What You Drink Every Day Determines Your Health (Picture)
Water is a nutrient people cannot do without a day, but research on water, whether in China or abroad, is very limited. We only consistently agree that it is indispensable. Although China has a 10,000-year history of drinking tea, whether one should drink tea, beverages, or plain water is still a new topic for us.
Recently, the "Academic Seminar on Beverage Intake and Health," jointly hosted by the Chinese Nutrition Society and the University of North Carolina, USA, was held in Beijing. Nutrition experts from the two countries conducted discussions on issues of great concern to everyone.
The rapid global growth in beverage consumption has become a major cause of increasing diseases such as obesity
Professor Barry Popkin from the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health introduced that natural sugars in foods such as milk and fruits are intrinsic sugars; caloric sweeteners derived from sugar crops, grains, fruits, milk, or insects are called extrinsic sugars. The World Health Organization and many countries recommend that extrinsic sugars should not provide more than 10% of total energy intake, and the key lies in beverages.
On a global scale, the intake of extrinsic sugars has changed dramatically since the 1990s. In 1998, 50% of American children had excessive intake of extrinsic sugars. In the UK, past surveys showed that 24% of the energy intake of preschoolers aged 2-6 came from beverages; by 2002, sugary beverages provided half of the total energy intake, and the proportion has been even higher in recent years. Over 7 years, beverage intake among Mexican adolescents and women doubled.
Before 1998, this was not even a topic for discussion in China. Today, in China, a country with a 10,000-year history of tea drinking, the problem of excessive extrinsic sugar intake has far exceeded our expectations in just 20 years, even in small towns, and among any population group.
It can be said that the reason for the rapid growth in beverage consumption in all these countries is that people have become accustomed to drinking beverages instead of water. Drinking sugary beverages is replacing the habit of drinking milk and water.
A large body of evidence shows that extrinsic sugars have become a global problem for the rapid increase in obesity rates and related diseases.
While the drinking habits of Chinese adults remain unchanged, the situation for adolescents is not optimistic
Researcher Yang Xiaoguang from the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out that over the past 30 years, China's beverage industry production has increased by nearly 300 times, and it has now surpassed Japan to become the second-largest producer and consumer of beverages. However, the consumption of sugary beverages among Chinese residents is still at a relatively low level, with a beverage rate of 60% and an average daily consumption of only 40g. Among these, carbonated drinks are 16g/day, fruit and vegetable juice drinks are 10g/day, and tea drinks are 11g/day. He believes that in China, most adults still maintain traditional habits of drinking water and tea, and the consumption of sugary drinks has not yet become the mainstay of daily beverages. Therefore, its impact on health has not yet been apparent. However, the adverse effects of sugary drinks on the health of children have already emerged, and their long-term impact should receive widespread attention.
In his report "Current Status of Beverage Intake Among Chinese Students," Researcher Hu Xiaoqi from the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention further confirmed Researcher Yang Xiaoguang's statement. In 1998, the average daily per capita beverage consumption for Chinese children and adolescents was 329.1m