Chao News client reporter Wu Yue intern Lan Xinyu
"Running 800 meters, can you really speed up after drinking?" A junior high school student in Anhui Province shared his personal experience of the physical test on the Internet: before the exam, he took out a bottle of brown and black drink, opened the bottle cap and smelled a little strange, "looking black like a pesticide, I am afraid of side effects."
At present, the sports high school entrance examination and make-up examination are underway across the country, and candidates in Tianjin, Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangdong, Fujian and other places have expressed similar questions. And under some "detonating muscle energy" related sharing posts, hundreds of netizens left messages "squatting", hoping to see more real feelings.
The students are talking about some functional drinks for the high school entrance examination students. Online, online, some merchants launched the "physical test four-piece set", containing nitrogen pumps, sports nutrition drinks two types, claiming "running speed" and "one second difference, more than 10,000 people", recommended to be used for sports high school entrance examination, with high sales of more than 30 thousand pieces.
According to a variety of hot-selling products, the Chao News reporter sorted out the main ingredient list and found that the top three ingredients in the "four-piece physical test set" are carbohydrates, caffeine and taurine. A number of experts said that the efficacy of these drinks is exaggerated, and candidates and parents should beware of being deceived.
A social platform for students to share their experiences.
"After drinking, the scalp is numb, and 10,000 hair needles are pricking the body"
On social platforms, the sharing content related to the "physical test four-piece set" is endless, "Take a sip before the game, like a god during the test", "Don't drink wrong before the physical test 800-meter run, choose the right one and drink again, and the score skyrockets by 10 points"...... A lot of exaggerated marketing rhetoric is flooded with major e-commerce platforms.
On April 23, Chao News reporters searched for "physical examinations" on multiple e-commerce platforms. Taking a mainstream e-commerce platform as an example, there are hundreds of energy supplements associated with the "physical examination", and more than 355,000 related drinks with high sales have been sold.
These energy supplements are labeled with the logos of "Physical Examination Sprint", "Exam Assistant" and "Student Style" to delineate the candidate group. According to the appearance, the merchants divide this into "little red bottle", "little green bottle", "little black bottle" and "little yellow bottle", and also name it "physical examination four-piece set" package and sell, the price ranges from 12.9 yuan to 39.9 yuan.
According to the merchants, the "Little Red Bottle" is suitable for all physical examination items. In addition, the three products also have a "targeted" effect - the little green bottle improves physical endurance and is suitable for middle and long-distance running, the small black bottle improves strength training and is suitable for throwing sports, and the small yellow bottle improves explosive power and is suitable for sprinting and jumping sports.
In the propaganda of these energy supplements, it is full of energy bursts and sports competition scenes. Many merchants claim that it can instantly improve endurance and explosiveness after taking it, and it is recommended to take it for a week. A parent of a junior high school in Hangzhou saw this kind of energy supplement for sale in the search, and she said that the effect seems to be no different from "beating chicken blood", but the product details identify it as "ordinary dietary nutritional food", rather than health care products and medicines, and she is worried that the real effect may not be as advertised by the business.
In this regard, many merchants are vague and unclear about the formula. For example, a brand "Little Black Bottle" has guarana extract (caffeine content is higher than coffee beans), but the merchant said that it was "caffeine-free", and after the reporter corrected it, the merchant changed his words to say that "the extract contains a small amount of caffeine". In addition, the beverage ingredient list sent to the reporter by the customer service of some stores is inconsistent with the label of the bottle, and the specific ingredient content cannot be said, or even the recommended amount.
Many test takers shared their experience of taking the "four-piece physical examination suit" on social platforms, and there was a slight tingling sensation in the mouth, followed by a strong fruity flavor. However, the ensuing "numbness" is the biggest feeling of many candidates after use, which can last for 1-2 hours. Some say "scalp tingling", accompanied by a kind of restlessness, others say that the legs are slightly swollen, and after an hour, the numbness in the hands and legs continues to strengthen, like tens of thousands of hair needles pricking the body......
Ingredient list: Caffeine and taurine are seriously exceeded
In fact, this kind of drink was originally a drink for fitness people and professional athletes to fight fatigue and replenish physical fitness, with a small audience and low sales, but after being labeled as "energy explosion" and "physical examination artifact" by merchants, it has changed and its sales have increased significantly.
In order to unveil the mystery of the "physical examination four-piece set", the Chao News reporter combed through the ingredient list of the hot-selling "physical examination four-piece set" on the market and found that in addition to water, the top three are carbohydrates, taurine and caffeine.
