Yerba mate or
yerba-mate (Br.) ,
Ilex paraguariensis, is a
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
of
hollyHolly is a genus of approximately 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family.-Description and ecology:...
(family Aquifoliaceae) native to subtropical
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
in northeastern
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
, eastern
ParaguayParaguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the two landlocked countries which lie entirely within the Western Hemisphere, the other being Bolivia, both in South America....
and southern
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. It was first scientifically classified by Swiss botanist Moses Bertoni, who settled in Paraguay in 1895.
The yerba mate plant is a
shrubA shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
or small
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
growing up to 15
metersThe metre or meter is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units . Historically, the metre was defined by the French Academy of Sciences as the length between two marks on a platinum-iridium bar, which was designed to represent one ten-millionth of the distance from the Equator...
tall. The
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
are
evergreenIn botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaves all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
, 7–11
cmA centimetre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one hundredth of a metre, which is the current SI base unit of length. Centi is the SI prefix for a factor of...
long and 3–5.5 cm wide, with a serrated margin. The
flowerA flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds...
s are small, greenish-white, with four petals. The
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
is a red
drupeIn botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
4–6 mm diameter.
Infusion
The infusion called
mateMate , also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water...
is prepared by steeping dry leaves (and twigs) of yerba mate in hot water, rather than in boiling water like black tea. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow
gourdThe calabash or bottle gourd is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, one of the calabash subspecies is known as the bottle gourd. The fresh fruit has a light...
(also called a
mate in Spanish, or
cabaça or
cuia in Portuguese) with a metal straw (a
bombilla in Spanish,
bomba in Portuguese) is a common social practice in
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
,
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
,
ParaguayParaguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the two landlocked countries which lie entirely within the Western Hemisphere, the other being Bolivia, both in South America....
, southern
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, eastern
BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
and southern and western
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and has been cultivated in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
and
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
.
The flavor of brewed yerba mate is strongly vegetal, herbal, and grassy, reminiscent of some varieties of
green teaGreen tea is a type of tea made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that has undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East. Recently, it has become more widespread in the...
. Many consider the flavor to be very agreeable, but it is generally bitter if steeped in boiling water. Unlike most teas, it does not become bitter and astringent when steeped for extended periods, and the leaves may be infused several times. Additionally, one can purchase flavored mate in many varieties.
In
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, a toasted version of mate, known as
chá mate or "mate tea", is sold in teabag and loose form, and served, sweetened, in specialized shops, either hot or iced with fruit juice or milk. An iced, sweetened version of toasted mate is sold as an uncarbonated
soft drinkA soft drink is a drink that does not contain alcohol . Soft drinks are often carbonated and commonly consumed while cold. The most common soft drinks are colas, flavored water, sparkling water, iced tea, sweet tea, lemonade, squash and fruit punch....
, with or without fruit flavoring. The toasted variety of mate has less of a bitter flavor and more of a spicy fragrance. When shaken it becomes creamy (since the formed foam gets well mixed and lasts for some time), known as
mate batido. It is more popular in the coastal cities of
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, as opposed to the far southern states where it is consumed in the traditional way (green, drunk with a silver straw from a shared gourd), and called "chimarrão".
Similarly, a form of mate is sold in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay in tea bags to be drunk in a similar way to tea. This is known in Spanish as
mate cocido or
cocido. In Argentina this is commonly drunk with breakfast or as part of
merienda (roughly, afternoon tea), often with a selection of
facturas (sweet pastries). It is also made by heating yerba in water and straining it as it cools.
In Paraguay, western Brazil (
Mato GrossoMato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country....
and west of
São PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and the world's 7th largest metropolitan area. The city is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous Brazilian state. It is also the richest city in Brazil. The name of the city honors Saint Paul. São Paulo exerts strong regional influence in...
