U. Mass. Ethnobotanist's Discovery Benefits U.S. Consumers and Peruvian Economy

Nine years after Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham took an exploratory trek to the Peruvian highlands, a treasured traditional super-food called Maca has entered the U.S. consumer mass market. Today, Wal-Mart has placed Medicine Hunter Maca Stimulant(R) on the shelves of 3480 stores, coast-to-coast.

"This product opens a new chapter in healthful rapid action energy stimulation," explains ethnobotanist Kilham, who is Explorer in Residence at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "Maca is one of the greatest super-foods of all time and makes people feel very good very quickly." Medicine Hunter Maca Stimulant(R) boosts energy, libido and well-being naturally without synthetic additives or caffeine, which have dubious health benefits and work like energy vampires over time.

Two-thousand years ago, the legendary Maca root was valued as gold and traded as currency in the ancient Incan culture. History books record Incan warriors eating Maca to attain fearsome prowess in battle. A member of the mustard family, the plant grows under the most inhospitable conditions -- in poor "moonscape" soil where the air is thin and the sunlight and wind are extremely harsh. Local harvesters today grow Maca for its medicinal root, which they use as a staple in their diet and export worldwide as a mega-energy food and potent sex booster for both men and women.

"In 1998, at 15,000 feet, I participated in a late-night shamanic ritual with the local Maca growers," explains the Medicine Hunter. "The ceremony ended with a spectacular and violent storm, which seemed like Nature's endorsement of our project. At that moment, I made a pledge to help popularize Maca in the U.S.," says Kilham, "and have worked diligently for the past 9 years to fulfill that promise."

In addition to the U.S. consumer, the beneficiaries of Kilham's work are the Peruvian harvesters who can now earn a decent wage from cultivating Maca, which is a better option than the grueling, dangerous and low-paying toil of mining, their only other source of income.

"We're very enthused that Wal-Mart is offering Medicine Hunter Maca Stimulant(R) to all their shoppers," says Randy Rose, CEO of Enzymatic Therapy, Inc., the supplement company that has partnered with Kilham to develop the product. "Wal-Mart's Medicine Hunter initiative dovetails beautifully with our work to promote sustainability and provide fair income for the native Maca harvesters in Peru. We look forward to collaborating with Wal-Mart on additional opportunities to enhance people's health through natural medicines with proven efficacy. For more information, visit http://www.medicinehunter.com/; and http://www.enzy.com/.

Source: Enzymatic Therapy, Inc.