Yerba Mate or Hierba Mate - Summary

One of the premier beverages of South America is ilex paraguariensis, or yerba mati.

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 mati tree. The mati 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 mati 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. Mati 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, mati 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 mati 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 mati 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 mati 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 mati in nutritional value.

In addition, mati contains xanthine alkaloids. Though only small amounts of xanthine occur in mati, the presence of this substance has generated a huge amount of attention. The xanthine in mati is called matiine. Matiine is thought by most authorities to be identical to caffeine; but the effects of mati on the body are substantially different from those of simple caffeine.

Doctors sometimes find it useful to give yerba mati 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 mati 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 mati is so tiny that it would take 100 tea bags of mati 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 mati is not caffeine!

At any rate, mati 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 matiine has a chemical constituency similar to caffeine, the molecular binding is different. matiine 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 mati. Clinical studies show, in fact, that individuals with caffeine sensitivities can ingest mati 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, mati rejuvenates not by the false hopes of caffeine, but simply through the wealth of its nutrients.

Dieters use mati to suppress the appetite, while providing necessary nutrition, energy and improved elimination.

Better than any other xanthine alkaloid, mati 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 mati 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 mati'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 mati 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 mati 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 mati use. Yerba mati 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 mati appear to include the prevention of anaerobic glycolysis and the resulting build up of lactic acid during exercise.

Reports of mati reducing blood pressure are not uncommon.

A consistent observation in most South American literature on mati 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.

Mati 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 mati stimulates the adrenal glands to produce corticosteroids. This mechanism of action may account for the commonly
observed action of mati to decrease the severity and incidence of allergy and hay fever. The adrenocortical action may help explain reported cases of hypoglycemic patients responding to mati. It is possible that mati, 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. mati 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 mati 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.

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