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AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nonprofit American Botanical Council (ABC) is honored to announce that natural ingredients manufacturer Teawolf has adopted the caffeine-rich South American herb guayusa through 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 caffeine-containing member of the holly family. HerbMedPro is an interactive and comprehensive database available on ABC's website that provides access to important scientific and clinical research data underlying the use of approximately 250 herbs and their effects on human health.

"This herb is becoming 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."

About Guayusa

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

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

Guayusa's adoption page can be found here; its HerbMedPro page is available here.

About Adopt-an-Herb and HerbMedPro

Teawolf joins 35 companies that have supported ABC's ongoing educational efforts, through the Adopt-an-Herb Program, to collect, organize, and disseminate reliable, traditional, science-based, and clinical information on herbs, medicinal plants, and other botanical- and fungal-based ingredients. 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.

HerbMedPro provides online access to abstracts of scientific and clinical publications on nearly 250 commonly used medicinal herbs. Each adopted herb is continuously researched for new articles and studies, ensuring that its HerbMedPro record 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 — available via ABC's information-rich website.

HerbMedPro is available to ABC members at the Academic level and higher; its "sister" site HerbMed^® is free and available to the general public. Making this unique resource free to the public increases the number of people who benefit from updated information on herbs, in accordance with ABC's nonprofit educational 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.

About Teawolf

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

About the American Botanical Council

Founded in 1988, the American Botanical Council is a leading international nonprofit organization addressing research and educational issues regarding herbs, teas, medicinal plants, essential oils, and other beneficial plant-derived materials. ABC's members include academic researchers and educators; libraries; health professionals and medical institutions; government agencies; members of the herb, dietary supplement, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries; journalists; consumers; and others in more than 81 countries. The organization occupies a historic 2.5-acre site in Austin, Texas, where it publishes the peer-reviewed quarterly journal HerbalGram, the monthly e-publication HerbalEGram, the weekly e-newsletter Herbal News & Events, HerbClips (summaries of scientific and clinical publications), the quarterly Botanical Adulterants Monitor, reference books, and other educational materials. ABC is also the managing partner of the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Program, an international consortium dedicated to education regarding quality control of herbs, botanical extracts, and essential oils. ABC also hosts HerbMedPro, a powerful herbal database, covering scientific and clinical publications on more than 250 herbs. ABC also co-produces the "Herbal Insights" segment for Healing Quest, a television series on PBS.

ABC is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. Information: Contact ABC at P.O. Box 144345, Austin, TX, 78714-4345, Phone: 512-926-4900. Website: www.herbalgram.org. Contact: Public Relations.

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SOURCE American Botanical Council