Does Maca Root Make Your Butt Bigger?

Maca root does not make your butt bigger. No published human study has found that maca supplementation increases the size of the gluteal muscles or directs fat storage to the buttocks. The claim circulates widely on social media and supplement marketing pages, but the research on maca points in entirely different directions: its documented effects center on energy, libido, and fertility, not body shape. Understanding why the claim persists anyway is worth the detour, because the gap between what maca actually does and what people hope it does reveals a lot about how supplement culture works.

What Maca Root Actually Is

Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is a cruciferous root vegetable grown at high altitudes in the Peruvian Andes. It belongs to the same plant family as broccoli and cabbage. Traditionally, it has been consumed as a food and used to enhance energy, stamina, and reproductive health for centuries.

The root’s chemical profile includes starch, dietary fiber, protein, minerals, and a set of compounds relatively unique to the plant, including macamides, macaenes, and glucosinolates.¹ These bioactive compounds vary depending on the color of the root (black, red, yellow, and others), where it was grown, and how it was processed after harvest.² More recently, researchers have also isolated a group of compounds called thiohydantoins from maca, expanding the list of its potentially active ingredients.³

None of these compounds have been shown to stimulate muscle growth or relocate fat tissue in humans. The scientific literature on maca’s pharmacological effects focuses on sexual function, neuroprotection, bone density, and energy, not body composition.⁴

The Hormone Myth

The most common argument for maca’s supposed butt-growing power goes like this: maca raises estrogen levels, estrogen directs fat to the hips and buttocks, therefore maca gives you curves. Each link in that chain has problems, starting with the first one.

Clinical research in healthy men has found that maca supplementation has no measurable effect on serum testosterone, estradiol, or other reproductive hormones.⁵ A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in men with symptoms of low testosterone confirmed the same result: no significant difference in total or free testosterone between the maca group and placebo.⁶ Another placebo-controlled pilot study in healthy men found that while sperm quality showed some improvement, hormone levels did not change significantly over the twelve-week trial period.⁷

What about estrogen specifically? Analytical testing of maca itself has found no detectable plant estrogens or hormones in the root.⁸ In animal studies using rats whose ovaries had been removed, red and black maca extracts did produce some estrogenic-like effects on uterine tissue, but these were observed under very specific laboratory conditions involving surgical hormone depletion and high-altitude hypoxia.⁹ Translating those findings to a healthy person taking capsules at sea level is a stretch that no researcher has made.

So the hormone story collapses at its foundation. Maca does not raise estrogen or testosterone in humans, and it does not contain plant estrogens. Whatever benefits maca provides seem to work through pathways that do not involve changing circulating hormone levels.

How Fat Distribution Actually Works

Even if a supplement did raise estrogen, the relationship between estrogen and buttock size is not as simple as internet influencers suggest. Estrogen does play a role in the sex-specific pattern of fat storage, but the mechanism involves tissue-level receptor biology, not a simple “more estrogen equals more hip fat” equation.

Research has shown that estrogen influences fat distribution partly by affecting an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase, which controls how much fat gets pulled from the bloodstream into fat cells.¹⁰ But the response differs dramatically depending on which fat depot you’re talking about. A study in overweight-to-obese premenopausal women found that the types of estrogen receptors present differ between abdominal and gluteal fat tissue. The gluteal region had higher levels of one receptor subtype, while the abdominal region had higher levels of another, and the ratio between these receptor subtypes correlated with waist-to-hip ratio.¹¹

In plain terms, your body’s distribution of fat is shaped by the receptor landscape in your fat tissue, which is largely determined by genetics and sex. You can’t override that wiring by swallowing a supplement, because even the actual hormone itself doesn’t work the same way in every fat depot. This is why hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women can shift body composition modestly, but it doesn’t produce a targeted increase in buttock fat. A plant extract that doesn’t even raise hormone levels is even further from producing that effect.

What Actually Makes the Glutes Grow

If the goal is a bigger, more muscular butt, the answer is unglamorous but well supported: resistance training. The gluteus maximus is a large muscle that responds to progressive overload like any other skeletal muscle.

A systematic review of exercises that activate the glutes found that step-ups and their variations produced the highest gluteal activation, followed by deadlifts, hip thrusts, lunges, and squats.¹² A meta-analysis specifically examining gluteus maximus hypertrophy confirmed that resistance training produces a moderate effect on glute size. It found that barbell hip thrusts are a strong choice when gluteal growth is the primary target, and that back squats performed through a full range of motion also significantly promote gluteal hypertrophy. Programs combining both single-joint and multi-joint hip extension exercises effectively stimulate growth.¹³

No supplement, maca or otherwise, has been shown to replicate or meaningfully enhance this effect in the absence of training. Muscle tissue grows in response to mechanical tension and metabolic stress from exercise, plus adequate protein and calories. A root vegetable powder doesn’t generate mechanical tension.

Could Maca Help Indirectly Through Better Workouts?

A more reasonable version of the maca claim might go: maybe maca won’t grow your butt directly, but if it gives you more energy for harder training, it could help indirectly. This idea has some surface plausibility, since a few small studies have found performance benefits from black maca supplementation.

A study in male elite athletes found that eight weeks of black maca supplementation was associated with improvements in muscle endurance, power, and agility.¹⁴ A study in elite female handball players reported that black maca improved endurance performance and certain measures of muscle function compared to placebo.¹⁵ These are genuinely interesting results, but they come with significant caveats. Both studies involved elite athletes, not casual gym-goers. The improvements were in endurance and functional performance measures, not in muscle size or body composition. And critically, a clinical trial in amateur runners found that maca supplementation did not significantly affect body weight or body composition in a short-term protocol, which aligns with the broader literature showing maca has little effect on body composition.¹⁶

So even if maca gives you a slight edge in workout stamina, that edge doesn’t translate into measurable changes in body shape or muscle mass on its own. The performance studies are promising for endurance athletes, but they do not support the butt-growth claim even by the most generous interpretation.

