Yerba Mate for Your Health
National Drink of South America

Over the past year, Yerba Mate has begun to enjoy the same level of media exposure as Acai. It certainly commands respect and attention.

Yerba Mate, is also the national drink of South America. It is very popular in Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Brazil, and Argentina. According to a consumer survey of 6,351 persons between the ages of 12 and 75 in Argentina conducted by IBOPE Argentina during 1999, 92% of Argentine households consume Yerba Mate.

Argentines drink Yerba Mate for several reasons, including increased energy and weight management. Do the Argentineans know something you don't?

Yerba Mate was also featured in a comprehensive 3 page article in the October 2003 edition of Woman's World Magazine. Yerba Mate is considered safe by the FDA, and is on their GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) list. Consumed in moderation, mate is recognized as one of the most healthful natural beverages on earth!

Yerba Mate Provides a Wealth of Nutrients. Each infusion of Mate contains - Vitamins: A, C, E, B1, B2, Niacin (B3), B5, B... Complex Minerals: Calcium, Manganese, Chromium, Iron, Selenium, Potassium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc... Additional Compounds: Carotene, Fatty Acids, Chlorophyll, Flavonols, Polyphenols, Inositol, Trace Minerals, Antioxidants, Tannins, Pantothenic Acid, and 15 Amino Acids. Many of these nutrients are essential to diabetics.

In addition, results from a study done by researchers at the University of Madrid assert a high content of mineral elements, especially K, Mg, and Mn, in mate. They considered those findings "to be of great relevance" to the nutritional value of mate infusions.

Properties/Actions of Yerba Mate Documented by Research: Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, Antispasmodic, Bile Stimulant, Stimulant, Thermogenic (increases fat burning), Vasodilator, Aids In Weight Loss, Induces Mental Clarity. Diabetic Treatment -Yerba mate has been shown to inhibit the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), with an effect comparable to that of two pharmaceutical grade AGE inhibitor drugs. The formation of AGEs plays a part in the development of diabetic complications.

Clinically, yerba mate is used to balance blood sugar levels and shows promise as a diabetes medicine. In a recent study with the closely related species Ilex guayusa, the herb retarded the development of hyperglycemia in diabetic mice and reduced several other diabetes symptoms.

Claims that Yerba Mate reduces the risk of diabetes are supported by both its historical use and medical research.

Yerba Mate "retarded the development of hyperglycaemia in streptozotocin diabetes and reduced the hyperphagia, polydipsia, body weight loss, and glycated haemoglobin." (XXXX, 27. Swanston-Flatt SK, 1989 "Glycaemic effects of traditional European plant treatments for diabetes. Studies in normal and streptozotocin diabetic mice." Diabetes Res 10(2), 69-73.)

Lean, M.E., et al. Dietary flavonols protect diabetic human lymphocytes against oxidative damage to DNA. Diabetes. 1999; 48:176-181

"New and 'causal' antioxidant therapy is warranted. Anti-nitration drugs (to be designed) might be additional therapeutic goals to slow the course of diabetes macrovascular complications. While waiting for these focused tools, flavonoid rich beverages could represent an alternative coadjuvant in treatment. In this regard, our studies suggest that Ilex paraguariensis extracts [Yerba Mate via the Traditional Method] are more effective than either green tea or red wines." (Bixby, Spieler, Menini, Gugliuccit, Life Sciences, 2005, #77 pgs 345-358)

Fights Bad Breath - Polyphenols found in tea and yerba mate have been shown to prevent both the growth of bacteria responsible for bad breath and the bacteria?s production of odorous compounds.

Aids in Weight Loss - For many years now, physicians in Europe have been incorporating yerba mate in treatments for obesity.

In 2000, a research team studying obesity at the Charlottenlund Medical Center in Denmark, tested an herbal preparation of Yerba Mate, Guarana, and Damiana (YGD) for gastric emptying and subsequent weight loss.

They concluded that the herbal preparation, YGD capsules, significantly delayed gastric emptying, reduced the time to perceived gastric fullness and induced significant weight loss over 45 days in overweight patients treated in a primary health care context. In addition, maintenance treatment given in an uncontrolled context resulted in no further weight loss, nor weight regain in the group as a whole.

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Weight Loss I yerbamate I acai I cupuacu