Depressed and unhappy to have a cup of milk tea, work pressure and anxiety to have a cup of milk tea...... I don't know when, milk tea has become a way for many people to cure their unhappiness.
Some netizens left a message saying, "Milk tea is a 'antidote to troubles' for me, and a cup of sweet hot milk tea when I'm unhappy seems to eliminate all unpleasantness." Even under the marketing of merchants, topics such as "the first cup of milk tea in spring", "the first cup of milk tea in summer", "the first cup of milk tea in autumn" and "the first cup of milk tea in winter" have appeared on the hot search one after another, making many people follow the trend.
But can a cup of milk tea really heal the soul?
Milk tea cures unhappiness?
or make you more depressed and anxious
In 2023, a team of researchers from Tsinghua University published a study in the Journal of Affective Disorders that explored the potential effects of drinking milk tea on various mental health aspects. This study found that milk tea is not only addictive, but also associated with depression and anxiety.
Screenshot of the study
The study conducted a large-scale cross-sectional study of 5,281 college students, aged 15 to 24 years. The results showed that nearly 77% of the participants drank at least 6-11 cups of milk tea, among which women and young people showed significantly higher levels of milk tea addiction. Some women, in particular, use milk tea as a way to cope with stress and improve their negative emotions. Further analysis of the relationship between "milk tea addiction and mental health" showed that milk tea addiction was positively correlated with loneliness, depression and anxiety symptoms, and higher levels of milk tea addiction were significantly associated with the risk of depression and anxiety.
In other words, drinking too much milk tea not only does not bring you a good mood, but in turn increases your levels of depression, anxiety, and unhappiness. Therefore, this also reminds people who love milk tea: don't use drinking milk tea as a way to "regulate emotions" and "get happy", because milk tea addiction can lead to mental health and emotional problems.
"Milk tea addiction" is really a disease
Duan Lian, an attending physician in the Department of Substance Dependence at the Brain Hospital Affiliated to Guangzhou Medical University, said that the culprit of milk tea addiction is caffeine! Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, which is refreshing, energetic, and active in thinking after ingestion. If you consume too much caffeine in a short period of time, it may cause irritability, excitement, insomnia, flushing, increased urine, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle twitches, loose thoughts, palpitations, and arrhythmias.
As you drink milk tea for longer and longer, there may be an increase in tolerance, i.e., milk tea will become more and more drunk. If you do not increase the dose or frequency of drinking milk tea, you will not be able to achieve the original effect, including refreshing. Drinking milk tea for a long time, if it is stopped suddenly, withdrawal may occur. Caffeine withdrawal reactions include drowsiness, listlessness, headaches, and even symptoms of low mood or anxiety.
In addition, caffeine has a stimulating effect on the gastrointestinal tract, and some people have a withdrawal reaction to constipation. At this time, with a cup of milk tea, the above problems are swept away, and it becomes full of blood and revived immediately, which is caffeine dependence. Therefore, milk tea can really be "addictive". Caffeine withdrawal can be reduced by reducing the frequency of drinking and tapering over a period of time, and if difficulties and discomfort persist, it is advisable to seek help from a substance dependence specialist at this time to treat the "addiction" to caffeine.
Drinking milk tea often is not small
Although milk tea is tempting, it is also dangerous. Drinking milk tea often will not only damage the heart, brain, stomach, bones and other internal organs, but also destroy the appearance and accelerate aging, which can be described as "hurting the whole body" from the inside out.
Truth 1: Milk tea is not necessarily real milk
In order to expand profits and control costs, some businesses rarely use real fresh milk to make milk tea, and most of them are brewed from creamer. Creamer mostly refers to non-dairy creamer, which is easy to produce a large amount of trans fatty acids during the production process, which affects health.
1. Affects cardiovascular health. Increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
2. Damage to cranial nerves. It affects normal memory and increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease as we age.
3. Affects physical development. Especially for teenagers, the harm is greater.
Truth 2: The sugar content is really high
According to the inspection and investigation of 16 batches of milk tea by the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Bureau in 2020, the total sugar content of this batch of drinks is between 10-66 grams, and even if you choose sugar-free milk tea drinks, the sugar content will exceed the national standard. Regular consumption of sugary beverages increases the risk of disease.
1. Diabetes. Too much sugar cannot be metabolized in the body, and the blood sugar in the body slowly rises, and if you drink a lot of sugary drinks for a long time, acute diabetes is also easy to find.
2. Accelerate aging. Too much sugar in the body depletes the collagen in the skin, causing the skin to be loose and inelastic.
3. Being overweight. Sugar accumulates in the body, and there is no way to metabolize it effectively, so it slowly accumulates and accelerates the pace of obesity. Once obesity occurs, diseases such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids are easy to induce.
Truth 3: Caffeine is high
Excessive caffeine intake can also have health effects.
1. Insomnia. The caffeine in milk tea can cause nervous excitement and prone to insomnia, anxiety and other symptoms.
2. Induce stomach diseases. Milk tea enters the stomach and intestines for digestion, and a large amount of caffeine can stimulate the stomach and intestines, leading to stomach ulcers and other diseases.
3. Easy osteoporosis. When a large amount of caffeine enters the body, it may also cause bone loss and, in severe cases, osteoporosis.
How to reduce the harm caused by milk tea?
If you drink milk tea once in a while, how can you reduce the damage caused by milk tea?
1. Choose real milk. If it is freshly made milk tea, you can observe whether the store is made of fresh milk, and some will write "real fresh milk, no creamer, no vegetable cream", the big brands are relatively more assured, it is best not to add milk caps; if it is instant milk tea or pre-packaged liquid milk tea, then look at the ingredient list, choose the first one is real milk, try not to choose creamer, non-dairy creamer.
2. Choose the right ingredients. Don't choose processed foods such as boba and coconut fiber fruit, but choose fruit pieces, oats, turtle jelly, roasted fairy grass and other small ingredients.
3. Choose sugar-free or low-sugar options. Although there is also the possibility of sugar in commercially available sugar-free milk tea, it is still much lower than full-sugar milk tea.
4. Eat less after drinking milk tea. The carbohydrate and fat content of milk tea is not low, so eat less than two bites of staple food on the day of drinking milk tea and reduce the amount of cooking oil.
5. Remember to exercise more after drinking. It is recommended to increase brisk walking, jogging, playing ball, swimming and other exercises to balance calories and prevent weight gain.
Source: Popular Science China, People's Daily Health, Sina Weibo, Health Times