What Maca Does to Fat Metabolism in Animal Models

Animal research has explored maca’s effects on fat tissue, but the findings actually point away from fat gain. In a study where rats were fed either a normal diet or a high-fat diet with or without maca, the root appeared to have protective and regulatory effects on metabolic markers in fat tissue. Maca supplementation was associated with changes in insulin signaling, leptin, and a longevity-related protein called SIRT1 in fat tissue, suggesting a role in metabolic health rather than fat accumulation.¹⁷ A clinical study in early-postmenopausal women actually found that maca supplementation significantly reduced BMI.¹⁸

If anything, the metabolic evidence trends in the opposite direction from what butt-growth marketers claim. Maca seems to support metabolic health and, if it affects weight at all, leans toward modest reductions rather than gains in any body region.

The Real Risk in “Body Enhancement” Supplements

Here is where the conversation shifts from merely disappointing to genuinely concerning. When people buy maca supplements marketed for curves or weight gain, they’re sometimes not just getting maca. The supplement industry, particularly in the body-enhancement niche, has a documented problem with adulteration.

A study analyzing herbal weight gain supplements sold in herb shops found that products were contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs including cyproheptadine (an antihistamine that increases appetite) and dexamethasone (a corticosteroid), sometimes at doses exceeding therapeutic levels.¹⁹ A separate analysis of weight-gain products found similar adulteration with the same drugs.²⁰ Dexamethasone, taken unknowingly over weeks, can cause weight gain (including a characteristic redistribution of fat to the face and trunk), elevated blood sugar, immune suppression, and adrenal insufficiency when stopped abruptly. Cyproheptadine can cause significant appetite increases and sedation.

This means that if someone takes a sketchy “maca curve” supplement and actually gains weight, the explanation might not be maca at all. It might be an undisclosed pharmaceutical doing the work, with side effects the user never consented to. This is not a hypothetical risk. These adulterants have been found in real products on real shelves, and the problem is particularly acute in supplements marketed for body transformation.

Why People Believe It Works Anyway

Supplement marketing in the United States operates under a regulatory framework that allows manufacturers to make “structure-function” claims without needing to prove that their product actually does what they imply it does. A study examining dietary supplement advertising found that many structure-function claims use language that effectively mimics the stronger health claims that would require FDA approval and scientific evidence. The clinical associations made in these claims are largely unsubstantiated in the medical literature.²¹ A phrase like “supports feminine curves” can appear on a maca bottle without anyone having to prove it does anything of the sort.

Expectation also plays a powerful role. Research on placebo effects in body-composition contexts has shown that simply believing you’re taking something effective can change your behavior and self-perception. A study in obese adults given a sham dietary supplement found that taking the capsules actually decreased participants’ self-efficacy for weight loss, suggesting a nocebo effect where relying on a supplement made people less confident in their own ability to change.²² A meta-analysis of placebo effects in weight management confirmed that expectation effects exist in this domain, though they are modest and sometimes work against the user.²³

When someone starts taking maca, they often simultaneously start paying more attention to their body, wearing different clothing, taking progress photos from more flattering angles, or starting a new exercise routine. Any of these changes can create the perception that the supplement is “working,” when the real drivers are elsewhere entirely.

Different Maca Colors and What They Actually Affect

Maca supplement labels sometimes emphasize a particular color variety, with red, black, and yellow being the most common. These aren’t just marketing gimmicks. The different ecotypes do have distinct phytochemical profiles and, in research, have shown somewhat different effects. The color, size of the root, growing location, cultivation method, and post-harvest processing all influence both nutrient content and potential clinical applications.² Black maca has drawn the most research attention for fertility and physical performance. Red maca has been studied for prostate health and bone density in animal models.

But here’s what none of them have been studied for in any clinical trial: buttock enlargement, targeted fat deposition, or gluteal hypertrophy. The specificity of the color choice matters for the actual documented effects of maca, which revolve around energy, mood, reproductive health, and adaptation to altitude stress.²⁴ Choosing black maca over yellow maca won’t get you closer to a body-composition goal that maca doesn’t influence in the first place. Twentieth-century scientific research on maca focused on its genuinely interesting properties: enhancing sexual drive, increasing energy, and improving fertility in both humans and livestock.²⁵ Those are the lanes where maca has a legitimate, if still evolving, evidence base. Buttock size was never one of them.

What to Look for If You Still Want to Try Maca

Maca is generally considered safe as a food and supplement. If you’re interested in it for the things it might actually help with, such as energy, libido, or general vitality, a few practical points are worth keeping in mind. Look for supplements from established brands that use gelatinized or heat-treated maca, since raw maca can be harder on digestion. Check for third-party testing certifications, which provide at least some assurance that what’s on the label is what’s in the bottle. Be especially wary of any maca product that also claims to enhance curves, promote weight gain in specific body parts, or reshape your figure, because those claims have no basis in the research, and products making outlandish promises are exactly the ones most likely to contain undisclosed ingredients.

Typical doses used in clinical studies range from about 1,500 to 3,000 milligrams per day, though the research base is still thin enough that no authoritative body has established a formal recommended dose. If you’re taking medications, particularly anything affecting hormone levels, checking with your healthcare provider first is a reasonable precaution, since maca’s mechanism of action is still not fully understood even though it doesn’t appear to change circulating hormone levels directly.