Unqualified Tea Beverages: "Tea" Can't Be Drunk Casually
At the end of March and early April, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine conducted a national supervision and spot-check on four categories of beverage products: tea drinks, carbonated drinks, fruit and vegetable juice drinks, and plant protein drinks. A total of 349 products from 316 enterprises in 22 provinces and regions were inspected. The results indicated that the overall quality of the four beverage categories was relatively good, with all 60 carbonated drinks inspected passing the standards.
Among the tea drinks, only one product, "Yu Bao" Iced Black Tea (lemon-flavored tea drink) from Deqing County Abao Food Factory, failed to meet the standards due to excessive levels of tea polyphenols and caffeine. Among the 160 fruit and vegetable juice drinks inspected, three products were on the "blacklist": Wahaha White Grape Juice drink, produced by Shanxi Wahaha Changsheng Beverage Co., Ltd. on March 30, 2011, had a total bacterial count of 230 cfu/ml, exceeding the standard limit of 100 cfu/ml or below. "Xuan Zhong Ni" orange juice drink, produced by Zhejiang Xiaowantong Food Co., Ltd., was unqualified due to excessive yeast values. "Zhujiang" red date juice drink, produced by Zhongshan Zhujiang Beverage Factory Co., Ltd., was unqualified due to excessive mold levels. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has ordered local quality supervision departments to handle the production enterprises of unqualified products, implement administrative penalties, and order rectifications.
Now, let's talk about what else you need to know about tea drinks. Don't assume you can drink them casually.
Fruit tea drinks are products made by adding original fruit juice (or concentrated fruit juice), sugar syrup, acidulants, etc., to tea water. Milk-flavored tea drinks are products made by adding fresh milk or dairy products to tea water.
This involves a preservation issue. When other substances are added to tea, preservatives and food additives must be added to the beverage. Currently, the main component of preservatives is sorbic acid, which is the least toxic among commonly used preservatives to date. However, it should be treated rationally, as it is still a chemical substance.
Furthermore, for tea drinks with added fresh fruit juice, it is currently unpredictable whether the added ingredients will conflict with the tea components or if chemical reactions will occur. This is worth observing. If conditions permit, it is recommended that everyone take the time and effort to brew and drink tea themselves, as this is the healthiest way to consume tea.
Contraindications are the same as for drinking tea water
Tea drinks with other added ingredients have a fresh and sweet taste, loved by many young people. But don't forget that their main ingredient is tea. While retaining its nutritional value, drinking it also has certain contraindications. Tea drinks, with tea as the main ingredient, still preserve the original components of tea. Therefore, the contraindicications that exist for drinking tea also apply to consuming various types of tea drinks.
The caffeine and aromatic substances in tea are both stimulants. Drinking too much or too strong tea can excite the nervous system and brain, increasing heart rate and blood flow, making it difficult to fall asleep for a long time. How much consumption causes insomnia? Fang Shi stated that there is no fixed rule; it depends on the amount consumed, the tea's concentration, and individual tolerance. Different types or brands of tea drinks have different tea contents.
For those with high uric acid levels, such as gout patients, tea consumption should be limited. The tannic acid in tea competes with the excretion of uric acid, thereby affecting its elimination. Therefore, gout patients should especially avoid drinking strong tea.
The tannic acid in tea can have chemical reactions with many medications, greatly reducing or completely nullifying their effectiveness. Many traditional Chinese medicines, such as ginseng, Coptis chinensis, Phellodendron amurense, and Corydalis yanhusuo, should not be taken with tea water to avoid reducing their efficacy. When it's unclear what medications may react with tea components, it is best to avoid taking any medication or traditional Chinese medicine with tea drinks.