Tried the Yerba Mate capsules and tea........

Heavy drinkers of mate in South America were documented with an increased risk of upper-aerodigestive tract cancers (a 1.6- to 4-fold increase for heavy drinkers). It was speculated that this risk was caused by the tannins in the leaf (mate contains 7-14% tannins) consumed at a high temperature. Despite several studies published in Uruguay reporting this increased cancer risk (and where some of the heaviest mate drinkers are found), it has done little to change the mate-drinking culture there. One interesting change was that more drinkers began adding milk to their mate - it was suggested that the milk would bind to the tannins in the brew, reduce the temperature, and mitigate much of their (possibly) negative effects.

In addition to its standing as a popular beverage, yerba mate is used as a tonic, diuretic, and as a stimulant to reduce fatigue, suppress appetite, and aid gastric function in herbal medicine systems throughout South America. It also has been used as a depurative (to promote cleansing and excretion of waste). In Brazil, mate is said to stimulate the nervous and muscular systems and is used for digestive problems, renal colic, nerve pain, depression, fatigue, and obesity. A poultice of the leaves also is applied topically to anthrax skin ulcers (for which mate's tannin content - highly astringent - may be the reasoning behind this use).

Yerba mate also has a long history of use worldwide. In Europe it is used for weight loss, physical and mental fatigue, nervous depression, rheumatic pains, and psychogenic- and fatigue-related headaches. In Germany it has become popular as a weight-loss aid. Yerba mate is the subject of a German monograph which lists its approved uses for mental and physical fatigue. In France yerba mate is approved for the treatment of asthenia (weakness or lack of energy), as an aid in weight-loss programs, and as a diuretic. It also appears in the British Herbal Phamacopoeia (1996) and indicated for the treatment of fatigue, weight loss, and headaches. In the U.S., Dr. James Balch, M.D. recommends yerba mate for arthritis, headache, hemorrhoids, fluid retention, obesity, fatigue, stress, constipation, allergies, and hay fever, and states that it "cleanses the blood, tones the nervous system, re****s aging, stimulates the mind, controls the appetite, stimulates the production of cortisone, and is believed to enhance the healing powers of other herbs." Yerba mate now is cultivated in India, and the Indian Ayurvedic Phamacopoeia lists mate for the treatment of psychogenic headaches, nervous depression, fatigue, and rheumatic pains.

The main plant chemicals found in yerba mate include: alpha-amyrin, alpha-terpineol, arachidic acid, beta-amyrin, butyric acid, caffeic acid, caffeine, 5-o-caffeoylquinic acid, calcium, carotene, chlorogenic acid, choline, chlorophyll, chrysanthemin, cyanidin-3-o-xylosyl-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, essential oil, eugenol, geraniol, geranyl acetone, guaiacin b, indole, inositol, ionone, iso-butyric acid, iso-capronic acid, iso-chlorogenic acid, iso-valeric acid, kaempferol, lauric acid, levulose, linalool, linoleic acid, matesaponins, neochlorogenic acid, nerolidol, nicotinic acid, nudicaucin c, octan-1-ol, octanoic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, pyridoxine, quercetin, raffinose, safrole, stearic acid, tannins, theobromine, theophylline, trigonelline, and ursolic acid.