YerbaMaté—A Primer
One of the premier beverages of South
America is ilex paraguariensis, or yerba maté. There is an old
Guarani Indian legend that relates the origins of the Guarani in
the Forests of Paraguay. According to the legend, the ancestors
of the Guarani at one time in the distant past crossed a great
and spacious ocean from a far land to settle in the Americas.
They found the land both wonderful yet full of dangers; through
diligence and effort they subdued the land and inaugurated a new
civilization. There were two brothers that vied for leadership
of the people: Tupi and Guarani. Eventually they feuded and
divided the people into two separate nations. Each nation, or
tribe, adopted the name of the brother who was its leader.
Guarani was the younger, fair-skinned brother, while Tupi, the
older brother, had a darker skin.
The darker Tupi tribes
adopted a more fierce, nomadic lifestyle, rejecting the
agricultural traditions of their fathers. They engaged in the
practice of drinking large quantities of a caffeine-containing
drink prepared from the guarana tree.
The Guarani tribes
became a stable, God-fearing people who worked the land and
became excellent craftsmen. They looked forward to the coming of
a tall, fair-skinned, blue eyed, bearded God (Pa'i Shume) who,
according to legend, eventually did appear and was pleased with
the Guarani. He imparted religious instruction and taught them
concerning certain agricultural practices which would benefit
them in times of drought and pestilence as well as on a
day-to-day basis. Significantly, He unlocked the secrets of
health and medicine and revealed the healing qualities of native
plants. One of the most important of these secrets was how to
harvest and prepare the leaves of the yerba maté tree. The maté
beverage was meant to ensure health, vitality and longevity. The
choice of favorite drink by the Tupi and Guarani came to
symbolize opposition between the respective groups. The yerba
maté of Guarani, reflecting the agricultural and domestic nature
of these Indians, provided many more beneficial properties than
the Tupi's guarana, which symbolized their preoccupation with
running wild and free and their reliance on brute strength and
the need to physically excel. Maté became the most common
ingredient in household cures of the Guarani, and remains so to
this day.
In current practice in industrialized, modem
Argentina and Paraguay, maté tea is made from the leaves steeped
in hot water. Actually, a large quantity of ground leaf is first
soaked in cold water, then the hot water is added, over and over
again, until all the good stuff has been extracted. In between
each addition of hot water the tea is ingested through a special
wood or metal straw, called a bombilla, that filters out the
leafy material.
Among the native Guarani, the natural use of
maté for healthful purposes has persisted. They use it to boost
immunity, cleanse and detoxify the blood, tone the nervous
system, restore youthful hair color, retard aging, combat
fatigue, stimulate the mind, control the appetite, reduce the
effects of debilitating disease, and so forth.
Several
attempts to characterize part or all of the constituents of maté
have been made during the last few decades. The one thing that
unites the various assays is the consistent detection of
numerous vitamins and minerals. There is the usual array of
resins, fiber, volatile oil, tannins that characterize many
plant substances. But then there is the growing list of vitamins
and minerals, including carotene, vitamins A, C, E, BI, B2, B
complex, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pantothenic acid, biotin,
vitamin C complex, magnesium, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium,
manganese, silicon, phosphates, sulphur, chlorophyll, choline,
and inositol. Different assays find different nutrients; there
is probably no single assay that has found all of them.
One
group of investigators from the Pasteur Institute and the Paris
Scientific Society concluded that maté contains practically all
of the vitamins necessary to sustain life. They focused
especially on pantothenic acid, remarking that it is rare to
find a plant with so much of this significant and vital
nutrient. It is indeed difficult to find a plant in any area of
the world equal to maté in nutritional value.
In addition,
maté contains xanthine alkaloids. Though only small amounts of
xanthine occur in maté, the presence of this substance has
generated a huge amount of attention. The xanthine in maté is
called matéine. Matéine is thought by most authorities to be
identical to caffeine; but the effects of maté on the body are
substantially different from those of simple caffeine. Doctors
sometimes find it useful to give yerba maté to their patients
who need to stop using caffeine products for health reasons. As
mention in the chapter on Pharmacology, it seems to be the
pattern of xanthine constituents in a plant that lends to it a
distinctive profile.
There is only one xanthine property that
seems to be shared by all xanthines: smooth muscle relaxation.
It is this action that makes them, with the exception of
caffeine, whose smooth muscle relaxant effects are diminished by
other properties, good clinical dilators of the bronchi and
hence useful in the treatment of asthma.
The effect of yerba
maté may not even be attributable to any degree to the caffeine,
yet its stimulant nature is well known. Researchers at the Free
Hygienic Institute of Hamburg, Germany, concluded that the
amount of caffeine in maté is so tiny that it would take 100 tea
bags of maté in a six ounce cup of water to equal the caffeine
in a six ounce serving of regular coffee (an opinion not shared
by all experts). They make the rather astute observation that it
is obvious that the active principle in yerba maté is not
caffeine!
