Hi everyone this is Monica Reinagel and you're listening to the nutrition

divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous having spent the last couple of weeks focusing on nutrition and fertility,

I thought we'd turn our attention to the other end of a woman's reproductive span.

Nutrition diva listener Betty wants to know, what is Maka?

And can it really help with menopause?

And now on to today's topic, what is Maka?

Maka is a plant native to the high mountainous regions of Peru,

and it's long been cultivated as both a food and as a medicinal plant.

Maca belongs to the cruciferous family of plants, so it's a relative of broccoli and

Brussels sprouts, but interestingly it's not the leaves or the stalks or the flowers of the plant that are of interest.

Rather, it's the part that grows underground.

The fleshy tubers of the maka plant can be cooked in a variety of traditional ways, even

brewed into a kind of beer.

And it provides some protein, fiber, and minerals along with a fair amount of starch.

It's sort of like a potato.

But most of the maka that is harvested these days is dried and ground into a powder for use as a supplement or an herbal medicine.

As Betty notes,

Maka is being promoted as a natural remedy for menopausal symptoms.

But Maka's reputation extends to various other aspects of sexual function as well, including male and female fertility and

prostate problems.

It's even said to be an aphrodisiac, and I'll have more on that in a moment.

Now most of this is based on ancient inkin folk medicine.

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