Yerba Mate Underwhelms in Latest Health Research
Yerba Mate is one of the hottest beverages in the health and wellness space, advocated by the likes of Andrew Huberman. Most people think of it as tea, but since it comes from a different plant it technically is not. Many of the proposed benefits, however, are similar to drinks like green tea.
A recent meta-analysis did a deep dive on Yerba Mate's effect on lipid profile, weight management, and blood glucose. A meta-analysis is a collection of studies that meet certain criteria on a specific topic. Therefore, it is more comprehensive than a single study alone.
Given the popularity of Yerba Mate, the results were a bit disappointing.
Lipid profile, which is a collection of blood markers that include cholesterol and triglycerides, showed no meaningful improvement. Compare this with green tea, which has substantial evidence showing it reduces total cholesterol and LDL.
The meta-analysis also showed that Yerba Mate did not help with weight management. However, you could push back on this information because there is no indication that any of the participants' diets were tightly controlled. A proper weight loss study would standardize calories across both groups, monitor dietary adherence, and account for physical activity. None of that appears to have been rigorously done here.
Where Yerba Mate showed the most promise was in blood sugar control. The meta-analysis found a significant reduction in postprandial glucose, which measures your blood sugar response after a meal. It also appears to improve HbA1c and insulin resistance.
The potential caveat is that these results mainly came from two studies in the entire meta-analysis. In these studies, Yerba Mate was combined with chromium and white mulberry, which have both shown evidence in improving glycemic control. With that, it's hard to say if Yerba Mate truly improved the effect, or was along for the ride.
Yerba Mate also contains about 80mg of caffeine per serving. Caffeine has been shown to influence blood sugar metabolism.
So where does that leave us? Yerba Mate is not a bad beverage by any means, and it is certainly not snake oil. But the evidence, at least right now, does not justify the level of enthusiasm surrounding it in the wellness space. If you enjoy it, then by all means continue. It could be someone's caffeinated beverage of choice if they don't like coffee or energy drinks. If you're choking it down because you think it's some life altering health hack, then you can probably stop.
The research on Yerba Mate is still young and the studies done so far have real methodological limitations. Better designed trials may eventually tell a more compelling story. For now though, the hype is running well ahead of the science.
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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 8:54 PM.