Have you heard of maca?
It’s this root veggie from the Andes that is said to be a superfood, packed full of vitamins and minerals and all kinds of wondrous nutrients and benefits.
The big jazz in maca is supposed to come from the fact that it helps to balance your hormones.
It’s what they call an “adaptogen”. It doesn’t increase or decrease one specific hormone, but it gives your body what it needs in order to “regulate” its own hormones.
It does this by stimulating your pituitary and hypothalamus to balance the entire endocrine system.
Sounds magical and perfect right?
Because, of course, as adult women with relentless hormonal acne, we know that anything that balances the hormones is going to lead to better skin and less acne.
And yes – maca is indeed purported to help a lot of women with acne!
But Is Maca Really All Magic When it Comes to Acne?
Hello. I am Maca.
Now, since the beginning of The Love Vitamin (which was early 2011!! woot! Happy 6 years TLV!), I have been asked periodically what I think about maca for acne.
And here we are… six years later. And I’m finally going to talk about it!
To be honest, I never got into it or paid it much attention because back in the early days of TLV, I had read around about it and got the impression that:
It’s a crapshoot.
Sure, it seems to help some people with their skin and their hormones. But for a lot of people it makes it worse.
However, now that I’m much more experienced in the world of acne and natural treatments for it… I’ve come to realize that that’s kind of the case for most things.
What works for one may not work for another.
And it’s not necessarily a reason to toss the baby out with the bathwater!
So is maca worth trying?
Maca Is Most Helpful If You Have Estrogen Dominance
After doing a lot of reading around about maca, I’ve gotten the impression that maca is most helpful if the imbalance that you have is estrogen dominance (ie. higher bad estrogen relative to progesterone levels).
Because maca stimulates your hormone production, it can increase your progesterone (and good estrogen as well).
However, it also stimulates your body to make more testosterone. For most people, that’s a good thing! It increases libido and feels energizing.
However, DHT is a potent form of testosterone that is actually the hormone that ends up creating acne. It gets converted in your body from testosterone. If you have high testosterone or high androgen levels, there’s more chance for your body to convert it to DHT and cause acne.
However, purportedly if you have high estrogen relative to your progesterone levels (ie. estrogen dominance), it also influences more of a conversion to DHT (thus, causing acne).
So, basically, if you have acne because your androgens (male hormones) are elevated, then maca can possibly stimulate more male hormones and make it worse.
If you are low on progesterone or good estrogen, then it can boost that and improve your estrogen to progesterone ratio. This will then coax your body away from converting to DHT, and acne will hopefully improve.
But Wait… How Do I Know Which Hormonal Balance I Have?
You can take a guess based on symptoms that you experience along with the acne. I guide you through this process in my Female Hormonal Acne Guide.
The best way though is to get a saliva hormone test done. This will tell you exactly what’s going on so you can stop guessing with supplements and get to the root of things quicker. It will save you frustration, I promise.
Saliva testing is also something I explore in my Hormonal Acne Guide (including where to get it done and how to get a discount on it exclusively through The Love Vitamin).
I Want to Try Maca. How Do I Take It?
So you think or know you have estrogen dominance and want to give maca a whirl.
I don’t really blame you. After all, it apparently has myriads of health benefits along with its hormone balancing magic including:
- Amps up energy levels (& sexy times)
- Supports tired adrenal glands
- Keeps your moods more stable
- Enhances memory
- Boosts your immune system
- Protects against osteoporosis
Sounds pretty sweet!
Here are some things you should know:
- Maca is sold in the west as a freeze dried powder. There are two kinds – raw and gelatinized. Get the gelatinized kind. It’s undergone a process to remove most of the starch, making it much easier to digest and absorb the nutrients from.
- Maca is super powerful stuff. You gotta start small and let your body get used to this powerful supplement or you will regret it! (probably!)
- There doesn’t seem to be a standard dose that people take – but it’s advised to start with 1/2 a teaspoon daily and work your way up to 2 to 3 teaspoons. If you get symptoms as you increase, dial back a bit until it eases and then try increasing again.
- The easiest way to eat it is to add it to a green smoothie
- Cycle it a little bit. Take a week off from it here and there. And give yourself a month break after six months on maca.
- Avoid it if you’re pregnant. And be careful if you’re on HRT, at risk for breast cancer, or are on thyroid medication (ie. talk to your doctor).
- Since I know you’re going to ask – can you take maca with DIM supplements? (such as Estroblock). I don’t know, but I’ve seen supplements that contain both DIM and maca so I assume it’s ok.
Have you tried maca for acne? What was your experience? Please share in the comments below!
T.T. says
March 18, 2017 at 10:41 amHi Tracy,
Sorry, this is off topic…But I have started to eat daily chia seeds and omega 3 (fish oil) capsules, do you happen to know, if it is possible to get omega3 overdose?
Tracy Raftl says
March 19, 2017 at 9:02 amHi T.T. 🙂 I don’t know, but I don’t think so. I doubt you would get any kind of overdose from that combination anyway. The body has to convert the omega 3s from plant sources (like flax or chia), so you don’t get as much of it anyway as you do from fish sources
T.T. says
March 21, 2017 at 11:41 amThanks Tracy!
