This article is published by Alternative Medicine.Com and is copied here to present the particulars of this popular herbal tea. I have started drinking the tea and have become enthusiastic in its benefits. Aside from the fact that Yerba Mate' tea is supposed to enhance the effects of Pau d'Arco tea, it has many beneficial qualities which are presented here:
The Whole Body Tonic
When the Spanish colonialists occupied Paraguay in the 16th century, they observed that the Guaran� Indians drank a tea from the dried, pulverized leaves of a plant they called herva (what we now know as yerba mat�) for resistance to fatigue during long marches. The Spanish and, later, other white immigrants including Jesuit priests, took this property to heart, and eventually spread the custom throughout South America. Jesuits, in fact, were the first to cultivate yerba mat� on South American plantations in the 17th century.
Today, yerba mat� drinkers depend on the tea for inducing mental clarity, improving digestion, sustaining energy and endurance, regulating the appetite, detoxifying the blood, providing a generous dose of vitamins and minerals, boosting the immune system, and helping to relieve allergies, among other of its claims.
Yerba mat�s way of energizing the body through nutrition rather than caffeine makes it a �whole body tonic,� says Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D., herbalist and author of Herbal Tonic Therapies. A tonic, says Dr. Mowrey, is any substance that �balances the biochemical and physiological events that comprise body systems.� As a rejuvenating tonic, yerba mat� helps to restore �balance that is often lost in the day-to-day battles of life, to restore or optimize the delicate balance between mind, body and the emotions that governs daily performance and efficiency,� Dr. Mowrey comments. He notes that a group of investigators from the Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific Society, both in France, concluded that �mat� contains practically all the vitamins necessary to sustain life.�
This scientific conclusion is in accord with one of the oldest legends about the origin of the tea. An old Indian was too exhausted to move on with his nomadic tribe and resigned himself to dying alone in the rainforest. When a shaman offered to grant the old man a single wish, he wished for �new forces� with which to rejoin his tribe. The shaman instructed the old man in the ways of chimarrao, a green tea that granted him �healthy company� in his solitude and, eventually, enabled him to regain his strength and complete the journey to rejoin his tribe.
(There seems to be some debate in the caffeine content in Yerba Mate'. Dr. Mowry states that the stimulant in the herbal tea is "Mateine" rather than caffeine. Other sources state that the caffeine content in the tea is approximately one third that of coffee.) No Caffeine Jitters With Mateine
Yerba mat�s stimulating effect comes primarily from a compound called mateine, a close relative of caffeine, plus two other alkaloid compounds, theophylline and theobromine, which are found in most teas. Mateine and caffeine belong to a group of chemicals called xanthines, which are known to stimulate the nervous system, cause smooth muscle relaxation thereby helping to reduce blood pressure, and act as a mild diuretic, increasing urination.
Mateine may be related to caffeine, but its chemical structure and the way the body absorbs it differ significantly from caffeine. Mateine has the stimulatory effects of caffeine without the side effects: it does not seem to be addictive; it seems to regulate sleep patterns rather than interrupt them and promotes a better (deeper and more refreshing) quality of sleep; and it doesn�t have the depressant letdown familiar to coffee drinkers.
In fact, researchers at the Free Hygiene Institute of Hamburg, Germany, reported that even if there were caffeine in mat�, the amount would be so minimal that you would need 100 tea bags of mat� steeped in six ounces of hot water to get the same amount of caffeine found in a six-ounce cup of coffee. Mat� delivers a �natural energy wallop,� explains Dr. Mowrey, yet it does not interfere with the ability to sleep-a double-edged benefit you�ll never get from a latte decaf.
Unlike a conventional drug, mat� does not target a specific organ or physiological system. Rather, the tea�s nutrient mix helps the body reestablish or maintain a state of balance. As a whole body tonic, yerba mat� affects the nervous, gastrointestinal, and immune systems, according to Dr. Mowrey.
Mat�, he says, is able either to stimulate a depressed nervous system or provide a calming effect to an overexcited one. South Americans commonly use the tea to improve their digestive function and to help eliminate toxins from the body. Mat� is also used in times of illness as a way to strengthen the body�s immune response, a regulatory or stimulatory feature scientists call immunomodulation.
A Drink to Better Health
Mat� drinkers report an improvement in mood from drinking the tea as well as increased levels of alertness, concentration, and memory, according to Dr. Mowrey. Mateine is probably a factor, he speculates, but so are the nutrients in mat�, particularly the levels of choline (a neurotransmitter precursor) and tryptophan (the amino acid precursor of serotonin).
