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Healthy Food or Health Risk? The Truth About Raw Maca

For its entire millennia-long existence, Peruvian maca was never consumed raw.

You can see this tradition upheld today: in a promotional video from the Peruvian government (watch it by clicking on the video), a boy is shown drinking boiled maca from a pot. This is the common practice across all Peruvian cities and towns, where street carts use gas installations to make cooked porridge from maca, quinoa, oats, or soy. Nowhere in Peru will you find a single person consuming it raw.


Where, then, does the idea that raw consumption is beneficial originate?

Why Raw Starch is Indigestible

Even a raw vegan diet typically consists of about 70% raw food and 30% thermally processed food (like potatoes, pasta, and quinoa). This 30% is processed for a simple reason: the human stomach cannot effectively digest raw starchy foods, and maca is one of them. Otherwise, raw potatoes, rice, pasta, wheat, or corn would be edible.

Attempting to digest uncooked starch wastes significant energy and leads to a strong nutrient loss. Furthermore, raw maca powder has a higher glycemic index than the gelatinized form.


Understanding Gelatinization

Gelatinization is the natural process that occurs when you boil potatoes, rice, or pasta for about 10 minutes: the starch decomposes, turns into a gelled mass, and the food becomes soft and edible.

The primary advantage of using a food extruder for maca gelatinization is the complete preservation of nutrients, which is not the case when heating foods at high temperatures for an extended period. (Learn more about this advanced processing method by clicking on gelatinization.)


The Value of Gelatinized Maca

Is raw maca cheaper, or is gelatinized maca more cost-effective?

You can find a package of raw maca powder for a low price, but the bioavailability of gelatinized maca powder is so much higher that one pack of the gelatinized powder replaces four same-sized packages of the raw product.

The bulk value of gelatinized maca powder is inherently higher than the raw option. The price difference reflects:

  1. A 20% loss of weight during the gelatinization process and the use of a more complex and expensive processing technology.

When you factor in the raw product's unpleasantly bitter taste, pronounced perishability, stomach upsets, and digestive discomfort, the cheaper option becomes a waste of money. The issue is compounded by the question of raw material origin: maca of Chinese origin is 5-8 times cheaper than the Peruvian root, and its effect is commensurately weaker. Buying a harmful or ineffective product is certainly not cost-effective.


The Limited Shelf Life and Health Risk of Raw Maca

As growers and processors, we regularly export raw maca powder. Peruvian law allows us to declare a shelf life of two years, but this is not realistic because quality problems can arise after only a few months.

When raw materials are packaged for export, they must be vacuum-sealed because oxygen actively feeds bacteria and mold, which are present even in trace amounts permitted by sanitary regulations. When that bulk package is opened for repackaging, and then opened and closed daily by the end customer, bacteria and mold multiply rapidly, often far exceeding safe levels. Perishable processes accelerate astonishingly fast, especially in warm conditions.

Therefore, raw maca powder and other raw, perishable foods are not recommended for people with weaker immunity, those susceptible to candidiasis or bacteriological infections, and especially not for children or pregnant/nursing women.


Our Proven Commitment

While there are many wholesale suppliers of Peruvian maca, few are transparent. Some offer yellow, red, and black maca powder for the same price, even though genuine black maca is twice as expensive to produce as the yellow variety.

One thing is certain: our company has brought genuine joy to hundreds of customers. Thanks to our high-quality Maca, there are hundreds of new births worldwide and thousands of consumers enjoying better health.

(Get the best Peruvian maca by clicking on wholesale or visiting our webshop.)