And an interesting article, I have never known anything about maca!
Christelle says
March 19, 2017 at 9:21 amGreat article! It’s funny because a few years ago when I was coming off the birth control pill, I told my mom I was contemplating taking maca and she was like, “hmm, that’s a supplement for men. I wouldn’t play with fire”. I tried it anyway, and it went something like this: 10 days on 1/2 teaspoon in my homemade granola/smoothies in the morning (the taste was SO foul I had to hide it with honey + cinnamon) followed by a 10 day delay in getting my period. Initially, my skin looked amaaazing – I was glowing! But after not getting my period, I stopped taking the maca, my period arrived, and my skin broke out – not horribly, but it wasn’t fun. I never took maca following that experience, and it took me a few months on vitex to retrieve happy skin/a regular cycle. Maybe I should have stuck it out as I know I was low in progesterone and sometimes things get worse before they get better, but I got scared and never tried it again. Anyway, I thought I’d share… ?
Tracy Raftl says
March 19, 2017 at 10:19 amHi Christelle – yes it sounds like it’s pretty hit or miss!! Thanks for sharing your experience with it 🙂
Lorena says
March 21, 2017 at 1:22 pmOh wow!! I just saw this article while drinking my maca smoothie lol! Well, I’ve been taking it for about two weeks now. I bought mine from what I felt is reputable company (The Maca Team). I mainly purchased it to help give me more energy in general and more stamina during my workouts.
My skin has been pretty good for the last two years, I was on the caveman for about 1.5 years and transitioned to using the homemade moisturizer you shered; I made Argan oil + Frankincense, and my skin has been pretty great! Sometimes I get a pimple before “that time of the month” but it goes away quickly. My skin is the best it’s ever been since I was a kid! FYI, I found your site back in 2012 and you’ve been such a great help. Thanks Tracy!!!!! <3 🙂
Anyways, I didn't realize that there was a possibility that the Maca could cause acne. I would hate to jeopardize the progress I've made. I'm not quite sure exactly, what caused my acne breakouts back then. So I think I will really scale down the amount I take and how often I take it. Currently I take about a teaspoon a day so I'll scale back to maybe 1/2 teaspoon or maybe less.
Tracy Raftl says
March 24, 2017 at 9:48 amHey Lorena – that’s awesome! Super stoked your skin’s doing so well! haha I know how you feel – don’t want to mess with a good thing, right? It’s not to say maca is definitely going to give you acne or anything. The fact that you’ve done well with it so far with no issues is a good sign, although you’d probably have to give it at least a month and go through a menstrual cycle to see if it’s affected you at all
Chiara says
March 25, 2017 at 5:48 pmHi Tracy,
I wanted to ask if you could give me some advice for low estrogen levels? (progesteron levels are ok). I’m currently supplementing with maca (also due to adrenal fatigue, the main reason why my estrogen is low in the first place) but I have no idea if that’s the way to go. I can’t take vitex because my progesterone levels are already good (supplementing with vitex would increase my levels of progesteron and increase the imbalance between progesteron-etrogen?), I can’t take DIM either (as I’m deficient in estrogen, not dominant). Do you have any advice for us women who’s acne is due to an estrogen deficiency? (Also doing a candida cleanse since my naturopath diagnosed me) I’m kind of stuck….
Ps. Thank you for your honest blogposts, they have helped me chill out about my diet, your post about intuitive eating, where you wrote something ‘evil’ about all the food groups was hilarious and a real eye opener for me and my recovery in orthorexia (due to acne). So thank you for that! 🙂
Greetings from Belgium 🙂
Chiara
Tracy Raftl says
March 26, 2017 at 9:05 pmhi Chiara – look into black cohosh to treat the low estrogen! Also if you’re underweight, putting on a bit of healthy fat helps too. Also I’m really, really glad that intuitive eating post helped you! The endless villianizing of food can be so crazy making
Chelsea says
March 30, 2017 at 6:13 amI’ve been taking maca for a while now. I’m so confused in which supplements i should be taking though. I had a hormone test and it came back that i has extremely high estrogen (it was literally off the chart) and low progesterone so I’m taking Dim and Vitex and maca however all these things raise dht. and my testosterone was a little bit higher than it should be (it was still in the green bracket but on the higher side). I dont want this to raise any higher. I also have a liquid herb mix my naturopath gave me which has paw salmetto in it so i’m hoping that will decrease it. do you think if you have supplements that cover both side of the equation than everything will still balance out nicely lol?
