After water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. And it’s probably also the healthiest. For years we’ve heard about the cancer-fighting benefits of green tea, and the latest research shows that black tea, oolong tea and white tea are also great for you. Now there’s a new kid on the tea block, and it’s getting a lot of attention. It’s called yerba mate, and it’s being touted as the next great tea, with claims ranging from high antioxidant content to cancer-fighting ability. What’s the truth?

All our usual teas are made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, whereas yerba mate comes from an entirely different plant — Ilex paraguariensis. The mate tea comes mainly from four countries in South America: Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay, and in fact is the national drink in the latter two. And, yes, it does deserve it’s growing reputation as a superfood.

A recent study by Elivira de Mejia, Ph.D. tested various forms of the tea using two sophisticated tests for antioxidants called the ORAC test and the DPBH test. In both, dangerous free radicals (rogue oxygen molecules which damage your cells and DNA) are exposed to different amounts of a compound (in this case yerba mate tea) and researchers measure the ability of the compound to “squelch” or deactivate the free radicals. How well they do is a measure of their antioxidant capacity. “What we’ve seen in our research is that some types of yerba mate tea are even higher in antioxidants than green tea”, Dr. de Mejia told me.

Polyphenols, healthy compounds found in plants, are responsible for the antioxidant activity of yerba mate.

Dr. de Mejia explained that antioxidant power is only part of the story. “Matta tea in general contains high amounts of chlorogenic acid, a very powerful plant compound with antioxidant and possibly other healthy properties.  And it also contains substantial amounts of caffeine, sometimes higher than coffee.” How can this be a good thing? “Actually caffeine is an interesting molecule”, she explained. “Caffeine has been shown in some studies to have a preventative effect on diabetes and Parkinson’s. And sometimes there are synergistic effects between the caffeine and the antioxidants.”

Catechins are another class of plant compounds that have been found to have significant health benefits including possibly anti-cancer activiy; they’re present in green tea but essentially absent in yerba mate. Nonetheless, there is some hope that yerba mate may have anti-cancer activity anyway. “We have done studies using mouse cancer cells in which we exposed them to different concentrations of matta and the cells died,” Dr. Mejia explained.  She pointed out that the possible anti-cancer activity of yerba mate tea may or may not be related to its antioxidant capacity. “It may be due to some other mechanism not yet identified.”

More research is needed, but so far — if you don’t mind the caffeine — yerba mate sounds like a winner.

Note: to duplicate the effects of Dr. Mejia’s study using teabags, you would have to use 4-5 teabags. It’s a strong taste, but many people love it. 

(Yerba Mate tea can be enjoyed both hot and cold.  Several commercial brands are also available with a delicate fruit flavor.)

[Ed. note: Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He’s a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master’s degree in psychology. Dr. Bowden is also a life coach, motivational speaker, former personal trainer and author of the award-winning book, Living the Low Carb Life.  His new book, The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth was published January 1, 2008.  For more information, click here now.]

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