Maca and libido: modest, real, and not fully explained. Small trials in specific groups — not a general population — show better scores for desire and sexual function after several weeks. Nobody has found a hormone doing the work, which means nobody can yet say exactly how it happens. Maca is a root from the Andes, dried and ground into a pale, butterscotch-colored powder with a nutty, malty smell. It's been used for centuries and is only now getting the trials to match the reputation.
What the maca trials on libido actually found
One trial gave men 2 grams of maca a day for 12 weeks and measured sperm concentration, which rose significantly — with no change in testosterone. That's a fertility marker, not a desire score, but it rules out the obvious mechanism: maca isn't acting like a hormone. Whatever it does, it does some other way, and the trials haven't pinned down what yet.
The clearer signal on desire itself comes from a narrower group: postmenopausal women on antidepressants, who often report lower libido as a side effect. After 3,000 mg of maca daily for 12 weeks, those women scored better on sexual desire and function than the placebo group. A second small study in the same population found maca eased hot flashes, mood dips, and sexual dysfunction together. Both are real findings — and both are specific to menopausal women managing a known side effect, not a general claim about anyone's sex drive.
Who shouldn't expect much
If your libido is fine and you're hoping for more, the evidence doesn't really speak to you. The trials that show an effect were run in people managing a specific dip, not people optimizing from a normal baseline. If you want a fast, dramatic change, maca isn't it either: every positive trial ran 12 weeks before scores moved. What maca has evidence for is something quieter — support for people already dealing with a drop, over a season, not a switch you flip tonight.
Mood and energy, at the same graded confidence
Maca belongs to a class of roots and mushrooms — adaptogens — that may help the body handle stress and rebalance energy. Animal studies show better endurance and less fatigue; in humans the effects are earlier-stage but consistent in direction. One study tracked people living at high altitude, where energy tends to tank, and found 3 grams of maca a day for 12 weeks improved both mood and energy. Other early research points the same way in men, and separately in postmenopausal women, where it showed decreases in anxiety and depression. None of it is definitive. All of it points the same direction. The overlap with the libido findings isn't a coincidence: fatigue and stress are two of the fastest ways to lose interest in sex, so support for one plausibly shows up in the other.
How to take it
Maca root is usually dried and ground into a powder with a nutty, slightly sweet flavor. Most studies use around 1.5 to 3 grams daily — roughly a teaspoon. You can mix it into smoothies, oatmeal, or baked goods. It blends best with sweet ingredients and plays well with cacao, banana, and berries. It's considered safe at typical doses — studies haven't flagged major side effects at up to 3 g/day over a few months. But it's smart to ease in slowly and check with your doctor if you have specific health conditions or take medication.
Why it's in our ENERGY smoothie
We put maca in ENERGY because the science lined up with what we wanted the drink to do: sustain energy and mental focus well past the point where caffeine alone gives out. It's built on cold brew, cacao nibs, and dates over a chocolate protein base, then carried by ginseng and rhodiola rosea — two more roots in maca's adaptogen family — plus CoQ10, finished with coconut whipped cream. Maca adds a slightly malty note and rounds out the whole profile against the dark, coffee-forward base. The result tastes indulgent but works hard behind the scenes — built for the hour after a workout, or any afternoon that needs steadier fuel than a shot of espresso.
No root dried and ground into a powder is a miracle, this one included. But modest and real, sustained over weeks rather than hours, is still worth having in the glass. ENERGY is on the menu now, in Lisbon and Santos.