Teawolf Sponsors South American Herb Guayusa Through ABC’s Adopt-an-Herb Program

HerbalGram. 2015; American Botanical Council

Natural ingredients manufacturer Teawolf has agreed to sponsor the caffeine-rich South American herb guayusa (Ilex guayusa, Aquifoliaceae) through the American Botanical Council’s (ABC’s) Adopt-an-Herb Program. Teawolf’s three-year commitment helps ABC keep its HerbMedPro™ database up to date with the latest scientific and clinical research on guayusa, a member of the holly family. HerbMedPro is an interactive database available on ABC’s website that provides access to comprehensive research data underlying the use of approximately 250 herbs and their effects on human health.

“This herb has become increasingly popular in the specialty herbal tea market in the past few years,” said ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal. “ABC is pleased that Teawolf has joined the growing family of companies participating in the ABC Adopt-an-Herb Program. We appreciate Teawolf’s commitment to ensuring that ABC has the resources to keep up with scientific research papers on guayusa in ABC’s information-rich HerbMedPro database.”

Ilex guayusa is a small tree that is native to Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. Guayusa is one of three plants in the holly family that contains caffeine. Its use as a stimulating beverage by the indigenous peoples of the region has led to its recent popularity in the herbal tea market. In the 2014 US herbal beverage tea (bag) category,¹ guayusa was one of the five top-selling botanicals. Guayusa contains theobromine, a stimulant found in chocolate, and L-theanine, a compound found in green tea that has been shown to reduce physical and mental stress. In addition, guayusa contains guanidine, a known anti-hypoglycemic substance. In animal studies, a concentrated aqueous preparation of guayusa was shown to significantly reduce excessive thirst, uncontrolled appetite, and weight loss associated with diabetes.

Among its other traditional uses, guayusa has been taken in relatively large doses by certain South American tribes for use as an emetic for ritualistic and health purposes. The Amaguajes tribe used it to treat diabetes, and, in Ecuador, it was used to counteract female sterility. In Peru, the tea is used to treat infertility and venereal disease, and as an emetic, fever reducer, stimulant, and tonic.

Teawolf joins 35 companies that have supported ABC’s ongoing educational efforts — to collect, organize, and disseminate reliable, traditional, science-based, and clinical information on herbs, medicinal plants, and other botanical- and fungal-based ingredients — through the Adopt-an-Herb Program. Adopt-an-Herb encourages companies and individuals to “adopt” one or more specific herbs for inclusion and ongoing maintenance in the HerbMedPro database. To date, 40 herbs have been adopted.

The HerbMedPro record for each adopted herb is continuously updated with new articles and studies, ensuring that it stays current and robust. The result is an unparalleled resource, not only for researchers, health professionals, industry, and consumers, but for all members of the herbal and dietary supplements community, and others.

HerbMedPro can be accessed via ABC’s website and is available to members at the academic level and higher. Its sister site, HerbMed^®, is free and available to the general public, which increases the number of people who benefit from updated herbal information in accordance with ABC’s mission. In keeping with ABC’s position as an independent nonprofit organization, herb adopters do not influence the scientific information that is compiled for their respective adopted herbs.

Teawolf, LLC is an ingredient manufacturing company servicing the food, beverage, and nutritional industries. Founded in 2009, the company maintains its headquarters in Pine Brook, New Jersey. Teawolf focuses exclusively on extraction of a wide range of natural products, including tea, vanilla, cocoa, coffee, guayusa, and hibiscus. More information about the company is available at www.teawolf.com.

Reference

1. Keating B, Lindstrom A, Lynch ME, Blumenthal M. Sales of tea & herbal tea increase 3.6% in United States in 2014. HerbalGram. 2014;105:59-67. Available at: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue105/hg105-teamktrpt.html. Accessed October 13, 2015.