Maca and L-Arginine: Same stuff?

Question

Is L'-Arginine the key ingredient in Maca or does Maca have other stuff in it?

Answer 1

Not at all. L-Arginine is an Amino Acid (which is typically from proteins) while Maca is an herb.

They both can help with sexual health, but they work in entirely different areas and support different things in the body. L-Arginine helps to increase overall blood flow (including to the genitals) while Maca just helps to boost the libido. However, because of that difference, you can take them both together and get added benefits.

Answer 2

In Wikipedia you can find Maca.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maca

It's an herb. Every living thing on the planet is comprised of varying levels of a myriad of substances, some toxic and some benign. Many substances in any given organism are in such small trace amounts that they would never have an effect if you consumed it, but some are in higher concentrations. I am not aware of what the concentrations of L-arginine would be in maca, but take the example of the amino acid asparagine, named after asparagus.

Asparagine is found in dairy, whey, beef, poultry, eggs, fish, lactalbumin, seafood, potatoes, legumes, nuts, seeds, soy, whole grains, and, of course, asparagus.

If you look at the Wikipedia article on asparagus, you will find that it contains much more than just asparagine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus

It contains several B vitamins, folic acid, vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, manganese, sugars, etc.

This also does not include the likely possibility of other, more complex substances being found in asparagus. For example, you could break down the nutritional content of marijuana without mentioning the cannabinoids contained in it.