Bizarro Ned In Buenos Aires To Drink La Yerba Mate

http://www.vfxhq.com/1997/stills/starship2/ba2.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E8WvPHSMJ6c
Around minute 5.

(Have no idea what this thread was supposed to be parodying)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8WvPHSMJ6c

(Should have read my own thread first: ITT: James Redd Tells You Why Your Youtube Embeds Sometimes Fail, Before He Forgets)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate#Cancer

Can someone sort through the opposing sides on this? It seems like at this point there are still strong arguments on both sides but not a whole lot of research. Is it legit or bullshit?

Hot Maté has some positive properties and some bad ones. It is a good source of antioxidant polyphenols, is a a digestive stimulant, seems to reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol significantly, is associated with higher bone density (though that's possibly social-class/diet related), and is an antiobesity agent in rats. That said a number of studies have found that drinking 1 L/day is associated with a 5-fold increase in oral and esophageal cancer.

Here's a nice review from 2007:

Hot Maté - Probably carcinogenic to humans

Maté is an herbal infusion of the plant Ilex paraguariensis drunk in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. Minimal use outside this geographic area precludes its evaluation by the US NTP. The infusion is typically drunk, often at very high temperatures, through a metal straw in a special apparatus.

The carcinogenicity of maté has not been studied in animals but multiple case-control studies have demonstrated an association between hot maté and oral, oropharyngeal, head and neck, and esophageal cancer. Most studies have found a dose dependent increase in cancer risk with increased consumption of maté. Quantities greater then 1 liter/day are not uncommon and some people report >3 liters/day. Furthermore, the typical temperature of consumption may also effect the association with subjects reporting the highest temperature at the greatest increased risk in some studies.

The interaction between cancer risk and the quantity consumed and the temperature of consumption suggests that thermal injury and not the maté are responsible for some or all of the increased risk of cancer. A similar hypothesis has been studied in a population in Northern Iran at very high risk for esophageal cancer. These subjects consume large quantities of tea, some preferring very high temperatures, sometimes in excess of 65 °C. Further research will be required to disentangle the effects of maté and the temperature at which it is consumed. Alternatively, contaminants such PAHs, which are introduced during preparation of the leaves, may be the carcinogenic agent.

It may be contaminated with fungus, Cesium-137 fallout from Chernobyl, pesticides, and pathogenic fungus.

Here are the important studies in the literature. I've omitted a number of animal studies from the last year which find mate is just super against cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorder risk factors.

2002: Maté: a risk factor for oral and oropharyngeal cancer.
2003: The beverage maté: a risk factor for cancer of the head and neck.
2008: High levels of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mate drinks.
2009: Cancer and yerba mate consumption: a review of possible associations.
2009: Evaluation of the cyto- and genotoxic activity of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) in human lymphocytes in vitro.
2009: 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.
2011: Antimicrobial activity of Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) aqueous extracts against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus.
2011: Mate tea (Ilex paraguariensis) improves glycemic and lipid profiles of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes individuals: a pilot study.
2012: Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) consumption is associated with higher bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.

My suspicion is that most of the carcinogenic properties are due drinking at high temperature, and PAHs produced during processing. The fungal contamination is a serious problem for the immunocompromised. There are other teas (green, hibiscus) which offer many of the same benefits with fewer risks. That said, if you can handle the benefit/risk profile and like the taste, I can't say maté is unambiguously bad.

Hell, my beloved Red Zinger (hibiscus tea has the highest antioxidant content of any beverage) may be making my sperm infertile. C'est la vie.

Mate addendum: its definitely NOT just the temperature. From the free text of High levels of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mate drinks:

In addition to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, several other tobacco related cancers, such as cancers of the lung, larynx, oral cavity and oropharyx, kidney, and bladder, have been significantly associated with mate drinking after adjustment for smoking.

damn. I didn't even say "Sanpaku" but I was secretly hoping that you'd stumble on this thread and answer my question. Thank you.

I had been hoping that cold infusion would be a good way to get around the problem, but based on your last link, it looks like that's not the case.

There is organic maté sin humo (prepared without smoke). Eco Teas sells unsmoked maté in the US (Amz link). That should reduce PAHs dramatically - but I haven't seen anything in the literature comparing traditional and smokeless maté PAH content.

Throwing out my lapsang souchong (low-grade tea smoked over pine) now.

Also, judging by reviews at the Amz link, a lot of traditional yerba mate drinker hate the smokeless variety.

aw man

lapsang souchong and yerba mate are two of the finest things in life tho

Drinking unsmoked EcoTea (brewed double strength in a French press @ 170F and poured over ice) for the first time in over a year, having gone hard in the coffee game.

Still this weird space where I don't like the taste (steeped grass clippings)... but I like the taste.

I've never had the smoked variety. When I first tried this because it's so much cheaper than green tea, I think I probably ran across Sanpaku's notes on the carcinogenic stuff.

https://vamospanish.com/100-barrios-part-2-sub-barrios-of-palermo/