Does Yerba Mate Cause Cancer? This is a discussion for your average Joe about yerba mate and if it causes cancer of the esophagus. Remember to prepare your yerba mate with non-boiling water (160-170 F) or to cool it down and drink it cold after you brew it. Considering the current scientific literature is pretty sparse, nobody can make a well informed statement on this specific topic. I personally think Yerba Mate is 100% safe to drink, and extremely healthy.
Great review article on Yerba Mate:
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There has been some talk about the fact that many times when Mate is dried they sometimes dry it over fire raher than air drying. This has been shown to increase the amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in things involving grilling such as grilled vegetables or grilled meats and has been thought to be related to an increased risk for cancer due to the irritation it can cause your GI system and that it can be found in the urine and may irritate the bladder leading to increased risks for things such as bladder cancer. Yerba mate was found to have a level of 0.70 micrograms/kg of PAH in comparison Coffee had 10.12 micrograms/kg. A brazilian study found that if you were to consume 69.79 g of yerba mate daily it would lead to 0.05 micrograms of PAH intake. This is extremely small considering most anything else that is heated, grilled, smoked (tobacco or marijuana) is going to have a much higher concentration of PAH than Yerba Mate. Both Coffee and black tea have much higher PAH that yerba mate; the only other caffeinated hot drink that has fewer is green tea because it is air dried. Most scientific literature shows that the elevated temperature in yerba mate is a much higher risk factor than PAH in esophageal and oral cancer.

As of today (9/8/2019) I have not found any scientific evidence that states that mate increases your risk for cancer. I have found some that states that it decreases your risk for cancer as it is chalk full of antioxidants.

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