South American Plant Yerba Maté Could Hold the Secret to Beating Obesity!
New Research about to be published in the research journal OBESITY (Nature Publishing Group) has proven for the first time that a natural plant extract, yerba maté, has potent anti-obesity effects (1).
The research examined the effect of extracts of yerba mate, a plant indigenous to South America, on obese mice fed on high fat diets and concluded that the yerba maté extracts had potent anti-obesity activity.
The research demonstrated that in adipose tissue in obese mice given the extracts, the expression of several genes related to obesity returned to normal levels. Additionally high blood cholesterol and glucose levels in the extract treated mice were reduced. This suggests the compounds found in yerba maté extract may act synergistically to suppress body weight gain, visceral fat accumulation, and decrease the serum levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, cholesterol and glucose.
Professor Anthony Leeds, a leading obesity researcher of the University of Copenhagen said ‘the recent research clearly shows that compounds occurring in yerba maté extract (Ilex paraguarensis) attenuated weight gain in mice on a high fat diet and improved abnormal blood lipid profiles. Yerba maté treatment acted on adipose tissue to down-regulate several genes (including leptin the ‘eating hormone’, and cytokines) and upregulated those for adiponectin and thermogenesis, giving clues as to the mechanism for the weight loss”.