In the scorching summer, drinks joyfully make their dazzling debut, vying for attention under the blazing sun. With their ever-present moist coolness and their changing flavors and colors, they embellish the summer with a riot of colors and a refreshing charm. What to drink in the summer? It may seem like an old topic being brought up again. However, in a competitive market where carbonated drinks, water, juice drinks, tea drinks, functional drinks, dairy drinks, and beverages made from coarse grains, soybeans, and coffee are all striving to outshine one another, it is still necessary to revisit this topic.
Looking at the beverage market, packaged water is still the most favored, accounting for nearly half of the market; carbonated drinks follow closely, accounting for about 30%; fruit and juice drinks, dairy and dairy drinks, and tea drinks together account for nearly 30%; other beverages, such as coffee drinks, have a relatively smaller market share.
Cola is of no benefit to health
My apologies to the two beverage giants, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola. Since the first bottle of cola was born in 1886, it has weathered 126 years of storms, establishing itself as the undisputed king of the beverage world with the aura of an "empire on which the sun never sets," attracting hundreds of millions of loyal consumers worldwide. However, when fans of cola lift its seemingly mysterious veil, which is intentionally crafted, they will be greatly disappointed.
This carbonated drink, which is almost useless for health, has, through its pervasive advertising, led consumers into a hopeful dream, as if they are consuming a healthy and fashionable joy, savoring a history, and sharing a global sense of community. In reality, aren't the various negative reports about cola—linking it to fractures, caffeine addiction, obesity, aging, the potential carcinogen 4-methylimidazole produced during the caramel coloring process, and the safety risks of additives like sodium benzoate, aspartame, and saccharin—sufficiently alarming?
From this, we can draw the following conclusion: it's best to avoid drinking cola as much as possible. "Cola" is merely a psychological joy born from an advertising concept, and its "unhappiness" is its inescapable essence. Therefore, even though cola is Warren Buffett's great love, you are not Warren Buffett, so for ordinary people like us, it's better not to drink it.
Tea drinks have little nutritional value
This is not a case of unfairly disparaging cola out of a narrow-minded bias against beverages. From a nutritional and health perspective, tea drinks are also not a suitable choice. Tea drinks started in 1993 and are now approaching their 20th anniversary. However, this youthful period is marred by excessive sweetness. The sucrose content in many bottled green teas is nearly 10%, making it hard to distinguish from cola. Furthermore, ingredients like honey and high-fructose corn syrup, which are not counted as sugar, together mask the natural fragrance of tea. Even tea drinks labeled as "low-sugar" contain 4.5% sugar, which is still too high.
Currently, the production process for tea drinks often sacrifices some catechins to achieve clarity, but catechins are the most functional active components in tea and the essence of pure tea drinks. The new national standard for tea drinks stipulates: polyphenol content ≥300mg/kg, with green tea polyphenol content ≥500mg/kg. When buying tea drinks, check the label. Most currently on the market do not meet the polyphenol content standard and can at best be classified as "tea-flavored" drinks. Bottled tea drinks have little nutritional value; the polyphenol and vitamin content in tea is greatly diminished during processing, and the additives such as coloring, white sugar, flavorings, and preservatives added are not beneficial to health. The so-called thirst-quenching and heat-relieving properties of tea drinks are often just wishful thinking on the advertising level.
Additionally, herbal tea, which originated in the two Guang provinces and has become popular across the country, is not much better than black or green tea drinks, so one shouldn't have high expectations for it either.
Pure fruit juice drinks cannot replace whole fruits
Fruit juice drinks, whose main components are flavorings and colorings, are already notorious, but 100% pure fruit juice is not a healthy choice either. Many office workers like to drink a serving of pure fruit juice every morning as a substitute for the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Researchers tracked over 70,000 female nurses for 18 years and found that eating three servings of fruit daily could reduce the risk of diabetes by 18%; however, compared to those who drank less than one cup of apple juice a day, those who drank three cups of apple juice daily increased their risk of diabetes by 15%. Juice is just juice, and a part can never replace the whole. Especially for people who are obese, have high blood pressure, have a family history of diabetes, or are elderly and frail, it is best to choose to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits and to drink pure fruit juice in moderation. It should not become a daily necessity.
After speaking of the shortcomings of many drinks, dairy drinks are no exception. Children in their growth and development stage, in particular, should not indulge in dairy drinks. For the same reasons, the proportion of milk in them cannot be overestimated, and there are plenty of other additives, so they cannot be considered a good companion for growth. In comparison, pure milk and unsweetened yogurt are better choices.
Bottled water is best poured into a container to drink
Now, let's talk about the most consumed beverage—packaged water. It is very common to twist off the cap and drink directly from the bottle, but this way you cannot avoid contamination from the spiral part of the bottle opening. Therefore, it is best to pour it into another container to drink, or to drink it without the bottle touching your mouth, to avoid microbial contamination. The elderly, weak, pregnant, and young should pay special attention to this detail.
It should be noted that in the hot summer, the habit of storing a case of bottled water in a car's trunk carries some risks. Under high temperatures, unstable substances from the plastic bottle can leach into the water, and environmental endocrine disruptors may be present. From an environmental and health perspective, it is better to store glass-bottled water in the trunk.
Having read this far, you should have come to the following conclusion about what to drink in the summer: The best choice is plain boiled water, followed by tea brewed with pesticide-free tea leaves, or coffee without coffee creamer, unsweetened soy milk, and low-fat pure milk. Of course, additive-free 100% fruit juice can also be consumed in moderation. As for all other drinks, they can be enjoyed occasionally as a splash of color in a good life, but they are merely embellishments and should not become the main drink of summer.