Chelsea says
March 30, 2017 at 6:25 amAlso I was wondering how much Dim you suggest taking per day. so currently i am taking two caps of an Australian brand called fem balance which my natauropath who did the testing prescribed. so per day I am getting 27 mg. I am also taking a powder i mix into water everyday that my naturopath gave me which contains 7g of brassica sprout powder which is apparently another form of dim. I’m just wondering if its worth taking estroblock instead if they have a higher amount of dim in them. I have read your posts about estroblock but I am still a bit confused what the difference is between them and other brands? Your blog has helped me so so much by the way. This has now been a 6 month journey for me of having the shittest skin ( i am 18 and it came on full blast pretty suddenly) I have learnt so much about health and my body as a system. My skin has caused me so much pain mentally but it also caused me to learn so much and i will forever treat my body kindly and for that i am grateful for this experience. but yeah just wanted to say i found your blog when it all started with my skin and i am still reading it today so thankyou tracey!! xxx
Tracy Raftl says
April 4, 2017 at 8:43 amHi Chelsea – I think you might not be getting enough to make a difference. One capsule of regular estroblock is 184 mg (although that is a blend of a few different things, so not just DIM, but it’s mostly DIM). Also the difference is apparently in the form of DIM they use in Estroblock, which is supposed to be more highly absorbable and useable by the body; in other words more effective
Tracy Raftl says
April 4, 2017 at 8:46 amHi Chelsea – they raise good forms of testosterone, they don’t raise DHT (which is the kind that causes acne). If you do have high testosterone though, it could be problematic as there is more of a chance of that being converted to DHT if there is more testosterone… however, having your estrogen and progesterone in balance tends to move the conversion away from DHT, so …
Anyway – you could look into DHT Block. It’s kind of like a DIM and Saw Palmetto hybrid
Angela says
April 27, 2017 at 8:44 pmMy son is 16 years old and has hormonal cystic acne. I think. He will not go to a dermatologist.
I had cystic acne for years. At 45 I finally went on accutane and have been clear since. I do not want son on this. Would the lovevitamin work for a 16 year d boy?
Tracy Raftl says
April 28, 2017 at 9:43 amHi Angela – it definitely improves teenage acne a lot, but it can be harder since you are up against those powerful raging teenage hormones. Also, it’s a big lifestyle change which requires a lot of personal responsibility, and if he isn’t really on board with it for himself then it’s not going to work. For boys, to be honest, most of them do grow out of it by 18 or 19 as their hormone stabilize. Girls aren’t always so lucky because of our fluctuating hormones throughout adulthood.
Susan says
September 28, 2017 at 5:54 amHi! I really like your blog! Thank you for putting all this good info out there!
I have been taking maca powder (red maca) 2 weeks exactly. I started out with 1/2 tsp but since I have not had any bad effects I am now at 2 tsp a day. I find it goes well in oatmeal with cinnamon/peanut butter. Or in a homemade, low sugar hot chocolate!
So far my results have been great. I have more energy, am less moody and anxious, and my PMS is improved (I began the maca the day before I ovulated, I think). Sex drive too! Lol.
I was undergoing what I believe was a purging breakout when I began the maca, due to upping my omega 3 capsules. (I take 1800 mg per day now). I am finally noticing a difference with my acne as of the last few days…pimples are going down, and though I have a few new ones they are very small compared to my normal ones. I am on the point of getting my period so that may be a factor too. They say it takes about a month for maca to really work but I’m so impatient ! 🙂
The symptoms I was having prior to maca were:
Difficulty sleeping, vaginal dryness/low sex drive, mood swings/anxiety, feeling tired, fibrocystic breasts (& small fibroadenoma), very painful breasts between ovulation and period, spotting before my period, and feeling very tired right before my period. And of course, non stop hormonal pattern acne! (All lower cheeks and jaw). Pretty sure I have low progesterone and therefore my estrogen is dominant.
I have seen improvement with many of these and I’m very happy about it. Sorry for such a long long comment, but I wanted to be detailed in the hope that this will help someone with the same issues!
Tracy Raftl says
September 28, 2017 at 11:46 amNice one Susan! It’s fun when you find a supplement that seems to work for you! 🙂
Chanel Sneed says
November 21, 2017 at 12:41 pmHi, I just bought Maca in pill form….its NOW 500 mg veg capsules. Is this ok? I read this after purchasing. Also, can you take this and prenatal vitamin?
Also, if my acne gets worse is this a true sign that I do not need to take Maca for acne or is it possible it will get worse before it gets better? And how long do you wait it out? Thank you!
Yolanda says
July 12, 2018 at 5:31 amHi, I’m 52, estrogen dominant and going through menopause. I did not see HRT as an option for me. I started taking Macafem (worked my way up to maximum dosage) and it has been wonderful for me. I did have some breakouts initially, but as I continued, my skin began to not only look good but felt soft and moisturized. Most importantly for me though was how much hot flashes and night sweats decreased – almost nonexistent!
Tracy Raftl says
July 12, 2018 at 9:40 pmAwesome!! 🙂
Brandy says
September 19, 2018 at 4:51 pmI love maca but it makes me break out really bad!!! I’m on the whole 30 diet right now towards the end. So I know it’s the maca!
Tracy Raftl says
September 22, 2018 at 8:07 amThat’s too bad Brandy! yes it definitely doesn’t agree with some!
Tracy Raftl says
October 3, 2018 at 10:58 amSorry to hear your skin is a maca hater Brandy!