Milk tea is on the trending search again!

This time it was because the Shenzhen Guangming District Consumer Council conducted a content test on popular milk teas on the market and found that the caffeine content in a cup of milk tea is several times that in a can of Red Bull.

Many netizens were shocked under the trending search: Is the sweet and fragrant milk tea more potent than Red Bull?

Is the source of the news reliable?

Shenzhen Consumer Council is a public welfare organization with a certain official background and a registered and verifiable public institution.

I personally have a good impression of the Shenzhen Consumer Council because they have done a lot of comparative tests and are quite authoritative, at most there are sometimes a few problems in interpretation.

As a non-interested and credible evaluation organization, I think it is very valuable to be able to conduct independent evaluations on consumer hotspots and present objective facts.

What's more, their reports are completely free and open to the public . I used to subscribe to consumer reports related to Hong Kong and the United States, but I had to spend a lot of money to buy the full text of the report.

I even checked the 2019 budget of the Shenzhen Guangming District Consumer Council Office and found that their annual funding for consumer rights protection work is 1.92 million yuan, which includes product comparison tests and so on.

It is conceivable that this kind of experiment is not affordable for small private studios that "generate electricity with love".

I would like to reiterate my point here: the report of the Consumer Council is worth reading, but other domestic private food evaluations that mainly engage in horizontal product evaluations and claim to be objective and comprehensive should not be blindly trusted.

How much caffeine is there?

The comparison results of this experiment showed that caffeine was detected in milk tea of ​​several popular brands, with an average of 258 mg of caffeine per kilogram of milk tea. The caffeine content in one brand of milk tea with the highest level even reached 522 mg/kg, which is equivalent to 365 mg of caffeine in a cup of milk tea !

Image source: Shenzhen Quality Consumption Research Institute, 2019 Milk Tea Comparative Test Report

This data is very close to the evaluation results reported by the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee two years ago, and I don’t think it’s surprising.

Where does caffeine come from?

The topic of caffeine being detected in milk tea has become a hot topic.

To be honest, I'm a bit confused...

Of course there is tea in “milk tea”! If there is tea, there is caffeine!

As for functional drinks like Red Bull, in addition to caffeine, it also contains taurine, lysine, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and other ingredients. The reason why it is so powerful is not just because of the caffeine.

And everyone should have common sense that it is normal for the caffeine content in milk tea to be higher than that in coffee or functional drinks. Some may use tea leaves, some may use tea bags, and some may have instant tea powder added, and the caffeine content in them may be very high.

This data is very close to the evaluation results reported by the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee two years ago, and I don’t think it’s surprising.

Is this amount dangerous?

But everything is about dosage.

For an adult who is overweight, it is still safe to consume no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day. Even for pregnant women , it is not a big problem to limit it to 200 mg (roughly equivalent to two cups of instant coffee) .

In addition to pregnant women, the following groups should also be cautious:

• People with caffeine intolerance
• People who drink a cup of coffee at noon and can't sleep all night should not drink it. In any case, lack of sleep will harm the body.
• Menstruating women
• Caffeine can easily aggravate dysmenorrhea.
• Gastric ulcer patients
• Caffeine stimulates gastric acid secretion.
• Glaucoma patients
• Caffeine can increase eye pressure.
• People who do not drink enough water
• Caffeine can worsen dehydration.
• Patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD)
• Anyway, my joint popping becomes more severe after drinking coffee. Let me share my care experience: ① If you grind your teeth at night, get a jaw pad. ② Don't chew hard things or chew gum, and pay attention to avoid unconscious clenching of your teeth. ③ If you really feel pain, you can rub it with your hands for a while, or find a towel for hot compress. Alternating hot and cold compresses may be more effective. ④ Get enough rest.

What to do if you are sensitive to caffeine?

Some people may be more sensitive and will experience insomnia, tremors in hands and feet, weakness in limbs, vomiting and other symptoms after drinking it. On the one hand, there is no need for such people to drink it. On the other hand, they can also consider drinking lighter drinks and drinking slowly. It is best to avoid drinking milk tea on an empty stomach. You can drink it in moderation according to your degree of adaptation.

What are the dangers of milk tea?

In general, if it is just tea and milk, with not much sugar added, and the ingredients are safe and the production environment is up to standard , milk tea will not cause any particular health hazards. However, there may still be some risks that need to be noted:

Trans fatty acids

In the past, milk tea may have used lower quality non- dairy creamer , which contained a large amount of trans fatty acids. Excessive intake of trans fatty acids will increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

The results of this inspection show that trans fatty acids are not a big problem (this may be related to the fact that the brands inspected are all quite famous, and the high unit price and mature industrial chain help to ensure product quality).

pearl

Some people may also ask me, are pearls harmful?

If qualified food raw materials are used and additives are used in compliance with national standards, generally speaking, it will not cause any harm to the human body.

However, there have been problems with milk tea detected in the past. At present, the problems are mainly concentrated on the use of pigments .

Ice cubes

Ice cubes also have risks. If you are not a very reliable brand, it is best not to add ice. Regarding the risks of ice cubes, I have already analyzed it when I wrote Jay Chou’s MV "Say Good Not to Cry". If you are interested, you can review it again.

sugar

If you ask me, the biggest harm is definitely sugar!

This evaluation also reflects that if it is full of sugar, the sugar content is basically around 9 grams per 100 grams. In other words, if you drink a large cup (usually more than 600ml), you will gulp down more than 50 grams of sugar, which has overdrawn the daily limit of added sugar intake.

However, you should also note that milk itself contains lactose . If you buy sugar-free milk tea, the sugar content in it is 2%-3%, which is likely to be natural lactose. The common lactose content of milk is about 4.5% to 5% . Other ingredients are often soaked in sugar water, so some will be brought in.

Is half sugar really half sugar?

The report also found that the so-called half-sugar ratio is not very accurate. There is even a milk tea shop whose half-sugar drink has 82% of the sugar content of the full-sugar drink. Experienced friends will also find that whether the full sugar is 70% and the half-sugar is 30% or the light sugar depends on whether the milk tea operator shakes the hand when squeezing the syrup.

The store also needs to ensure quality control and taste, which I think is understandable. It is still very important to develop the awareness of reducing sugar. The requirement of "half sugar" subconsciously reduces the amount of added sugar, which I think is already good.

Speaking of this, I remembered that I seemed to be the only one in the studio who didn’t drink milk tea yesterday afternoon…

Original report on milk tea comparison test:

Shenzhen Quality Consumption Research Institute, 2019 Milk Tea Comparative Test Report, https://www.sicq.org/__trashed-2.html