) and the Litoral Argentino, yerba mate infusion is also drunk as a cold or iced beverage and called tereré or tererê (in spanish and portuguese, respectively). Usually sucked out of a horn cup called
guampa with a
bombilla. Medicinal herbs, known as "yuyos", are mixed in a mortar and pestle and added to the water for taste or medicinal reasons. Tereré consumed in Paraguay may also be made as an infusion of yerba mate with grapefruit or lemon juice.
Nomenclature
The pronunciation of
yerba mate in
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
is . The word
hierba is
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
for grass or herb;
yerba is a variant spelling of it which is quite common in Argentina.
Mate is from the
QuechuaQuechua is a Native American language family spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 6 to 8 million speakers...
mati, meaning "cup". "Yerba mate" is therefore literally the "cup herb."
The (Brazilian) Portuguese name is
erva-mate (also pronounced in some regions) and is also used to prepare the drinks
chimarrão (hot) or
tereréTereré is an infusion of yerba mate / erva-mate , similar to mate but prepared with cold water , and in a slightly larger vessel...
(cold). While the tea is made with the toasted leaves, these drinks are made with green ones, and are very popular in the south of the country. The name given to the plant in
GuaraníGuaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by 88% of the population, with half of the...
(Guarani, in Portuguese), language of the indigenous people who first cultivated and enjoyed yerba mate, is
ka'a, which has the same meaning as
yerba.
"Congonha", in Portuguese, is derived from the
TupiThe Tupi people were one of the main ethnic groups of Brazilian indigenous people. Scholars believe they first settled in the Amazon rainforest, but 2,900 years ago they started to spread southward and gradually occupied the Atlantic coast.-History:The Tupi people inhabited almost all of Brazil's...
expression for "erva mate", meaning something like "what keeps us alive".
Both the spellings "mate" and "maté" are used in English. The
acute accentThe acute accent is a diacritic mark used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-History:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels....
on the final letter indicates that the word and its pronunciation are distinct from the common English word "mate" , meaning a partner (US) or friend (UK, Aus, NZ). However, the Yerba Mate Association of the Americas states that it is always improper to accent the second syllable, since doing so confuses the word with an unrelated Spanish word for killing ("Maté" literally means "(I) killed" in Spanish).
Cultivation
The plant is grown and processed mainly in
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, more specifically in Northern
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
(
CorrientesCorrientes is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. Its name means "currents" or "rapids" in Spanish...
,
MisionesMisiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...
),
ParaguayParaguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the two landlocked countries which lie entirely within the Western Hemisphere, the other being Bolivia, both in South America....
,
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
and southern
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
(
Rio Grande do SulRio Grande do Sul is the southernmost State of Brazil, and the State with the fourth highest Human Development Index in the country. In Rio Grande do Sul we can find the most southern city of the country, Chuí, on the border with Uruguay...
,
Santa Catarinais a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in the country. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighboring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean,...
ParanáParaná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
and
Mato Grosso do SulMato Grosso do Sul is one of the states of Brazil.Neighbouring states are Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay and Bolivia to the west...
). The
GuaraníGuaraní are a group of culturally related indigenous peoples of South America. They distinguished from the related Tupi by their use of the Guaraní language. The traditional range of the Guaraní people is in what is now Paraguay between the Uruguay River and lower Paraguay River, the Corrientes and...
are reputed to be the first people who cultivated the plant; the first Europeans to do this were
JesuitThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits.Jesuits are the largest male religious order in the Catholic Church, with 18,815 members—13,305 priests, 2,295 scholastic students, 1,758 brothers and 827 novices—as of January 2008, although the...
missionariesA missionary is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith; someone who proselytizes. The word "mission" is derived from the Latin missioninimus A missionary is a member of a religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith;...
, who spread the drinking habit as far as
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
and Southern Chile.
When the yerba is harvested, the branches are dried sometimes with a wood fire, imparting a smoky flavor. Then the leaves and sometimes the
twigTwigs are critically important in identification of trees, shrubs and vines, especially in wintertime. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away...
s are broken up.
