Yerba Maté Intake Safe During Pregnancy

Yerba Maté Intake Safe During Pregnancy

PELOTAS, Brazil--Consumption of a hot infusion of the South Americanbotanical yerba maté (Ilex paraguayensis) during pregnancy was notassociated with preterm and small for gestational age (SGA) births, according toa cross-sectional study in the May issue of Journal of Nutrition (135,5:1120-23, 2005) (http://www.nutrition.org).

Scientists interviewed 5,304 mothers who gave birth at hospitals in Pelotas,Brazil, to obtain statistics including maternal yerba maté tea intake, as wellas birth weight and gestational age of offspsring. Of the 5,304 births assessed,only singleton births (n=5,189) were analyzed. Yerba maté intake at least oncea week during the entire pregnancy period was reported by approximately 68percent of the mothers, and rates of SGA and preterm birth were 8 percent and9.1 percent, respectively. Crude analyses showed no statistical associationbetween yerba maté consumption and preterm birth, as well as a 30-percentincrease in the risk of SGA among daily yerba maté drinkers compared withnon-consumers. However, after adjusting the intial data for confounding factors,there was no longer any statistically significant association between yerbamaté drinking and SGA births.

The researchers concluded daily maté drinking was high among pregnant womenin this population and no harmful effects on intrauterine growth or duration ofpregnancy were detected.