What Is Imperial Gold?

A trademark-protected variety of the maca plant, Imperial Gold is used in supplements manufactured and distributed by A Healthy Alternative, LLC. A traditional food and herbal medicine native to the Andes Mountains, maca is heavily marketed in the United States as a treatment for a variety of ailments.

Features

• Cultivated for its fleshy, tuberous root which is high in sugars, proteins and vital nutrients including iron and iodine, maca is a perennial plant native to the Andes Mountains. A member of the mustard family, maca has a low-growing stem system, scalloped leaves and small off-white flowers.

  The species was named Lepidium meyenii by Gerhard Walpers who first described it in 1843. However, research conducted since the 1960s suggests that today's cultivated maca might actually be a different species referred to as Lepidium peruvianum.

Food

• First domesticated by the ancestors of the Incas, maca has been used as a food in the Andes Mountains for thousands of years. One of their staple crops, it was also traded for foods that cannot grow in the mountains such as corn, green vegetables and beans. It is eaten roasted like a sweet potato, boiled in water or milk as a porridge and even fermented into a drink called maca chicha.

Uses

• Sometimes referred to as "Peruvian Ginseng," it has also been used for centuries as a fertility treatment for both humans and animals. Shortly after the Spanish conquered South America in the 16th century, they discovered their livestock were having trouble reproducing at high altitudes. Indians suggested adding maca to their feed. After successful results, the Spanish began collecting maca as a tax or tribute. Spanish records from as recent as the 18th century indicate that in one area alone 9 tons of maca were collected as a fertility treatment. People in Peru still use maca as a treatment for anemia, tuberculosis, sexual disorders, memory problems and stomach cancer.

Significance

• Maca's use as an ingredient in supplements has spread to much of the world. In Peru, commercial cultivation of the plant took up less than 50 hectares in 1994; by 1999 worldwide demand from the alternative medicine sector caused cultivation to skyrocket to over 1,200 hectares. Indigenous populations who own the land and cultivate the crops will see a significant increase in income if this level of popularity is sustained.

Claims

• According to A Healthy Alternative's promotional materials, taking just 600 milligrams of Imperial Gold a day provides many benefits, including improvement of erectile dysfunction, improvement of menstrual symptoms, improvement of menopause symptoms, fertility enhancement, libido enhancement, increased energy and stamina, mental clarity and a whole host of other enhancements. These claims are supported with a handful of studies cited on their website and testimonials from doctors and customers. According to New York University's Langone Medical Center, many fertility studies on maca involved animals and had mixed results. Human trials have been extremely limited. In one study, doses of 1,200 to 3,000 milligrams were tested on men who showed improvement of sexual desire but not sexual function. Similar tests have not been conducted on women.

Considerations

• According to "The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs," author Leslie Taylor says that while maca is a source of vital nutrients, it is not a cure all. Up to 5 pounds of maca a week are consumed by people in the Andes but they do not exhibit the nearly superhuman levels of stamina and sexual prowess that would be expected from eating such a large amount of the food. According to Taylor, if 5 pounds a week hasn't created a race of Peruvian supermen, then the small amounts found in supplements probably don't provide much benefit.