 

Ray Rubio, DAOM, L Ac. (FABORM)

 

 

On Oct 1, 2009, at 10:04 AM, snydez99 wrote:

 

> I happened to see Maca on a fertility site. From what I have heard

> maca seems to increase energy & libido. But fertility? Also, how

> would people evaluate this herb in Chinese Terms? Yang tonifying?

>

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