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Mate or yerba mate tea is the national drink of Paraguay and Brazil. The leaves are used in herbal medicine.

Medicinal Properties of Mate

The leaves contain less tannins than ordinary black tea, but still has good levels of caffeine, which is a stimulant to the brain and nervous system. It is also a general tonic, anti-rheumatic, mildly antispasmodic, diuretic and helps to rid the body of uric acid.

Mate Herbal Remedies

Historically Ilex paraguariensis has been used to treat a number of conditions including:

Exhaustion from stress
Gout
Headache -nervous
Lack of energy
Obesity
Rheumatism

Tags: Energy, Gout, Lactation, Nervous, Rheumatic, Rheumatism, Stress, Weight Loss

Citrus aurantium is also known as bitter orange, green orange or sour orange. In traditional Chinese Medicine it is known as zhi shi and in Aromatherapy the essential oil is called neroli. The fruit of Citrus aurantium contains the active compounds used in herbal medicine.

Medicinal Properties of Bitter orange

Citrus aurantium contains an alkaloid called synephrine, which is chemically very similar to caffeine and the ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine found in many OTC cold/allergy medications. In the US, the herb ephedra (Ma Huang) is available which also contains ephedrine.

Synephrine is a stimulant, it is thought to have similar effects to caffeine and ephedrine in terms of providing an energy boost, suppressing appetite and increasing metabolic rate and caloric expenditure. Citrus aurantium also contains tyramine and octopamine. Octopamine is thought to be involved in appetite control.

Tags: Anxiety, Appetite, Cold, Depression, Diabetes, Energy, Flu, Heart, High Blood Pressure, Nervous, PMS, Skin, Sleep, Weight Loss