Mat� is useful as a therapy for gastrointestinal disorders, says Dr. Mowrey, because it is a depurative, a substance that promotes the excretion of wastes. In this way, yerba mat� helps relieve constipation and encourages normal peristalsis (the contractions that move material through the intestines). Mat� may also be useful as part of a weight loss program since it seems to suppress the appetite while simultaneously providing essential nutrients needed to maintain health.
Athletes may want to consider yerba mat� as it seems to reduce fatigue during exercise, Dr. Mowrey notes. Mat� can increase the supply of oxygen to the heart and help the body utilize carbohydrates (as fuel) more effectively during exercise.
Clinical evidence suggests that mat� may be useful as an antidiabetic agent as it seems to slow the development of hyperglycemia, or excess sugar in the blood. Researchers from the University of Surrey, in Guildford, England, found that mat� reduced the abnormal appetite and thirst as well as weight loss associated with diabetes. Yerba mat� has also shown the ability to reduce the severity of some allergies and even hay fever, possibly by stimulating the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids, which help suppress the inflammation and immune response due to allergies.
Healthy for the Environment
�The benefits of this herb are profound, as yerba mat�s tonic properties help balance the body�s systems and sustain energy levels,� states Dave Karr, CEO of Guayak� Sustainable Rainforest Products (GSRP ), a yerba mat� importer located in San Luis Obispo, California.
While much of South American yerba mat� is now grown in sunlit fields for mass production, Guayak��s yerba mat� is produced the traditional way, shade-grown on Estancia Itabo, an organic farm in the perimeter rainforest of the Guayak� Biological Reserve in Paraguay. This cooler shade cultivation (which is mat�s natural growing habitat) promotes a slower growth rate, which gives the mat� a richer flavor and increases its medicinal properties, according to Alex Pryor, GSRP�s founder.
�It�s completely organic,� says Pryor. �We use no pesticides which could damage the future productivity of the soil.� Most companies that sell yerba mat� get their product from large plantations in Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, which generally use pesticides and other agrochemicals to get a maximum yield with no thought given to the environmental consequences, says Pryor.
Jaguar Yerba Company of Aspen, Colorado, is another exception to this trend. This environmentally concerned company sells plantation-grown yerba mat�, but it is certified organic and Jaguar says it donates 100% of its profits to environmental causes.
The Ilex paraguariensis tree grows to a height of 30-90 feet. The harvest season is between May and October with each tree producing approximately 65 to 85 pounds of dried leaves per season. In the case of Guayak��s yerba mat�, cultivation, harvesting, and processing all take place on the biological reserve.
The leaves are hand-picked by the Guayak� people who live on the reserve. In order to preserve the natural rainforest habitat, they use machetes rather than chemicals for weed control. Once harvested, the leaves are briefly passed through a flame to preserve their green color and to remove some of the moisture.
The yerba mat� leaves are then placed in a drying facility or barbacoa where they are heated and dried for just over 24 hours. The leaves are then shredded, placed in 60-kilogram bags, and allowed to age for six months to two years. The leaves go through a final grinding process just before shipment to ensure that the tea is as fresh as possible.
For North American consumers, yerba mat� is available as dried leaves or tea bags in natural foods outlets. Whether you observe the cebador ritual of drinking mate is up to you, but maybe it�s worth the bother. As Guayaki�s Dave Karr notes, �Watching your guests transform into bright-eyed, articulate conversationalists is a gratifying experience for the host.�
Yerba maté is reported to contain 196 active compounds, which compares favorably to the 144 compounds found in the more well-known green tea (Camellia sinensis).
Among them:• Vitamins: significant amounts of vitamins C, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), and B complex, and several forms of carotene, pigments which are precursors of vitamin A
• Minerals: calcium, iron, phosphorus, sulfur, manganese, selenium; especially high in potassium and magnesium
• Protein: 15 amino acids, including arginine, methionine, tryptophan, cysteine, histidine, isoleucine, aspartic acid, and tyrosine
• Fatty Acids: palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic (the primary omega-6 essential fatty acid); a variety of triterpenes (hydrocarbons commonly found in essential oils), and sterols (sitosterol, campesterol, and trace amounts of cholesterol)
• Carbohydrates: sucrose, raffinose, glucose, and levulose
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