Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH PART C-ENVIRONMENTAL CARCINOGENESIS & ECOTOXICOLOGY REVIEWS
Volume 37, Issue 1, Pages 26-41Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/10590501.2019.1555323
Keywords
mate; PAH; benzo[a]pyrene; esophageal cancer; hot drinks
Categories
Funding
- United States National Institutes of Health [UL1 GM118973]
- NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE [ZIACP000185] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Drinking mate, an infusion of the herb ilex paraguariensis, is very common in several South American countries, and has been associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer. This increased risk may be attributed to drinking mate very hot, or to mate's potentially carcinogenic contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Mate leaves are often dried via smoking, and therefore commercial samples may have high amounts of PAHs. We found 10 original articles that had measured PAHs in commercial dry samples, and nearly all found very high mass fractions. Most studies found benzo[a]pyrene mass fractions to be over 25 ng/g, and some found levels up to 600 ng/g. However, carcinogenic PAHs are often hydrophobic, and may not readily transfer into infusions. Seven articles studied transfer rates, and these rates varied from 1 to 50%, depending on the methods employed. Further careful studies of transfer rates in situations that mimic real life drinking of mate are recommended. Also, further studies of biological indicators of PAH exposure, particularly in randomized experiments, and analyzing DNA from tumor samples of mate drinkers are recommended.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available