Yerba Mate

(Ilex paraguariensis)

Family: Aquifoliaceae
Genus: Ilex
Species: paraguariensis
Synonyms: Ilex paraguayensis , I. paraguensis, I. mate, I. domestica, I. sorbilis
Common Names: Yerba maté, maté, erva mate, congonha, erveira, Paraguay cayi, Paraguay tea, South American holly, matéteestrauch, erva-verdadeira, St. Bartholomew’s tea, Jesuit’s tea, hervea, caminú, kkiro, kali chaye
Phytochemicals: 2,5-xylenol, 4-oxolauric-acid, 5-o-caffeoylquinic-acid, Alpha-amyrin, Ash, Beta-amyrin, Butyric-acid, Caffeine, Caffetannin, Chlorogenic-acid, Chlorophyll, Choline, EO, Fiber, Inositol, Isobutyric-acid, Isocapronic-acid, Isovaleric-acid, Neochlorogenic- acid, Nicotinic-acid, Nitrogen, Pantothenic-acid, Protein, Pyridoxine, Resin, Resinic-acid, Riboflavin, Rutin, Stearic-acid, Tannin, Theobromine, Theophylline, Trigonelline, Ursolic-acid, Vanillin
Part Used: Leaves

HERBAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS

Main Actions: increases energy burns fat suppresses appetite cleanses blood stimulates digestion cleanses bowels stimulates heart fights free radicals enhances memory

Other Actions: relieves pain increases bile mildly laxative promotes perspiration enhances immunity

Standard Dosage: Leaves. Infusion: 1 cup 2-3 times daily; Capsules: 1-2 g twice daily

Yerba mate is a widely-cultivated, medium-sized evergreen tree that can grow to 20 m high in the wild. Yerba mate is in the holly family, and bears holly-like leaves that are quite stiff and leathery. In the wild it grows near streams, and thrives at 1,500-2,000 feet above sea level. It is yerba mate's tough, leathery leaves that are used medicinally and as a natural, refreshing tea beverage throughout South America. Yerba mate is indigenous to Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay; however, it is now cultivated in many tropical countries to supply a world demand for its leaves.

The primary active chemical constituency of yerba mate comprises xanthine alkaloids (caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline), saponins, and 10% chlorogenic acid. Sterols resembling ergosterol and cholesterol are also present in yerba mate, and novel saponins have been discovered in the leaf (and named matesaponins). Saponins are plant chemicals with known pharmacological activities, including, as recent research shows, stimulating the immune system. In addition, yerba mate leaf is a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and 15 amino acids.

In recent U.S. campaigns, yerba mate marketers claim that yerba mate contains no caffeine - rather, a chemical similar to caffeine called mateine. Mateine, they say, possesses all the benefits of caffeine and none of its negative effects (or so they would have consumers believe). Fact: yerba mate does contain caffeine. It has been chemically and scientifically identified, documented, verified, and validated to contain caffeine for many years by independent chemists and scientists around the world ("independent" being the operative term here). This fact continues to be confirmed by independent research every year. The caffeine content of yerba mate has been assayed to contain between 0.7 and 2%, with the average leaf yielding about 1% caffeine. In living plants, xanthines (such as caffeine) are bound to sugars, phenols, and tannins, and are set free or unbound during the roasting and/or fermenting processes used to process yerba mate leaves, coffee beans and even cacao beans. The mateine chemical "discovered" is probably just caffeine bound to a tannin or phenol in the raw leaf.

CAFFEINE CONTENT COMAPRISON                                           COMMON BEVERAGE PRODUCTS

Plant Beverage	Caffeine Content	Avg. caffeine in a 6 oz beverage*
Yerba maté leaves	0.7–2%	50–100 mg
Coffee beans (Coffea sp)	1–2.5%	100–250 mg
Black tea (Camellia sinensis)	2.5–4.5%	10–60 mg
Guaraná seed (Paullinia cupana)	4–8%	200–400 mg
Chocolate (Cacao seed)	0.25%	13 mg

*Based on quantities used in standard preparation methods


The traditional use of yerba mate for fatigue is explained by its primary active chemical: caffeine. Caffeine is a known stimulant, even documented with the ability to enhance athletic and cognitive performance after sleep deprivation and stress. Yerba mate's traditional use for the heart may be due to the phytochemical theophylline, also known as a pharmaceutical medication used to stimulate the heart muscle. All three xanthines (theobromine, caffeine, and theophylline) have diuretic properties, which may validate the traditional use of the plant as a diuretic. These substances have several other documented pharmacological actions including central nervous system stimulation, relaxation of smooth muscle (especially bronchial muscle), myocardial stimulation, and peripheral vasoconstriction.

