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Argentina
Yerba mate: a daily ritual, a research question, and a temperature that matters.
Traditional use
Mate, made from Ilex paraguariensis, is part of everyday life in Argentina and neighboring countries. A shared drink can carry social meaning as well as plant chemistry. This chapter focuses on mate; it does not stand in for Argentina’s many distinct communities or healing traditions.
Human studies
A 2025 randomized crossover study enrolled 52 Spanish adults with normal or moderately elevated cholesterol who were not habitual mate drinkers. Participants consumed an Argentinian yerba mate infusion—three 3-gram tea bags daily—for eight weeks, and a control drink during a separate eight-week period. These are research amounts, not a suggested regimen.
Some blood-pressure and metabolic measurements improved, but interpretation needs care: cholesterol also fell during the control period in participants with higher cholesterol. The study did not measure heart attacks, cancer recurrence or survival. A short biomarker study cannot establish those benefits.
Drinking temperature and cancer risk
The International Agency for Research on Cancer assessment classified drinking very hot beverages—above 65°C—as probably carcinogenic, based particularly on esophageal cancer evidence. Mate that is not very hot was not classifiable as to carcinogenicity. “Not classifiable” means the evidence was insufficient; it does not mean protection against cancer.
That distinction matters. A discussion about antioxidant compounds should not distract from repeated thermal injury. Letting a drink cool is a more defensible takeaway than treating mate as an anticancer supplement.
Evidence at a glance
- Human evidence: small, short metabolic studies; no cancer-treatment benefit established by the studies reviewed here.
- Formulation: brewed mate is different from a concentrated extract or multi-ingredient stimulant.
- Safety: consider drinking temperature and total caffeine. Sleep disruption, palpitations or blood-pressure concerns warrant a discussion with the care team.
Care-team question: Could caffeine, sleep disturbance, swallowing symptoms or my current medicines make this drink a poor fit during treatment?
Community perspectives
What do local practitioners and community members want outsiders to understand? Who decides what can be recorded, and how should knowledge holders be credited and compensated? Which preparation is being discussed, and what outcome would count as a meaningful benefit?
These are research questions for future conversations, not a report of a visit. Traditional knowledge deserves careful attribution and consent; laboratory findings and clinical benefit remain separate questions.
Reviewed October 24, 2026. Educational, selective evidence review; not a treatment recommendation.
