The American Botanical Council, a non-profit dedicated to the
development of research and information sharing about botanical and
herbal products, has issued an abstract in their July 31st edition of
"HerbClip" that discusses the South American beverage Maté, sometime
called "Yerba Maté," and its possible ties to head and neck cancers.

This beverage is increasingly seen in coffee shops, health food
stores, natural products retailers and sometimes even mainstream
grocery stores. It's popularity is gaining in the USA, and it is
reputed to have more than $250 Million in sales in this country.

Yerba mate (pronounced yair-ba mah-tay) is known to South Americans as
the "Drink of the Gods;" it is a hot beverage made from the dried
leaves of the Ilex Paraguariense bush indigenous to Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay and Uruguay. And thanks to its robust caffeine content, the
drink is a natural stimulant. The drink is traditionally steeped and
served in hollowed-out gourds, sipped through metal straws designed to
filter out stems and leaf bits. It was first consumed by the Guarani
Indians centuries ago. Today, it is not uncommon in Argentina to see
businessmen walking down the street sipping out of a Maté gourd.

However, there may be a very dangerous connection between cancers of
the head and neck and maté consumption. "HerbClip" reports on a study
done in "Head and Neck" which used modern informatics on a number of
previously published research studies. Although there were a number of
issues that need further research (difference between hot and cold
maté consumption, smoking and alcohol use among participants, etc.)
the researchers made some very specific claims: "Maté consumption
plays a significant and independent role in the development of upper
aeodigestive tract cancers," and "Maté drinking should be considered
one of the risk factors for cancer of the neck and head."

It should be noted that further research is being conducted to
determine the mechanism of carcinogenic action.

Dave

The above full-text article was extracted from http://shamvswham.blogspot.com/