Maca Root Extract

Maca is the dried hypocotyl of Lepidium meyenii Walp., a Brassicaceae crop of the central Peruvian Andes; the cultivated material is also treated taxonomically as Lepidium peruvianum Chacon. The storage organ is harvested, sun-dried on the plateau and then extracted with water or a hydro-alcoholic solvent. Thovek supplies the extract, not the milled root, and buyers should be explicit about which they want because the two are different goods with different assays, different pricing and different customs treatment. Two entirely separate marker families are used to standardise maca, and they are not interchangeable. Glucosinolates are the sulphur-containing brassica markers, dominated by glucotropaeolin (benzyl glucosinolate), which published profiling puts at roughly 80–90% of total glucosinolates across red, yellow and black ecotypes; the common trade grade is 0.6% total glucosinolates by HPLC. Macamides are N-benzyl fatty acid amides that occur only in maca and are usually quoted together with macaenes at 0.5% or 0.6% by HPLC. A 0.6% glucosinolate extract and a 0.6% macamide extract are chemically different products. Where no marker is specified we supply against a declared drug-to-extract ratio of 4:1 or 10:1 instead. Ecotype (yellow, red or black) is selected at order stage and stated on the certificate of analysis. The material is vegan and vegetarian with no milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, peanut, tree nut or gluten source anywhere in the process. Where a carrier is needed to hit a declared assay we use maize-derived maltodextrin and say so on the specification; carrier-free native extracts are available for brands that must keep their label clean. Buyers should note the material naturally carries brassica glucosinolates, which is relevant to formulators working to thyroid-related or goitrogen-related internal specifications. Every lot ships with heavy metals, pesticide residue and microbiology data, and identity is confirmed against a reference profile rather than on appearance alone.