[Fiona]

Has anyone tried yerba mate? Information at this link...

http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/yer_03.htm

...sounds to good to be true, but I've been drinking this for a few days, and it's kind of amazing.

The thing is it does have some MAO inhibition, so if you take selegeline or azilect or any other SSRI, you probably shouldn't try it.

[mrsD]

I love Yerba Mate. It is fabulous. I can't remark on the PD advantages, but it is fantastic on sluggish gallbladders. It totally cured me, even when tests came back negative for stones.

Also it improves mood...and that happens in about 2 weeks. I only drank one teabag full daily too, and get wonderful effects.

I use only organic EcoTeas brand. (buy online).

I also found a capsule form from Jarrow that makes it even easier to use (if you don't want to drink it that is).

http://www.iherb.com/Jarrow-Formulas...-Item/194?at=0

It is an extremely nice effective anti-oxidant. Claims are that it has twice the ORACs of green tea.

There are several papers on it at PubMed.
There are some that state, smoked herb --which is not green but brownish--- used heavily may promote certain oral cancers.
In S.America where enormous amounts are consumed like coffee that risk may be more, also combined with smoking tobacco, etc.

But the organic form, is not smoked hence, I think safer to use.
There are papers claiming anticancer effects when used properly.

I like it with a little candied ginger in it ---yum.

At the old forum there was a long post about it...someone even said their doctor recommended for them for PD.

[lrp1]

Hi to all at Neurotalk,

Let introduce myself. I´m a PD caregiver and live in South America.
Recently my mother, 81 y.o., was diagnosed and I felt myself very sad
because I didn´t realize that her low movements means this disease.

11 moths ago, I suffered a heart attack and had to put mammal and safenous
veins as a myocardial bypass. I was so stressed taking care of her
that ended feeling heavy heart pains.

I wouldn´t like to gave her allopatic medicines. I´m looking for natural
alternatives and I read a lot about it here. Thanks to all for this.

Let me give you some input about yerbamate. On a brazilian magazine
article from August, 2007, some news about it. Sorry because I cannot
post links yet.

As it is totally in Portuguese from Brazil I did an appoximated
translation to english:

THE YERBAMATE AGAINST PARKINSON´S DISEASE

This fact has been found by scientists at the University of the Far
South of Santa Catarina, Brazil. After testing the plant´s extract in
mice that have the disease induced, they notice that some of the
substances showed to be able to protect them. In another investigation
the animals received the phytotherapic with traditional medication
and the results were even more significant. Part of the guinea pigs
came to fully recover its movements. "The study is still preliminary,
but we have proved that yerbamate can be used as a prevention of this
degenerative disease and as an adjuvant treatment", told pharmaceutical
Luciane Costa Campos, chief of the research.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Scientific name: Ilex paraguariensis St. Hilaire

Popular names: mate, erva-mate, brazilian tea

Forms of consumption: at South, the beverage, hard concentrated,
takes the name of chimarrão; used in southern as a hot tea and iced tea,
in the Midwest its name is Tereré, a tropical version of the mate,
with ice and lemon.

Origin: South America

Features: its stem, greyish in color, has on average 30 centimeters in
diameter. The size is variable and, depending on age, may reach
12 meters in height. When pruned reaches 7 meters.

Used part: leaves

Unfortunately the study didn´t bring any input about the percentage of
substances tested, but I think that was a very hard concentrated extract.

[Fiona]

Boa noite e o agradece e bem-vindo, Irp1.

That is great info. This world is strange, isn't it, that I have never even heard of this being helpful, and yet I can get it at the grocery store...

That's why as bleak as things look sometimes, I am not losing hope and optimism.

Irp1, my best wishes to you and hoping that you and your mother both recover your health soon.

[lrp1]

Fiona,

During an entire month I was here reading all new and ancient posts. I contacted Rick by mail and he gaves me his valuable input. Seems to me that I know everyone of you, Paula_W, RonHutton, you and many others.

I can´t get out of my house except to buy food supplies. The rest of day
is spent taking care of my mother. A neurologist said that she has to take Prolopa, but never mentioned side effects and many other things.

Now I´m looking for any natural treatments out there to make her life more qualitative.

This is the right place to look for. I obtained so much information and I
hope it helps me to improve my mother´s health.

[lurkingforacure]

but you can get jarrow's "Green Mate" at other places...oddly, I noticed several vendors have discontinued this, any idea why? And also, of the places that still sell it, do you think it's old/dated, and they are just trying to get rid of old inventory, or what?

