Where Did Mate Come From Again?

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When you consider the history of Yerba Mate, one can’t over look its significance to the native culture of South America. Steeped (pardon the pun) in a rich history of discovery and festival, Yerba Mate is a symbol of the richness of the people who drink Mate.The Facts: 
Yerba Mate was first scientifically classified by Swiss botanist Moses Bertoni, who settled in Paraguay in 1895. The plant is grown and processed mainly in South America, more specifically in Northern Argentina (Corrientes, Misiones), Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul). The Guaraní are reputed to be the first people who cultivated the plant; the first Europeans to do this were Jesuit missionaries, who spread the drinking habit as far as Ecuador and Southern Chile.

Drinks, And Variety:
The infusion called mate is prepared by steeping dry leaves (and twigs) of yerba mate in hot water, rather than in boiling water like black tea. Drinking mate with friends from a shared hollow gourd (also called a guampa in Spanish, or cabaça or cuia in Portuguese) with a metal straw (a bombilla in Spanish, bomba in Portuguese) is a common social practice in Argentina,^[3][4] Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, eastern Bolivia and southern and western Brazil ^[5] and has been cultivated in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

The Health Benefits:
In mouse studies^[20][21], ilex paraguensis tea has been shown to lessen the tendency towards obesity induced by a high-fat diet. Consumption of yerba mate ( Ilex paraguariensis ) improves serum lipid parameters in healthy dyslipidemic subjects and provides an additional LDL-cholesterol reduction in individuals on statin therapy.

Research shows that yerba maté preparations can alter the concentration of members of the ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase (E-NTPDase) family, resulting in an elevated level of extracellular ATP, ADP, and AMP. This was found with chronic ingestion (15 days) of an aqueous yerba mate extract, and may {OR} lead to a novel mechanism for manipulation of vascular regenerative factors, i.e., treating heart disease.

In an investigation of yerba mate antioxidant activity, there was a correlation found between content of caffeoyl-derivatives and antioxidant capacity (AOC). Amongst a group of Ilex species, Ilex paraguariensis antioxidant activity was the highest.

Thank you to Wikipedia for all the great data… I even learned some about Mate!

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