Mate from a Scientific Point of View
The discovery was made during the 4th Yerba Mate and Health Conference, organized by the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of Rosario and the National Yerba Mate Institute (INYM). Several studies related to the country's most famous infusion were presented there.
Two investigations stood out from the others. One was by scientists from the Juan Agustín Maza University, Mendoza, with the support of INYM. They concluded that drinking one liter of water and 50 grams of Yerba Mate every day helps control cholesterol and lose weight.
Mate Lowers Bad LDL Cholesterol Levels
The first paper was published in Hospital Nutrition journal and analyzed the influence of the infusion’s consumption on the lipid profile in a sample of 352 people between 40 and 60 years old. All the volunteers had to stop consuming mate for six weeks without varying their diet or physical activity.
After measuring their nutritional values, they were asked to consume 50 grams of Yerba Mate for six weeks and each of them was evaluated again.
“We saw that the mere fact of consuming mate allowed us to lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglyceride levels by 12%, in a period of twelve weeks,” said Rafael Pérez Elizalde, the director of the Metabolic Diseases Laboratory.
Mate: The Best Ally for Weight Loss
The second study analyzed the effect of the infusion on people's weight. Sixty overweight women on a low-calorie diet were considered. Some were told to drink 2 liters of mate per day, and the others were asked to drink two liters of water per day without mate, for 12 weeks.
"The people who drank mate lost 3.04 kilos, and the others lost 2.45. There is a difference of about 400 grams, but the most important thing is that there was an advantage in body fat loss. Those who drank mate lost more fat than those who drank water," said Diego Messina, from the Faculty of Nutritional Sciences.