There has been a flurry of searches on the internet of "maca for psoriasis" so I would like to address whether there has been any information regarding this treatment.

Maca is a root, like a turnip found in the highlands of Peru. It is known most for its folk use in increasing libido and anabolic effects. It has a long history of use as food and medicine in Peru. It is highly nutritious as it contains trace elements as well as some essential fatty acids. Recent studies have been performed to identify any bioactive compounds, specifically alkamides.

Although there have been some studies performed for its use in sperm function that showed improvement interestingly without hormonal effect, there have not been any studies on its use for psoriasis as far as I can tell.

I have a great interest in nutrition and looking at nature for new or old medicines but since there is a great deal of money to be made these days from supplements a lot of companies will try to sell supplements for all kinds of uses, especially if it has a long tradition of use as it does in the case if maca. As a food it is fine to try if you can find it.

The problem is that the bioactive properties of maca have not been fully delineated and as a result, there is not accurate standardization of supplements. Until food scientents can tell us what the specific alkamides are, supplements are not standardized and one company's supplements can be drastically different than another's.

As I stated briefly on my website, if you want to use the benefits of nutrition, at the very least, there have been studies on the use of omega 3 fish oils for psoriasis. Even with fish oil, all of the bioactive properties have not been fully delineated and it is likely with more study we will see that for general health it is more than DHA and EPA (more information on my website) that will show some bioactivity. I recommend Vital Choice Seafood Salmon Oil capsules for issues of purity and the fact that the oil is the most representative of the actual oil of the fish. In other words, until it has been studied exhaustively, any supplement which you take should approximate as closely as possible what it would be like to get it from the source by actually eating it as food.

So maca for psoriasis? You could eat it as a highly nutritious root if you can find it but for psoriasis, I cannot endorse it.

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