When Lionel Messi, one of the world’s best football players,posted a picture on Instagram of yerba mate, everyone wanted to know about the green drink and whether we should all be sipping it. Well, it turns out the tea-like beverage does have a number of health benefits.
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Yerba mate is the national drink in a number of south American countries, consumed as a morning pick-me-up in the same way Brits might have a cup of coffee or tea. But yerba mate teabags and energy drinks, promising ‘a natural energy boost’ are starting to be sold on UK high streets. So, should you swap your morning cuppa for a gourd of yerba mate?
也叫做chimarrao,巴拉圭茶是一种传统South American infused drink, particularly in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, and the southern states of Brazil. Image credit: Getty images
The energy boost that yerba mate offers is partly down to itscaffeinecontent, which is about 80mg per 150ml. It’s hard to compare this to a ‘regular’ cup of coffee because caffeine is affected by brewing time, bean choice, and other factors. But astudy by Which?found that an average mug of tea contains 75mg, while a mug of instant coffee has around 100mg and a cappuccino from a coffee shop anywhere from 66-325mg.
Unless you have barista-made drinks every day, it’s unlikely that swapping your morning cuppa for yerba mate would make much difference to your caffeine intake. But many people say that yerba mate has the wake-up properties of coffee without its afternoon energy crash.
Exactly why yerba mate drinkers avoid the caffeine crash is unknown, although it could be because the tea contains small amounts of two other stimulants, theobromine and theophylline, that stay in your body longer than caffeine.Theobromine has a longer half-life: 7-12 hours, compared to caffeine’s 2.5-5 hours.
Yerba mate alsocontains antioxidantsin the form of polyphenols, which help protect our cells from damage, while an extract form of yerba mate has been found to beslightly anti-inflammatory.
A study of 102 people who drank yerba mate three times a day saw an8.7 per cent reduction in their levels of LDL cholesterol(the ‘bad’cholesterollinked to heart disease and stroke). The extract is of particular interest to weight loss researchers, and small studies have shown that yerba mate supplements can decrease body fat percentages andappetites.
Other studies show that the extractincreases fat burning during exerciseand is thought to delay the onset of fatigue, which makes it appealing for endurance athletes. But, it’s unclear whether these benefits also apply to the brewed drink.
Amy is the Editorial Assistant at BBC Science Focus. Her BA degree specialised in science publishing and she has been working as a journalist since graduating in 2018. In 2020, Amy was named Editorial Assistant of the Year by the British Society of Magazine Editors. She looks after all things books, culture and media. Her interests range from natural history and wildlife, to women in STEM and accessibility tech.
