Maca in HoneyBoost: 10 mg of Root Extract, Beside the Trials

The label line, the studied amount and the caution, in one place.

Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is a root vegetable grown in the high Andes of Peru. People eat it as a food and sell it as a powder or extract for energy and sexual wellbeing. Memorial Sloan Kettering notes that only a few small trials have been run in people (MSK, Maca). That is the starting point for any claim about maca in a gummy.

The HoneyBoost panel lists "Maca (Lepidium meyenii) Root Extract 10:1" at 10 mg per gummy, with a note that it is equivalent to 100 mg of maca root. The 10:1 ratio is the seller's way of saying ten parts of root were used for one part of extract. It does not tell you how much of any active compound is in the gummy, and maca extracts differ a lot between makers.

Maca comes as raw powder, gelatinized powder, extract and capsule or gummy blends.

Raw maca powder is the root ground up. Gelatinized maca is heated to remove starch, which is easier to digest and is the form used in the 2002 trial of healthy men (Gonzales et al. 2002). An extract such as 10:1 is a concentrate. The colors, red, black and yellow, are different root types, and a few small studies compare them. The HoneyBoost label does not say which color or which part of the root, so it cannot be matched to a trial.

A 10:1 label also depends on the maker's method. Two 10:1 extracts can differ in what they hold, because the ratio describes the recipe and not the result.

Who should ask a clinician or pharmacist first.

Memorial Sloan Kettering lists no firm side effect for maca in the patient section, and notes that maca may interfere with testosterone immunoassays, so tell your clinician before a hormone blood test. People with a hormone-sensitive cancer should ask their care team first (MSK, Maca). Reports in the clinician section include cramps, mood changes, stomach upset and trouble sleeping.

A short list of who should ask first: people on nitrates or other heart medicine, on blood pressure medicine, on ED drugs, on MAO inhibitors or Parkinson medicine, on diabetes medicine (damiana may affect blood sugar), on aromatase inhibitors or other hormone or cancer medicine, and on tetracycline or quinolone antibiotics (zinc can lower their absorption). People with heart disease, a hormone-sensitive condition, or a psychiatric condition should ask as well.

Stop and ask a clinician if a rash, swelling, a racing or irregular heartbeat, dizziness, a strong headache, stomach upset that does not pass, mood changes or trouble sleeping show up after you start. These are listed under the ingredients' cautions, and they are the reason the label tells you to speak to a physician. You can report a problem with any supplement to FDA through MedWatch (FDA, MedWatch).