Mate, an infusion containing caffeine (3 g/liter), is drunk hot by most Uruguayan, North Argentinian, and South Brazilian people. This beverage has been recently associated with esophageal cancer in Brazil and Uruguay. To test the mutagenic and lethal effects of mate infusion, caffeine, hyperthermia, and their combinations, we used Saccharomyces cer. evisiae as an eucaryotic model system measur...