It’s easy to lose sight of the hazards of potentially unhealthful food and drink when we’re faced with the smorgasbord of choices we have today. Our lives are busy, and our hectic schedules can often get on top of us, affecting our sleep patterns and causing us fatigue. To offset this, the first thought most people have is to reach for caffeine, but rarely does it occur to us to seek out yerba mate energy drink instead.

While it is true that highly caffeinated energy drinks that contain taurine can give you a real boost, in reality, all of the negatives can easily stack up. They contain high sugar content, which affects blood sugar levels and can lead to diabetes, and their high concentrations of caffeine and taurine can lead to nervous problems, like anxiety and disrupted sleep patterns. To cap it off, they’re highly processed. Yerba mate energy drink, on the other hand, has a huge advantage for your health over common energy drinks.

What is Yerba Mate Energy Drink?

Yerba mate energy drink is a drink derived from a plant of the same name indigenous to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Uraguay. The plant is a species of the holly genus and has been used for centuries to make a steeped drink that contains caffeine. Prior to European colonization, the indigenous Guaraní and Tupí communities of these regions incorporated yerba mate as a staple of their diet.

The plant quickly gained a reputation when it was incorporated into yerba mate energy drink and used by local indigenous communities as a booster, much in the same way that coffee is commonly used today. These days, yerba mate energy drink is sold in cans, much like their taurine-containing counterparts, or as an ingredient in iced tea.

What makes yerba mate energy drink stand out as an alternative to their sugary cousins is that, in addition to not containing many of the problematic ingredients of other energy drinks, it also contains several characteristics that make it a booster for health, and an environmentally friendly natural alternative.

The Many Benefits of Yerba Mate Energy Drink

All-Natural

Yerba mate energy drink is made from a traditional recipe that predates industrial mass production by centuries. In its original method, cultivating and preparing yerba mate energy drink requires no electricity, and there are no unnatural by-products or pollution generated during production. Because it’s made from all-natural ingredients, there’s no need to worry about the harm done by waste. Every component of yerba mate energy drink can be easily re-absorbed back into the earth.

No Taurine

One of the great appeals of yerba mate energy drink is that it contains no taurine. Yerba mate provides an ample energy boost without the health detriments that come along with consuming taurine in high doses, like headaches, upset stomach, sleep deprivation, jitters, and anxiety.

No Granulated Sugars

Similarly, yerba mate is conspicuous in its absence of granulated cane sugars, which are often present in other energy drinks in high quantities. The excess sucrose can cause a spike in blood-sugar levels, and unused reserves get stored in your liver as glycogen, which eventually gets converted into fats. On top of the absence of this excess sucrose, studies on mice have shown that yerba mate energy drink may actually be effective in reducing blood sugar levels.

Antioxidants

Human cells naturally age through oxidation, and there are many habits and foods that can contribute to rapid aging. Antioxidants are a popular preventative measure against aging, and along with commonly being found in natural foods like blueberries, yerba mate energy drink is a significant source of antioxidants as well.

Vital Minerals

The human body gleans health benefits from numerous minerals, and yerba mate energy drink contains more than its fair share, being a significant source of magnesium, manganese, and potassium.

Reduces Fats

Yerba mate energy drink contains polyphenols like flavinoids, which work to inhibit enzymes, like lipases, that metabolize fats. The result is less fat processing by the body’s cells. In addition, research has shown yerba mate energy drink to be effective in reducing fat cells and cholesterol.

Appetite Suppressant

Reducing fats on the cellular level is not yerba mate energy drink’s only benefit to weight loss. It also has physical properties that contribute to weight loss through lowering appetites and increasing satiety, compelling you to want to eat less to feel fulfilled.

Where to Get Yerba Mate Energy Drink

In spite of all of these great exploits, yerba mate energy drink is usually not easily available from retail sources. Because its ingredients are grown and prepared only in specific places, reaping the benefits of yerba mate energy drink is best done through specialty online retailers.