There are many brands and types of yerba, with and without twigs (
con palo or
sin palo), some with low powder content. Some types are less strong in flavor (
suave, "mild") and there are blends flavored with
mintMentha is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . Species within Mentha have a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America. Several mint hybrids commonly occur.Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely...
,
orangeAn orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus ×sinensis and its fruit. The orange is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine...
and
grapefruitThe grapefruit is a subtropical citrus tree known for its bitter fruit, an 18th-century hybrid first bred in Jamaica. When found in Barbados it was named the "forbidden fruit"; it is also called the "shaddock", after its creator....
skin, etc.
The plant
Ilex paraguariensis can vary in strength of the flavor, caffeine levels and other nutrients depending on whether it is a male or female plant. Female plants tend to be milder in flavor, and lower in caffeine. They are also relatively scarce in the areas where yerba mate is planted and cultivated, not wild-harvested, compared to the male plants.
Chemical composition and properties
Caffeine
Mate contains
xanthineXanthine , , is a purine base found in most human body tissues and fluids and in other organisms. A number of mild stimulants are derived from xanthine, including caffeine and theobromine....
s, which are
alkaloidAlkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing basic nitrogen atoms. The name derives from the word alkaline and was used to describe any nitrogen-containing base. Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of organisms, including bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals and are part of...
s such as
caffeineCaffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is a psychoactive stimulant drug. Caffeine was discovered by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, in 1819. He coined the term kaffein, a chemical compound in coffee, which in English became caffeine...
,
theophyllineTheophylline, also known as dimethylxanthine, is a methylxanthine drug used in therapy for respiratory diseases such as COPD or asthma under a variety of brand names. Due to its numerous side-effects, these drugs are now rarely administered for clinical use. As a member of the xanthine family, it...
, and
theobromineTheobromine, also known as xantheose, is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, found in chocolate, as well as in a number of chocolate-free foods made from theobromine sources including the leaves of the tea plant, the kola or cola nut, and acai berries. It is in the methylxanthine class of...
, well-known stimulants also found in
coffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of "coffee cherries" that grow on trees in over 70 countries. It has been said that green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind crude oil. Due to its...
and
chocolateChocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC...
. Caffeine content varies between 0.2% and 2% of dry weight (compared with 0.3–9% for
teaTea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods...
leaves, 2.5-7.5% in
guaranaGuarana Guarana Guarana is a climbing plant in the maple family, Sapindaceae, native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil. Guarana features large leaves and clusters of flowers, and is best known for its...
, and up to 3.2% for ground
coffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of "coffee cherries" that grow on trees in over 70 countries. It has been said that green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind crude oil. Due to its...
).
Stereoisomer claims
However, caffeine is not chiral, and thus cannot have a stereoisomer, and "mateine" is an official synonym of
caffeineCaffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that is a psychoactive stimulant drug. Caffeine was discovered by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, in 1819. He coined the term kaffein, a chemical compound in coffee, which in English became caffeine...
in the chemical databases.
Studies of mate, though very limited, have shown preliminary evidence that the mate xanthine cocktail is different from other plants containing caffeine most significantly in its effects on
muscle tissueMuscle is the contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...
, as opposed to those on the
central nervous systemThe central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that functions to coordinate the activity of all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all animals more advanced than sponges or jellyfish. In vertebrates, the central nervous system is enclosed in the meninges. It contains...
, which are similar to those of other natural stimulants. The three xanthines present in mate have been shown to have a relaxing effect on
smooth muscle tissueSmooth muscle is an involuntary non-striated muscle, found within the tunica media layer of large and small arteries and veins, the bladder, uterus, male and female reproductive tracts, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, arrector pili of skin, the ciliary muscle, and iris of...
, and a stimulating effect on
myocardial (heart)Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found in the walls of the heart, specifically the myocardium. Cardiac muscle cells are known as cardiac myocytes . Cardiac muscle is one of three major types of muscle, the others being skeletal and smooth muscle...
tissue .
