Maca finally gave me my energy back. Thank Susan and all the boobie saints! It feels like a couple of energy drinks, but it lasts 8 hours. Since I'm on it now, I might as well catch up on maca science.
Maca increases DHEA levels. This is the first article I found stating that:
http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/article/...pplements/
This booklet confirms that maca increases DHEA-levels. Maca also contains sitosterol (an anti-androgen). But maca increases libido, so it cannot be all anti-androgen.
http://books.google.nl/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=-_etK2PJlkwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA4&dq=maca+dhea&ots=pGNtOA9msL&sig=Tvfu_pmQjsDwsHOxvZZcRnpaC2c#v=onepage&q=maca%20dhea&f=false
Both of the above publications look less than scientific. So I looked further into what is really known about the effect of maca on serum hormone levels. If DHEA is increased, everything the body makes from DHEA should go up: progesterone and cortisol, testosterone and DHT, estrone, estriol and estradiol. One study found no effect on estradiol, LH, FSH, and SHBG:
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10....2009.15603
Another study saw no effect on luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, 17-alpha hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone and 17-beta estradiol:
http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/co.../163.short
And yet another study found no effect on luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin (PRL), testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2):
http://www.bisac.com.pe/informacion/maca/tema19.pdf
And so on: no difference in estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and sex hormone-binding globulin:
http://journals.lww.com/menopausejournal...on.24.aspx
No effect on testosterone, estradiol, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and prolactin:
http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20083...3ACACB5914
No changes in testosterone and estradiol:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.10...519.x/full
Only recently, researchers have been looking further than serum hormone levels:
Maca does not exert direct androgenic activities:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...4105006598
Red Maca administered orally in rats seems to exert an inhibitory effect at a level post DHT conversion:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...1306002182
Red maca reduced prostate size and zinc levels in rats where prostatic hyperplasia was induced with testosterone:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.11...190.x/full
This is the first real clue: zinc. The publication is from 2011.
Fortunately, there is enough info on how to take maca: in water, meals, anything goes. Three different liquid extracts also had similar effects. No difference was observed between the data obtained from aqueous extract (boiled for 2 or 3 hours) or hydroalcoholic extract of red maca:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.11...x/abstract