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Milk Tea Addiction

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#31

Post by orliesaurus »

joenot443 wrote: post #24

This study is from China. The 'milk tea' being described here is the translated term for what we call bubble tea in the west. It's a sweet comfort drink, perhaps closer to a Starbucks order than the steeped tea which immediately comes to mind. It's not really good for you, but I'm quite sure Coke or beer are worse. I can only speak anecdotally here, but the bubble tea joints near my college were consistently packed,…

Mmmmh. Not just bubble tea! From the article:

> It refers to an umbrella term encompassing all beverages sold in milk tea shops, such as milk tea, fruit tea, floral tea, bubble tea, and others. This inclusive definition is based on the emerging trend of combining ‘milk tea + other tea drinks’ in the present Chinese milk tea market, gradually becoming mainstream

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#32

Post by benoliver999 »

joenot443 wrote: post #24

This study is from China. The 'milk tea' being described here is the translated term for what we call bubble tea in the west. It's a sweet comfort drink, perhaps closer to a Starbucks order than the steeped tea which immediately comes to mind. It's not really good for you, but I'm quite sure Coke or beer are worse. I can only speak anecdotally here, but the bubble tea joints near my college were consistently packed,…

Whenever I get bubble tea they ask how much sugar you want. One place offers it as a percentage, going up to 50%! But you can order it with none at all.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#33

Post by laeri »

joenot443 wrote: post #24

This study is from China. The 'milk tea' being described here is the translated term for what we call bubble tea in the west. It's a sweet comfort drink, perhaps closer to a Starbucks order than the steeped tea which immediately comes to mind. It's not really good for you, but I'm quite sure Coke or beer are worse. I can only speak anecdotally here, but the bubble tea joints near my college were consistently packed,…

It doesn't necessary need to be sweet. Many bubble tea shops and chains in Taiwan gave the consumer the option to choose the sugar level. Most people probably choose some sugar but this was a nice surprise for me when I visited.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#34

Post by keepamovin »

It's worth noting that what passes for milk tea is really tea with some kind of synthetic chemical creamer. If you want real milk you need to get "fresh milk tea". I suspect the addiction could be mediated by whatever chemicals are in these creamers, which have never seemed healthy. In the same vein the food science that created "hyper-palatable" addictive junk foods: https://nypost.com/2023/09/26/big-tobacco-created-our-junk-f...

Fresh milk plus regular tea does not seem like it could be significantly more addictive than tea.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#35

Post by taylodl »

11 cups of milk tea per day is pretty bad for your health - that's a lot of caffeine and a lot of sugar. Add that to a diet that includes a lot of white rice and I could see where it's a major problem. You would think the problem would be obesity and diabetes though, not suicides. But I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#37

Post by laeri »

nf17 wrote: post #8
belltaco wrote: post #3

> Nearly 77 % of participants consumed milk tea at least 6-11 cups in the last year Is that per day or the entire year?

per day, also very common in the Indian subcontinent. I sure think is addictive but symptoms attached to anxiety, suicidal etc - not so sure.

So you think tea itself is addicting? Milk tea is basically tea with some milk.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#38

Post by hi41 »

Milk Tea has been consumed for a millennia in many countries with none of the harmful effects being mentioned in the study. I am not sure why this is suddenly an issue now among youngsters in China.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#39

Post by laeri »

spirit557 wrote: post #18
uoaei wrote: post #13

What's their angle? They seem to heavily imply that milk tea causes those mental health issues rather than those mental health issues potentially encouraging sufferers to have at least something to enjoy in their day. The wording does not seem to acknowledge merely the correlation but implies causation. Food therapy, caffeine addiction, etc. is a well-known phenomenon, how is this any different?

milk has casomorphins which are opioids so I dunno not a stretch

Which would mean people should be addicted to milk in general and not necessarily to milk tea only. Chain of causation might be inverted here as parent suggests.

Re: Milk Tea Addiction

#40

Post by yuchi »

taylodl wrote: post #35

11 cups of milk tea per day is pretty bad for your health - that's a lot of caffeine and a lot of sugar. Add that to a diet that includes a lot of white rice and I could see where it's a major problem. You would think the problem would be obesity and diabetes though, not suicides. But I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.

Per day? I intrpreted the number as 6–11 cups “in the last year”.
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