Comparison of effects with coffee
Mate's negative effects are anecdotally claimed to be of a lesser degree than those of coffee, though no explanation for this is offered or even credibly postulated, except for its potential as a placebo effect. Some users report that drinking yerba mate does not prevent them from being able to fall asleep, as is often the case with some more common stimulating beverages, while still enhancing their energy and ability to remain awake at will.
However, the net amount of caffeine in one preparation of yerba mate is typically quite high, in large part because the repeated filling of the mate with hot water is able to extract the xanthines very effectively. It is for this reason that one mate may be shared among several people and yet produce the desired stimulating effect in all of them.
From reports of personal experience with mate, its physiological effects are similar to (yet distinct from) more widespread caffeinated beverages like coffee, tea, or
guaranaGuarana Guarana Guarana is a climbing plant in the maple family, Sapindaceae, native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil. Guarana features large leaves and clusters of flowers, and is best known for its...
drinks. Some users report a mental state of wakefulness, focus and alertness reminiscent of most stimulants, but often remark on mate's unique lack of the negative effects typically created by other such compounds, such as anxiety, "jitteriness", and heart palpitations.
Mineral content
Mate also contains elements such as
potassiumPotassium is the chemical element with the symbol K , atomic number 19, and atomic mass 39.0983. Potassium was first isolated from potash...
,
magnesiumMagnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12 and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the earth's crust by mass, although ninth in the Universe as a whole...
and
manganeseManganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
.
Phenolic content and anti-carcinogenic potential
In vivoIn vivo refers to experimentation using a whole, living organism as opposed to a partial or dead organism, or an in vitro controlled environment. Animal testing and clinical trials are two forms of in vivo research...
and
in vitroA procedure performed in vitro is performed not in a living organism but in a controlled environment, such as in a test tube or Petri dish...
studies are showing yerba mate to exhibit significant cancer-fighting activity. Researchers at the University of Illinois (2005) found yerba mate to be "rich in phenolic constituents" and to "inhibit oral cancer cell proliferation" while it promoted proliferation of oral cancer cell lines at certain concentrations.
This activity was due in part to inhibition of topoisomerase II activity in yeast.
In contrast, researchers in Mississippi found that both cold and hot water extractions of yerba mate contained high levels (8.03 to 53.3 ng/g dry leaves) of carcinogenic
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbonPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. PAHs occur in oil, coal, and tar deposits, and are produced as byproducts of fuel burning...
s (PAHs) (i.e. Benzo[a]pyrene).
Antiobesity properties
In mouse studies, ilex paraguensis tea has been shown to mitigate the tendency towards obesity induced by a high-fat diet.
Cholesterol lowering properties
Consumption of yerba mate ( Ilex paraguariensis ) improves serum lipid parameters in healthy dyslipidemic subjects and provides an additional LDL-cholesterol reduction in individuals on statin therapy .
Carcinogenic potential
Conversely, a study by the
International Agency for Research on CancerThe International Agency for Research on Cancer is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organisation of the United Nations....
showed a limited correlation between oral cancer and the drinking of hot maté and on large quantities of mate. Smaller quantities (less than 1 liter daily) and warm rather than hot mate consumption were found to increase risk only slightly; alcohol and tobacco consumption had a synergistic effect on increasing oral, throat, and esophageal cancer.Given the influence of the temperature of water, as well as the lack of complete adjustment for age, alcohol consumption and smoking, the study concludes that maté is "not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans".
Yerba maté consumption has been associated with increased incidence of bladder, esophageal, oral, squamous cell of the head and neck, and lung cancer. However, a case-control study showed no increased incidence of bladder cancer in mate drinkers.
The pyrrolizidine alkaloids contained in maté tea are known to produce a rare condition of the liver, veno-occlusive disease, which produces liver failure due to progressive occlusion of the small venous channels in the liver. One fatal case has been reported in a young British woman who consumed large quantities of maté tea from Paraguay for years.
