Vol. 21 Núm. 2 (2019)
Artículo de revisión

La Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walpers) alimento funcional andino: bioactivos, bioquímica y actividad biológica

Emilio Yábar Villanueva
Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú, Huancayo
Vilma Reyes De La Cruz
Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú, Huancayo

Publicado 2019-04-30

Palabras clave

  • Lepidium meyenii,
  • Lepidium peruvianum,
  • productos andinos,
  • biosíntesis,
  • degradación,
  • salud
  • ...Más
    Menos

Cómo citar

Yábar Villanueva, E., & Reyes De La Cruz, V. (2019). La Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walpers) alimento funcional andino: bioactivos, bioquímica y actividad biológica. Revista De Investigaciones Altoandinas - Journal of High Andean Research, 21(2), 139-152. https://doi.org/10.18271/ria.2019.457

Resumen

La maca es un alimento nutritivo, energético y funcional, sus metabolitos secundarios reaccionan al estrés biótico y abiótico como mecanismo de defensa durante las etapas de pre-cosecha, cosecha y secado natural post-cosecha. El objetivo de esta revisión es evaluar y proporcionar información científica relevante acerca de los bioactivos, bioquímica y actividad biológica de la maca (Lepidium meyenii Walpers o Lepidium peruvianum Chacón) relacionados con la salud y revalorar su condición de alimento funcional. Para ello se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica en cuatro bases de datos e información electrónica solicitada a los autores. Se ha observado escasez de investigaciones in vivo y clínicas con tamaños de muestras más representativas y metodologías más consistentes. Por lo tanto; los glucosinolatos, compuestos fenólicos, fitoesteroles, macaenos, macamidas, macahidantoínas, meyeniinas, alcaloides y otros formados durante el ciclo productivo de la maca, actúan sinérgicamente para prevenir enfermedades crónicas, cuando es consumido como parte de una dieta variada (funcional), muy frecuente en nuestra cultura alimentaria y no como compuestos bioactivos aislados (nutraceútico) del contexto biológico como pretende la industria farmacéutica.

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