This sounds vaguely like "MyTea" which we drank for several months with no noticeable effect on PD (it did, however, seem to ward off the many plagues brought home by our kids better than anything we had previously tried, so I do believe it boosted the immune system in that way)...but like I said, we weren't able to reduce PD meds, or notice any reduction in PD symptoms, unfortunately.

I'm willing to try this, anyone know whether the capsules or tea is better, ie, more likely to help with PD? Thanks.

[Fiona]

I got my yerba mate at Whole Paycheck food store - oops, I mean Whole Foods.

It was this brand: http://www.guayaki.com/

I have read that drinking it as tea is probably best because the liquid is more readily absorbed into your system. Makes sense to me.

I am just a couple of days into experimenting with it, so I hate to say too much, but was able to reduce my medication right away. Quite significantly. Its effects are very apparent to me immediately. But I'll see how it goes. Fascinating material about it, though. Even if all it does is help heal your digestive system, how huge a benefit is that for PWP?

Irp1, when I left the US for the first time in search of other ways to heal myself, I went to Brasil for what I thought was going to be one week. The people of your country (I'm assuming you are Brasilian....) were so warm and loving and reached out to me so beautifully, that it was four months before I left again. I saw magic happen there every day. I still feel their loving arms around me. Obrigada.

[mrsD]

Oh, rats....

I still have 1/2 bottle left...I bought 3 of them a while back and only use one a day. I find the capsules work as well as the tea for me. More convenient, I can take on vacation etc, easier.

Jarrow typically stops making things. I've had to call them once even and they said if they can't get the raw ingredient..they discontinue.(this was for a potent gugulipid they used to sell). But iherb may just not be selling it due to low movement. I noticed that they also discontinued the Doctor's Best CoQ-10 200mg with Bioperine I use too. I had to buy another brand yesterday at SAM's club, instead.

Yerba Mate is a choleretic, and improves bile flow.

J Ethnopharmacol. 2001 May;75(2-3):291-4.Click here to read Links
Choleretic effect and intestinal propulsion of 'mate' (Ilex paraguariensis) and its substitutes or adulterants.
Gorzalczany S, Filip R, Alonso MR, Miño J, Ferraro GE, Acevedo C.

Cátedra de Farmacología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Junín 956 (1113), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

'Mate' or 'Yerba mate' (Ilex paraguariensis, Aquifoliaceae) is a tonic and stimulant beverage widely used in South America. It is also traditionally used in gastrointestinal disorders as eupeptic and choleretic agent. Accordingly, the effect of decoctions of the leaves of I. paraguariensis and three of its substitutes or adulterants (Ilex brevicuspis, Ilex argentina and Ilex theezans) on bile flow (BF) and intestinal propulsion were investigated. I. paraguariensis and I. brevicuspis induced an increase in BF, while the latter also enhanced intestinal transit. In contrast, neither I. argentina nor I. theezans exerted any effect on BF or intestinal propulsion. These results suggest that the therapeutic properties of I. paraguariensis will be affected when at least an adulterant is present in the final commercial product of Yerba mate.

PMID: 11297866 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

I used it everyday for about 2 yrs, now I only use it occasionally if I get twinges of spasms.

Ilex is also an ingredient in Biofreeze...and I think the popularity and useful results from that topical rub are due to the Ilex. I use that too, since my physical therapist suggested it for me.

[mrsD]

Yerba Mate may be smoked during drying... it is this smoking which casts some doubt as to its safety long term IMO.

The totally green form is air dried and not smoked. This is the one I use for that reason:
http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/n...prrfnbr=600755

One does not make Yerba with really hot water. This can destroy some of the beneficial compounds in it.

I keep my teabags in sealed ziplocs for this reason too. Antioxidants are not stable exposed to the air.

[lrp1]

Fiona,

Brazilian way of life is full of friendship and affection.
Usually people that are not a part of a family are welcomed
with joy and happiness.

Visitors are treated like a part of family and is not unusual
a brazilian sleep in the floor to make her visit more comfortable
in his bed.

I hope when you came back to Brazil again, we can met and talk each other.

As for yerbamate I´m looking for a very hard organic concentrated
powder extract, but here there are a few farmers that grow organic mate,
because tea is often used as a soft drink in summer!!!.

I will do a research with friends in Argentina and see what I got.