Researchers in Switzerland performed a study on human subjects (in 1999) that indicated yerba mate could be beneficial as a weight-loss aid. They noticed a thermogenic effect in healthy individuals indicating a rise in the proportion of fat burned as energy. In another study, yerba mate was given in combination with the plants guaraná and damiana. This combination prolonged gastric emptying (which made the subjects feel "fuller" longer) and reduced body weight. Clinical studies indicate yerba mate leaf inhibits lipoxygenase, an enzyme involved in inflammation and inflammatory diseases. Yerba mate extracts also have been shown to relax smooth muscle, to increase bile flow, and inhibit vasoconstriction. A recent (2002) U.S. patent cites yerba mate for inhibiting monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity by 40-50% in vitro, reporting that it might be useful for a variety of such disorders as "depression, disorders of attention and focus, mood and emotional disorders, Parkinson's disease, extrapyramidal disorders, hypertension, substance abuse, eating disorders, withdrawal syndromes and the cessation of smoking."

Yerba mate has significant antioxidant activity, demonstrated in numerous studies. Its high antioxidant values are linked to rapid absorption of known antioxidant plant chemicals found in mate leaves. An infusion of the leaf has been demonstrated to inhibit lipid peroxidation - particularly LDL (low-density lipoprotein) oxidation. Oxidation of LDL is considered to be the initiating factor in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Another study in vitro has shown yerba mate to inhibit the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), with an effect comparable to that of two pharmaceutical AGE inhibitor drugs. The formation of AGEs play a part in the development of diabetic complications.

Yerba mate has been used as a beverage since the time of the ancient Indians of Brazil and Paraguay. In the early 16th century, Juan de Solís, a Spanish explorer of South America's famed La Plata River, reported that the Guarani Indians of Paraguay brewed a leaf tea that "produced exhilaration and relief from fatigue." The Spaniards tried the beverage and liked it. Their subsequent demand for the tea led the Jesuits to develop plantations of the wild species in Paraguay and yerba mate became known as "Jesuits' tea" or "Paraguay tea."

Methods of leaf preparation for the traditional tea beverage vary then and now: in one method, the branches are cut, then held over an open fire (to fire-cure the leaves). This deactivates the enzymes in the leaves (making them more brittle) and the green color of the leaves is retained in the subsequent drying process (with charred bits often found in the resulting tea product, which lends to a smoky flavor). Other methods include a brief par-blanching of the leaves in boiling water (to deactivate the leaf enzymes and soften its leathery texture). They then are toasted dry in large pans over a fire or inside a brick oven-resulting in a finished brown-leaf tea.

The wild plant has a distinct aroma and taste that has not been matched by plantation cultivation. In South America yerba mate is considered a national drink in several countries; in Europe, it is called "the green gold of the Indios." In Brazil and Paraguay (leading exporters of mate), some production still comes from wild stands-most of which is found in the humid depressions of the foothills. It is not unusual for one wild tree to yield 30-40 kg of dried leaves annually. In wild harvesting, mate gatherers, called tarrafeiros or yebateros, travel through the jungle searching for a stand of trees (called a mancha). Harvesting is done between May and October, when the tree is in full leaf. Leaves are picked from the same tree only every third year, which protects it for subsequent crops. Most of the mate in commerce today, however, comes from large cultivation projects in Paraguay and Uruguay.

The word mate is Spanish for "gourd," and refers to the small gourd cup in which the tea beverage traditionally is served throughout South America. It is also served with a metal drinking straw or tube, called a bombilla, which has a filter attached to the lower end to strain out leaf fragments. The bottom third of the gourd is filled with fire-burned or toasted leaves, and hot water is added. Burnt sugar, lemon juice, and/or milk often is used to flavor the refreshing tea, which occupies a position rivaling that of coffee in the United States. Mate bars are as prevalent in South America as coffee bars are in North America and Europe; mate drinking has deep cultural roots.

In addition to its standing as a popular beverage, yerba mate is used as a tonic, diuretic, and as a stimulant to reduce fatigue, suppress appetite, and aid gastric function in herbal medicine systems throughout South America. It also has been used as a depurative (to promote cleansing and excretion of waste). In Brazil, mate is said to stimulate the nervous and muscular systems and is used for digestive problems, renal colic, nerve pain, depression, fatigue, and obesity. A poultice of the leaves also is applied topically to anthrax skin ulcers (for which mate's tannin content - highly astringent - may be the reasoning behind this use).

