Guayusa (Ilex guayusa)

As of yet, Guayusa has not been heavily researched or produced.  The Kichwa, an Amazonian people that have existed for thousands of years, have been brewing Guayusa tea for generations.  Recently they have partnered with Runa to sell their Guayusa on the world market.

I contacted Runa about their Guayusa containing products to see if they had any research they could send me.  They didn't have much on Guayusa but they were able to send me some interesting articles about why tea is beneficial (2, 3)  In the future I hope to do an article discussing all the benefits of tea.

I did manage to find a few partial articles documenting the antioxidant effects of Guayusa.  Guayusa had nearly double the antioxidant capacity of vitamin c according to one study (1). Another study puts Guayusa's ORAC value at ~659 micromoles of Trolox Equivalents per gram which is far higher than green tea at 12.5 (4).  The value of 659 may be rather high as a study done by Genox puts the ORAC of Guayusa(58.19) at only double the value of green tea(~29) (5). In either case, Guayusa is definitely worth a try.

1 Guayusa FRAP study

2 Comparative Research of Caffeine Levels in 60 different teas

3 ORAC Research

4 Guayusa Antioxidants - ABC Labs

5 Genox ORAC Guayusa and Green Tea Comparisons
6 The Kichwa, Runa, and Guayusa