Summer is naturally the season for refreshing drinks like cold beverages, beer, ice congee, and fruit. As the variety of summer drinks grows, all kinds of flavors, ingredients, functions, and styles will make a grand appearance during the height of summer.
However, the rich variety of drinks and the refreshing enjoyment they bring do not necessarily lead to healthy and effective absorption. Medical evidence shows that if consumed improperly, these drinks can have the opposite effect. The harm can be even greater if one is swayed by the "persuasive education" of unscrupulous vendors. Just as improperly consuming certain trendy foods has become widely known as "junk food," improperly consuming trendy drinks can also become a public health hazard for modern people.
Functional Drinks: Pay Attention to Identifying Their "Functions"
Due to the considerable profits, functional drinks have become a hotly promoted product by businesses. Walk into any large supermarket in Beijing, and you will likely see various functional drinks such as sports drinks, energy drinks, and vitamin waters on display. The words on their packaging, like "healthy," "balanced," "anti-fatigue," and "potential-boosting," constantly catch the eye.
A survey shows that only 42% of consumers can distinguish what a functional drink is, while 58% are unclear about so-called functional drinks. Therefore, people are often misled by numerous sensationalized terms.
Functional drinks refer to beverages with health benefits. Therefore, specific functional drinks should have certain health benefits for specific groups of people. However, if consumed improperly, the intended effects of the functional drink cannot be achieved. For example, some functional drinks contain taurine, sugar, and protein, and some of these ingredients are not suitable for the elderly, children, or people with certain diseases. Another example is the currently popular vitamin-enriched functional drinks; moderate consumption can supplement the vitamins the body needs, but excessive supplementation can lead to vitamin poisoning.
Experts believe that each functional drink has a specific suitable group of people and should not be consumed indiscriminately. Some sports drinks contain caffeine, which can stimulate the heart, and elements like sodium in some drinks may increase the body's burden, causing negative effects such as increased cardiac load and high blood pressure. People with high blood pressure or heart disease should best avoid these drinks.
Of course, if some functional drinks in the supermarket are merely in name only and are no different from regular drinks, there is no need to worry too much about causing significant harm to the body. However, this practice of marketing under the guise of functional drinks inevitably leads to high prices, and the "plundering" of consumers' money is worth guarding against.
Whether in supermarkets or street-side shops, freshly squeezed and freshly made juices are everywhere. Their selling points are these two words: "fresh" and "on-the-spot." In summer, such juices are particularly popular. Yet few people know that "fresh" and "on-the-spot" are not flawless; there are secrets hidden within.
Associate Professor Fan Zhihong from the College of Food Science and Technology at China Agricultural University explains that the freshly squeezed juices currently available on the market are usually packaged in plastic bottles or carton paper boxes, with a short shelf life that requires refrigeration. This juice is generally freshly squeezed and not heat-sterilized, so its nutritional content is well-preserved.
However, in some street-side shops and even some famous restaurants, there are counterfeit "freshly squeezed juices." These juices are made from various colors of essences, saccharin, and pigments. It is said this has become an "unspoken rule" in the industry.
To accurately identify freshly squeezed juice, experts have provided the following methods. First, look at the color. Real freshly squeezed juice has a natural color, while mixed drinks have a bright color. If you wipe the inner wall of the container holding the juice with a paper napkin and find the color on the napkin is bright and does not fade for a long time, it is almost certainly an artificial product. Second, smell it. Real freshly squeezed juice has a natural but faint aroma, while mixed products are often rich in essences, making the scent strong. Third, taste it. Freshly squeezed juice tastes slightly sweet; fruits like papaya, which are not high in sugar, have almost no sweetness in their juice form, while mixed products are often very sweet. Additionally, real freshly squeezed juice is usually quite thick, while mixed products are often clearer and more fluid.
In addition, Associate Professor Chen Fang from the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University also suggests that it is best to drink less of novel, trendy drinks. For example, the "pearl milk tea" that was popular a few years ago contained "pearls" and "jellies" made from artificial gelatin.
Drinking Ice Beer "Too Quickly" Is Not Advisable
In summer, many people are accustomed to drinking a few cans of iced beer to cool down. However, this is a misconception. Drinking iced beer in the summer may provide temporary relief, but it conceals great dangers.
Therefore, when drinking beer in the summer, one should pay attention to three "don'ts." First, the temperature should not be too low; beer stored in the refrigerator should be controlled between 5-10°C. Second, consumption should not be excessive; it is recommended not to exceed 1000 ml per day. Third, the beer should not be tied or bundled tightly. On hot days, special attention should be paid to preventing explosion when buying beer; do not buy unbranded or improperly labeled beer.
For Self-Serve Soy Milk, Master the Heat
As is well known, soy milk is nutritious. Drinking more soy milk can enhance resistance and prevent metabolic diseases such as high blood lipids and diabetes. For middle-aged and elderly women, it can regulate endocrine function and improve menopausal syndrome. For young women, it can make the skin fair and moist, and bring a radiant glow.
As people gradually pay more attention to diet and wellness, concepts like coarse grains, miscellaneous grains, and whole grains have become keywords in today's wellness culture. Traditional soy milk is generally made from soybeans. If you add ingredients with different health benefits, such as oats, goji berries, mung beans, or red beans, the nutritional value becomes more comprehensive, avoiding the deficiency of certain trace elements in soy milk and achieving nutritional complementarity.
In the summer, you can pair it with ingredients like mung beans, red beans, and millet, which have the effects of relieving summer heat, promoting urination to dampness, calming the mind, and nourishing the heart.
For those who make their own soy milk, mastering the heat is a skill. When raw soy milk is heated to 80-90°C, a large amount of white foam will appear. Many mistakenly think the soy milk is cooked at this point, but this is actually a "false boil" phenomenon. At this temperature, the saponin substances in the soy milk are not destroyed. The correct way to cook soy milk is to continue heating for 3-5 minutes after the "false boil" until the foam completely disappears. Some people, to be on the safe side, boil the soy milk repeatedly. Although this removes harmful substances, it also leads to a loss of nutrients. Therefore, it is crucial to control the heating time when cooking soy milk.
If you find making it yourself troublesome and difficult to control the heat, you can choose a soy milk maker, which can automatically grind various ingredients to meet people's health needs and create a simple cooking method adapted to modern life.
On scorching summer days, many people like to drink iced soy milk. However, be wary of iced soy milk's infringement on the gastrointestinal mucosa.
Ice Congee Is Not Suitable for Everyone
Ice congee is also a best-selling food in the summer. However, Song Xin, a nutritionist at the Nutrition Department of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, says that ice congee is not suitable for everyone.
Song Xin says that ice congee is not only unsuitable for people with a "cold" constitution but also for the elderly and those with a weak physique. Many people love to drink ice congee in the summer, feeling that it's particularly refreshing and cooling. From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, this practice is not entirely appropriate. TCM believes that summer is the period of greatest "yang" energy. At this time, "yang" should be vented from the inside out, which is manifested in the body as sweating. Sweating regulates body temperature and also helps expel some metabolic waste. If a person drinks ice congee indiscriminately, it can block the body's pores. Over time, this prevents the body's "yang" energy from being released, which is detrimental to health.