Maca, Lepidium meyenii Walpers (Family Brassicaceae), a perennial herbaceous plant found on high plateaus
of the Andean mountain area in Peru, is an important staple for the Andean Indians
and indigenous peoples.[1] Maca is reputed with properties of sexual enhancement and
fertility improvement, as well as other effectiveness such as immunostimulation, antidepressant
and anticancer. It is so called as „Peruvian ginseng“. Currently, a wide array of
commercial maca products are gaining popularity as dietary supplements throughout
the world. The cultivation of maca is increasing in the highlands of the Andes to
meet the growing demand worldwide. Different maca cultivars with different colored
roots and wild species have been found in Peru. Interestingly, it has been observed
that different varieties of Maca have different biological properties.[2] NMR-based
Metabolomics is emerging as a potential technology to provide better insight into
the qualitative and quantitative shifts in metabolite patterns of the organism.[3]
We reported here the investigation of the maca varieties collected from Peru by using
NMR profiling and chemometric analysis.
Fig.1
Fig.2
Acknowledgments: This research is supported in part by „Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements“
and „Botanical Dietary Supplement Research“ funded by the Food and Drug Administration
grant numbers 5U01FD002071–09 and 1U01FD003871–01, and the United States Department
of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement No.
58–6408–2-0009. References: [1] Quiros CF, Cardenas RA, (1997) Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp.), in Andean Roots and Tubers: Ahipa, Arracacha, Maca and Yacon, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, 173–198. [2] Gonzales GF
(2006) In Natural Products: in Recent Progress in Medicinal Plants. Edited by: Singh VK, Bhardwaj R, Govil JN, Sharma RK. Studium Press LLC, USA 217.
[3] Kruger NJ, Troncoso-Ponce MA, Ratcliffe RG (2008) Nat Protoc 3(6): 1001–1012.
