Abstract
The prevalence of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases is increased in postmenopausal women, which contributes to the burden of illnesses in this period of life. Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a native bush from Southern South America. Its leaves are rich in phenolic components, which may have antioxidant, vasodilating, hypocholesterolemic, and hypoglycemic proprieties. This post hoc analysis of the case-control study nested in the Obesity and Bone Fracture Cohort evaluated the consumption of yerba mate and the prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and coronary diseases in postmenopausal women. Ninety-five postmenopausal women were included in this analysis. A questionnaire was applied to evaluate the risk factors and diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and consumption of yerba mate infusion. Student's t-test and chi-square test were used to assess significant differences between groups. The group that consumed more than 1 L/day of mate infusion had significantly fewer diagnoses of coronary disease, dyslipidemia, and hypertension (P<0.049, P<0.048, and P<0.016, respectively). Furthermore, the serum levels of glucose were lower in the group with a higher consumption of yerba mate infusion (P<0.013). The serum levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides were similar between the groups. This pragmatic study points out the benefits of yerba mate consumption for the cardiovascular and metabolic systems. The ingestion of more than 1 L/day of mate infusion was associated with fewer self-reported cardiovascular diseases and lower serum levels of glucose. Longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the association between yerba mate infusion and reduction of cardiovascular diseases in postmenopausal women.
Highlights
Menopause is associated with an increased frequency of chronic conditions, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus (DM)
The fasting serum levels of glucose were lower in the women with a higher consumption of mate (Table 2). In this post hoc analysis, postmenopausal women who consumed more than 1 L/day of mate reported fewer diagnoses of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and coronary disease
Some metabolic findings have been reported in previous studies [4,5,6,12], to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the beneficial effect of yerba mate consumption on the incidence of chronic diseases in postmenopausal women
Summary
Menopause is associated with an increased frequency of chronic conditions, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus (DM). Traditional cardiovascular risk factors are usually more prevalent after menopause because of loss of estrogenic protection. Menopause has been associated with dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension in postmenopausal women is two times higher than in premenopausal women and more than 75% of women older than 60 years have hypertension [1]. Type 2 DM is a disease associated with specific changes in the lipid profile promoting an atherogenic pattern [2]. These findings contribute to the morbidity of CVD in postmenopausal women
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