Caffeine is the most commonly used unregulated psychoactive substance used in the world. Up to 90% of North Americans report to use caffeine on a daily basis [1]. Common natural sources include the Coffee plant, Tea plants, Yerba Mate and Kola Nut. It is a white crystalline xanthine alkaloid which generally acts as a stimulant in human physiology. Caffeine is classified as “GRAS” by the US FDA ...

Chemical signals are omnipresent in sexual communication in the vast majority of living organisms. The traditional paradigm was that their main purpose in sexual behaviour was to coordinate mate and species recognition and thus pheromones were conserved in structure and function. In recent years, this view has been challenged by theoretical analyses on the evolution of pheromones and empirical ...

BACKGROUND Obesity is a major health problem. A food field research that has recently aroused considerable interest is the potential of natural products to counteract obesity. Yerba Mate may be helpful in reducing body weight and fat. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of Yerba Mate supplementation in Korean subjects with obesity. METHODS A randomized, double-bli...

We previously investigated the effects of an aqueous extract of maté (mate) tea, made from the leaves of Ilex paraguariensis, on the diabesity and metabolic syndrome features in a mouse model. Mate induced significant decreases in body weight (BW), body mass index, and food intake (FI). In this study, to verify the mode of action of mate on FI and consequently on BW, we examined the anorexic ef...

Cuckoldry is an adaptive problem faced by parentally investing males of socially monogamous species (e.g., humans and many avian species). Mate guarding and frequent in-pair copulation (IPC) may have evolved as anti-cuckoldry tactics in avian species and in humans. In some avian species, the tactics are used concurrently, with the result that mate guarding behaviors and IPC frequency are correl...

Good genes models of mate choice predict additive genetic benefits of choice whereas the compatibility hypothesis predicts nonadditive fitness benefits. Here the Chinese rose bitterling, Rhodeus ocellatus, a freshwater fish with a resource-based mating system, was used to separate additive and nonadditive genetic benefits of female mate choice. A sequential blocked mating design was used to tes...

Choosing an appropriate mate is one of the most important decisions that any animal has to make. The traditional view in non-human systems is that animals are largely slaves to their genes and an individual’s mate choice is handed down from their parents. However, in recent years it has become clear that many animals show active decision making in who to mate with and that females may copy mate...

BACKGROUND Drinking mate has been associated with cancers of the esophagus, oropharynx, larynx, lung, kidney, and bladder. We conducted this study to determine whether drinking mate could lead to substantial exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), including known carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene. METHODS The concentrations of 21 individual PAHs were measured in dry leaves of ei...