At any rate, maté appears to possess the best
combination of xanthine properties possible. For example, like
other xanthines, it stimulates the central nervous system, but
unlike most, it is not habituating or addicting. Likewise,
unlike caffeine, it induces better, not worse, attributes of
sleep. It is a mild, not a strong, diuretic, as are many
xanthines. It relaxes peripheral blood vessels, thereby reducing
blood pressure, without the strong pressor effects on the
medulla and heart exhibited by some xanthines. We also know that
it improves psychomotor performance without the typical
xanthine-induced depressant after effects.
Dr. Jose Martin,
Director of the National Institute of Technology in Paraguay,
writes, "New research and better technology have shown that
while matéine has a chemical constituency similar to caffeine,
the molecular binding is different. matéine has none of the ill
effects of caffeine." And Horacio Conesa, professor at the
University of Buenos Aires Medical School, states, "There is not
a single medical contraindication" for ingesting maté. Clinical
studies show, in fact, that individuals with caffeine
sensitivities can ingest maté without adverse
reactions.
Summarizing the clinical studies of France,
Germany, Argentina and other countries, it appears that we may
be dealing here with the most powerful rejuvenator known to man.
Unlike the guarana of the Tupi, the coca of the Incas, the
coffee of India, or the tea of China, maté rejuvenates not by
the false hopes of caffeine, but simply through the wealth of
its nutrients.
Dieters use maté to suppress the appetite,
while providing necessary nutrition, energy and improved
elimination.
Better than any other xanthine alkaloid, maté
has the ability to quicken the mind, increase mental alertness
and acuity, and do it without any side effects such as
nervousness and jitters. These observations have been made time
and again by qualified medical experts as well as by the lay
user. The effects of maté on the nervous system are varied and
not very well understood. The best guess is that it acts like a
tonic, stimulating a weakened and depressed nervous system and
sedating an overexcited one. Certainly the nutritiona] value of
the plant cannot be overlooked as a possible substrate for
improved health and function.
Our knowledge of maté's effects
are currently limited almost exclusively to observations on
gross changes in behavior: more energy and vitality, better
ability to concentrate, less nervousness, agitation and anxiety,
increased resistance to both physical and mental fatigue. One
consistent observation is the improvement in mood, especially in
depression, that follows the ingestion of the tea. This may be a
direct result, or it may be an indirect result of increased
energy.
Anecdotal reports of improved memory have not been
substantiated experimentally or clinically, but are logical, and
may again be attributed the nutrients, especially choline, and
important central nervous system neurotransmitter. One of the
remarkable aspects of maté is that it does not interfere with
sleep cycles; in fact, it has a tendency to balance the cycles,
inducing more REM sleep when necessary, or increasing the amount
of time spent in delta states. Many people report that they
require less sleep when using maté usually such an experience is
accompanied by a deeper more relaxing sleep.
Heart ailments
of all kinds have been treated and/or prevented through yerba
maté use. Yerba maté supplies many of nutrients required by the
heart for growth and repair. In addition, it increases the
supply of oxygen to the heart, especially during periods of
stress or exercise. The metabolic effects of maté appear to
include the prevention of anaerobic glycolysis and the resulting
build up of lactic acid during exercise. Reports of maté
reducing blood pressure are not uncommon.
A consistent
observation in most South American literature on maté is that it
increases the immune response capability of the body,
stimulating the natural resistance to disease. This also
involves a nourishing and strengthening effect on the ill
person, both during the course of the illness and during
convalescence, sometimes dramatically accelerating recovery
times.
Maté has long been known to prevent and reduce
fatigue. The most logical mechanism of action at this time seems
to be a direct stimulating effect on metabolism in muscle cells.
Additionally, there is growing clinical evidence that maté
stimulates the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids. This
mechanism of action may account for the commonly observed action
of maté to decrease the severity and incidence of allergy and
hay fever. The adrenocortical action may help explain reported
cases of hypoglycemic patients responding to maté. It is
possible that maté, by stimulating the adrenal cortex to secrete
glucocorticoids, helps balance blood glucose levels. Similarly,
it may also stimulate the production of mineralcorticoids,
thereby helping to regulate electrolyte metabolism. These
hypotheses are attractive, given certain clinical observations,
but need to be scrutinized more closely in experimental
settings. maté reduces the effects of stress on the body; this
property probably involves a combination of effects on the
endocrine system, the nervous system and the immune system, but
is one of the most important of the herb's actions.
The
combined effect of all of the above properties of maté on
thermogenesis is to augment the action of ephedra, tone the
adrenals, nurture the entire body, increase energy, mildly
suppress the appetite, and improve cardiovascular function. None
of these actions is extremely powerful, but added together, they
may contribute a large measure of beneficial synergy with other
thennogenic substances.
FDA Disclaimer: The statements in
this article have not been evaluated by the FDA. The products
mentioned herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or
prevent any disease. For medical advice, always consult your
health care professional.
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