Hi lactnetters and Susan with query re: mate/yerba mate/paraguay tea...
Yerba mate or mate (with accent on end) is a caffeine and other
alkaloid-containing plant(Ilex paraguayensis). In same genus as english
holly though safer to consume - Aquifoliaceae. The leaf is mainly used. Not
on Farnsworth's galactogogue list, though other caffeine-containing plants
are ( coffee and tea in large amounts, Kikapoo nation). Extremely popular
beverage in S. America, especially Argentina as I recall. Mate is also used
to flavor foods and soft drinks. Duke states mate is bowl in Spanish,
refering to the traditional bowl and straw drinking receptacle.
Botanical Safety Handbook recommends that it is not for long-term use and
note caffeine (.3-1.7%), tannins (4-16%) as the rationale. Dukes Handbook
adds theophylline 0.05%, 6.9% nicotinic acid, and from Hager, theobromine
(like chocolate), and traces of trigonelline ( there are more of course,
these are the most interesting ones).
Duke lists traditional medicinal actions as aperient, astringent, diuretic,
poison (dose-related), purgative (dose-related), stimulant and sudorific with
traditional use for rheumatism, scurvy, heart, nerve, stomach ailments and
diabetes. Somewhere I have a reference to lactogogue use but cannot get
hands on it this early AM.
Familiar comparison - in Handbook--
Coffea arabica-coffee-also similarily rated. Caffeine 1.5-2.5%. Camillia
sinensis - tea - fermented black tea similarily rated re: safety. Caffeine
0.9-5.0% black tea, tannins 12.9% black, 22.2% green. Green tea has
good-for-you form of tannins so just "tannins" is not the whole story! In
green tea, at least, plenty of evidence that these are antioxidant - a
property that may very well give a boost to lactation. Studies?
Sheila
Sheila Humphrey
BSc RN IBCLC
Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota USA
PS I used to drink it way back in the "old" health food days, before I knew
it had caffeine - taste is aquired as is bitter - so is the best chocolate,
so there you go.
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