Possible MAO activity
An August 11, 2005, United States patent application (documents #20050176777, #20030185908, and #20020054926) cites yerba maté extract as a
monoamine oxidase inhibitorMonoamine oxidase inhibitors are a class of powerful antidepressant drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly effective in treating atypical depression, and have also shown efficacy in smoking cessation....
; the maximal inhibition observed
in vitro was 40–50%. MAOIs being
antidepressantAn antidepressant is a psychiatric medication used to alleviate mood disorders, such as major depression and dysthymia. Drugs including the monoamine oxidase inhibitors , tricyclic antidepressants , tetracyclic antidepressants , selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors , and serotonin-norepinephrine...
s, there is speculation that this may contribute to the calming effect of yerba maté.
In addition, it has been noted by the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine that yerba maté can cause high blood pressure when used in conjunction with other MAO inhibitors (such as Nardil and Parnate).
E-NTPDase activity
Research also shows that yerba maté preparations can alter the concentration of members of the ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase (E-NTPDase) family, resulting in an elevated level of extracellular ATP, ADP, and AMP. This was found with chronic ingestion (15 days) of an aqueous yerba mate extract, and may {OR} lead to a novel mechanism for manipulation of vascular regenerative factors, i.e., treating heart disease.
Antioxidant potential
In an investigation of yerba mate antioxidant activity, there was a correlation found between content of caffeoyl-derivatives and antioxidant capacity (AOC).
Amongst a group of Ilex species,
Ilex paraguariensis antioxidant activity was the highest.
The Culture of Yerba Mate
The Argentina experience is not complete without daily servings of yerba mate. It is common for friends to convene to "matear" several times a week. In cold weather the beverage is served hot and in warm weather the hot water is often substituted for lemonade. Children often take yerba mate with lemonade as well.
As Americans often meet at a coffee shop, drinking mate is the impetus for gathering with friends in Argentina. Sharing mate is ritualistic and has its own set of rules. Usually one person, the host or whoever brought the mate, prepares the drink and refills the gourd with water.
The gourd is passed around, often in a circle, and each person finishes the gourd before giving it back to the brewer. The gourd (also called "mate") is passed in a clockwise order. Since mate can be re-brewed many times, the gourd is passed until the water runs out. When a person no longer wants to take mate, they say "gracias" to the brewer when returning the gourd to signify they don't want any more.
In Argentina (specifically east and south regions), "yerba" is pronounced "sherba" (the accent in most parts of Argentina changes the "ll" and "y" sounds to a "sh" sound).
See also
- Mate (beverage)
Mate , also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water...
- Materva
Materva is a mate soft drink, produced in Miami by Cawy Bottling Company. Materva is made from yerba mate, an herb imported from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Materva is very popular among Cubans and other Hispanics in the United States...
(maté soft drink)
- Yaupon Holly
Ilex vomitoria , is a species of holly native to southeastern North America, occurring in United States from Maryland south to Florida and west to Oklahoma and Texas, and in Mexico in Chiapas.It is an evergreen shrub or small tree reaching 5-9 m tall, with...
- Black drink
Black drink was the name given by colonists to a ritual beverage called Asi, brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States. It was prepared from the roasted leaves and stems of the Yaupon Holly , native to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts...
- Ilex guayusa
Ilex guayusa, commonly known as "guayusa" or "wayusa" , is an Amazonian tree of the holly genus, native to the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest....
- Chimarrão (Brazilian maté infusion)
- Tereré
Tereré is an infusion of yerba mate / erva-mate , similar to mate but prepared with cold water , and in a slightly larger vessel...
(another type of infusion)
- Ku Ding tea
Ku Ding tea or Kuding cha is a particularly bitter-tasting Chinese tisane which due to their similarities in appearance is derived from several plant species...
Ilex kudingcha
- Nativa
Nativa was a carbonated beverage created by the Coca-Cola Company. It was released in November 2003 in Argentina, and discontinued in August 2004...
(beverage)