Yerba mate also has a long history of use worldwide. In Europe it is used for weight loss, physical and mental fatigue, nervous depression, rheumatic pains, and psychogenic- and fatigue-related headaches. In Germany it has become popular as a weight-loss aid. Yerba mate is the subject of a German monograph which lists its approved uses for mental and physical fatigue. In France yerba mate is approved for the treatment of asthenia (weakness or lack of energy), as an aid in weight-loss programs, and as a diuretic. It also appears in the British Herbal Phamacopoeia (1996) and indicated for the treatment of fatigue, weight loss, and headaches. In the U.S., Dr. James Balch, M.D. recommends yerba mate for arthritis, headache, hemorrhoids, fluid retention, obesity, fatigue, stress, constipation, allergies, and hay fever, and states that it "cleanses the blood, tones the nervous system, retards aging, stimulates the mind, controls the appetite, stimulates the production of cortisone, and is believed to enhance the healing powers of other herbs." Yerba mate now is cultivated in India, and the Indian Ayurvedic Phamacopoeia lists mate for the treatment of psychogenic headaches, nervous depression, fatigue, and rheumatic pains.

Following up a brief summary of worldwide ethnomedical uses of yerba mate.

Region	Uses
Brazil	for anthrax ulcers (topical), appetite suppression, asthenia, central nervous system stimulant, digestion stimulant, fatigue, heart support, hypertension, muscle weakness, nerve pain, obesity, renal colic, rheumatism, urinary insufficiency, and as a common beverage and stimulant
Europe	for asthenia, central nervous system disorders, depression, fatigue, gout, headache, heart regulation, obesity, rheumatism, spasms, ulcers, urinary insufficiency, weight loss
India	for fatigue, headache, nervous depression, rheumatic pains
South America	for appetite suppression, debility, energy, exhaustion, fatigue, gout, headache, heart regulation, memory enhancement, muscle weakness, neurasthenia, obesity, rheumatism, scurvy, spasms, stimulant, stress, sweat promotion, tonic, wound and as a common beverage, diuretic, laxative, and stimulant
Turkey	as a beverage, diuretic, laxative, stimulant, sweat promoter, and for scurvy
U.S.	for allergies, antiaging, appetite suppression, arthritis, constipation, edema, endurance, fatigue, hayfever, headache, heart support, hemorrhoids, nervous system disorders, obesity, stamina, stress, urinary insufficiency, and as a stimulant
Elsewhere	as a cardiotonic, diuretic, stimulant, tonic

YERBA MATE PLANT SUMMARY

Main Preparation Method:	infusion
Main Actions (in order):	stimulant, tonic (tones, balances, strengthens overall body functions), thermogenic (increase fat-burning), nervine (balances/calms nerves), anti-allergy
Main Uses:	as a stimulant (for its caffeine content) as an overall tonic (tones, balances, strengthens the body) and digestive aid for obesity and as part of weight loss regimens as a general nervine (balances/calms nerves) for nerve pain, nervous fatigue, and depression for allergies and sinusitis
Properties/Actions Documented by Research:	anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antispasmodic, bile stimulant, stimulant, thermogenic (increases fat burning), vasodilator
Other Properties/Actions Documented by Traditional Use:	anti-allergy, antidepressant, appetite suppressant, blood cleanser, cardiotonic (tones, balances, strengthens the heart), central nervous system stimulant, digestive stimulant, hypotensive (lowers blood pressure), nervine (balances/calms nerves), neurasthenic (reduces nerve pain), neuroprotective (protects brain cells), purgative (strong laxative)
Traditional Preparation:	A leaf tea or infusion is the standard preparation, utilizing 2-4 g of cut leaves in 150 ml of hot water. Powdered leaf and leaf extracts with standardized caffeine content are being used in capsules and formulas in herbal products as well. General dosages recommended are the equivalent of 2 g once or twice daily, or follow the labeled dosage information.
Contraindications:	Yerba mate contains caffeine and should not be used by those who are sensitive or allergic to caffeine. Excessive consumption of caffeine is contraindicated for persons with high blood pressure, diabetes, ulcers, and other diseases. Yerba mate should not be consumed excessively and chronically (as it has been documented to increase the risk of certain such cancers as oral and esophageal cancer). Yerba mate has been reported to have MAO-inhibitor activity in one in vitro study. Those persons taking MAO-inhibitor drugs should use yerba mate with caution to monitor these possible effects.
Drug Interactions:	None documented. However, it may potentiate monoamine oxidase inhibitor drugs (MAOIs).

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