After comparing a number of ingredients, Cao Zhenbo, director of the scientific research department and doctoral supervisor of Shanghai Sports University, said that the biggest difference between this type of drink and Red Bull is that it adds a lot of carbohydrates, caffeine, and taurine, and the content of some ingredients increases several times. "Before exercise, it is necessary to improve the excitability of the central nervous system, improve the functional level of the respiratory and circulatory systems, improve the functional state of skeletal muscles, and increase the level of metabolism through warm-up activities, so as to prepare the body for the need to withstand the stimulation of heavy load intensity during exercise. It's a misconception to use other nutrients to get the excitement of exercise, and it doesn't bring the same effect as warm-ups. ”
Wen Xu, deputy director of the Institute of Sports Science and Health Engineering of Zhejiang University, told Chao News reporters that sports science research has confirmed that taking caffeine and taurine has a certain effect on long-term aerobic exercise. However, this effect is very limited, and it is not excluded that "psychological comfort" stimulates more energy. Therefore, the promotion of functional drinks such as "one bite to strength" and "energy explosion" is suspected of exaggerated publicity.
What worries Cao Zhenbo is that when the "four-piece physical examination set" becomes an external dependence of students, students blindly "pursue better results" and overtake it may lead to excessive intake and affect health.
After the Chao News reporter sorted out and found that in the "four-piece physical examination set" on the market, the content of caffeine and taurine is particularly high.
A 60 ml bottle of "little green bottle" contains 540 mg of taurine, which according to the standard is a maximum daily intake of 600 mg. If you "take it a week in advance, no more than 4 bottles a day" according to the advice of its customer service staff, it is equivalent to the daily intake of taurine by the human body is about 2160mg, which is greatly exceeded.
A 60ml bottle of "Enhanced Little Black Bottle" contains 180mg of caffeine, and it is generally considered that the intake is appropriate at 3-6mg/kg body weight, so a 50kg test taker calculates that the applicable amount is about 150mg-300mg. If multiple bottles are taken, there is also an overdose problem.
Wang Silu, the first batch of registered dietitians in the country and a national senior food inspector, believes that there are certain safety hazards in the "four-piece physical examination suit". For example, caffeine can cause exam discomfort to candidates who usually do not drink coffee, resulting in gastrointestinal discomfort, palpitation, insomnia, etc. Excessive taurine intake can stimulate the central nervous system to be overexcited, leading to insomnia, dreaminess, nausea, vomiting, etc.
In addition, carbohydrates that cannot be consumed lead to an excess of nutrients in the body, hoarding fat. Even excessive intake of essential vitamin B1 in beverages can lead to numbness in hands and feet, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, and even mental confusion. At present, there have been media reports that some candidates have had serious reactions after drinking such "physical examination artifacts", and after having difficulty breathing and vomiting, they were rushed to the hospital for gastric lavage and infusion therapy.
A number of experts told Chao News reporters that for professional athletes, training is a long-term endurance sport, which consumes a lot of muscle and needs to supplement carbohydrates and proteins. However, for physical test takers, the normal dietary intake of milk, eggs and other foods fully meets the needs. Physical exam results are not achieved overnight, and the most important thing is to train through accumulation over time.
Where should I put the anxiety of going to school that is "pinched"?
Wen Xu pointed out that the root cause behind the popularity of these drinks is the anxiety of going to school.
In fact, many physical education teachers said that the physical examination set up in the high school entrance examination is an examination of students' physical ability, not a competitive event, and it is by no means a pinch-style selection test. Taking Hangzhou as an example, the physical education high school entrance examination involves three categories: jumping, physical fitness, and strength, and boys and girls can choose three subjects from the long jump, rope skipping, swimming, 1000/800-meter running, pull-ups, and throwing solid balls. Each physical examination subject has a full score of 10 points, a total of 30 points, which does not account for a high proportion of the total score of the high school entrance examination.
According to the teaching experience of a teacher surnamed Yu for many years, more than 80% of the students can get a full score in the physical education high school entrance examination, and 20% of the students can also get 267 points. However, under the traditional test-taking thinking of "score-only" and "score-first", parents and students often hold the concept that eating is better than not eating at all, and that "if you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools", and buy and take it privately. Many businesses aim at this anxiety about going to school, and even amplify the anxiety.
Experts reminded that although the "four-piece suit" is not a banned drug and is not illegal to buy, it is easy to lead to excessive intake after abuse, and the hidden dangers brought by it are uncertain, so you can't take chances. As an internal supplement, the "four-piece physical examination set" is related to the entrance examination and the health of candidates, and should take a cautious attitude, rather than being "rhythmic" by commercial publicity.
Some experts suggest that regulators and third-party platforms have the responsibility to prohibit hype and create test anxiety, and related products should have stricter approval procedures. The "four-piece physical examination" involving exaggerating efficacy and misleading consumers should be punished in accordance with the Food Safety Law and the Advertising Law, standardize the market order, and severely crack down on illegal products and illegal marketing behaviors.
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