Drinking plain water in the summer is most beneficial to health.
These past few days, Wuxi has been enduring the scorching heat of the "dog days," but the popularity of beverages is even greater than the temperature. Young people favor various trendy drinks, while the elderly prefer Chinese herbal teas. However, these drinks and teas are not necessarily the more, the better. Doctors remind us that the best drink for summer is still plain water.
Recently, a Weibo post by nutritionist Gu Zhongyi, titled "Would you eat 10 cubes of sugar at once? But why do you drink them down so easily?", has drawn widespread attention. Gu Zhongyi listed the data for several popular drinks. Based on a 500ml serving, a certain brand of rock sugar snow pear drink has a sugar concentration of 12.6g/100ml, totaling 63g of sugar, equivalent to 14 cubes of sugar. A certain brand of herbal tea has a sugar concentration of 9.35g/100ml, totaling 46.76g of sugar, equivalent to 10 cubes of sugar. Sprite and Coca-Cola contain 56.5g and 54g of sugar respectively, both equivalent to 12 cubes of sugar. In hot weather, it's common for some people to drink two or three bottles of soda a day, unknowingly consuming a large amount of sugar.
In response, doctors point out that commercially available drinks generally contain a lot of sugar. They can only quench thirst temporarily; drinking too much can actually increase the sensation of thirst. Furthermore, excessive sugar intake from beverages can have adverse effects on the body.
Doctors remind us that it's best to drink plain water in the summer. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, plain water is known as the "king of all medicines." Fresh, warm water can easily pass through cell membranes into the cells, be absorbed by the body, enter the bloodstream to perform metabolic functions, and at the same time regulate body temperature and cleanse the body's internal environment. In the summer or after intense exercise and heavy sweating, it's advisable to drink some light salt water or lightly salted tea to replenish the potassium salts lost through sweating. "Cooling herbal teas are not suitable for everyone. Because they have a cooling nature, people with weak and cold spleen and stomach should not drink them in large quantities. The elderly and children have weaker spleen and stomach functions, so they should also limit their intake.
Additionally, pregnant women should also avoid drinking too much, as some aromatic and qi-moving herbs in herbal teas are not suitable for them. In summary, herbal teas are essentially medicine, and like any medicine, they have specific suitable and unsuitable populations.