Business sees rich pickings in health preservation, but one expert advises young consumers not to be too starry-eyed. 

In the recent hit Chinese reality show Chengfeng Polang de Jiejie (Sisters Who Brave Winds and Waves) one of those featured, the actress Ning Jing, practices dancing while drinking milk tea she has made herself, and which, she says, is all the more healthy because of a special ingredient she added to it: caterpillar fungus.

In this brief scene we are given a snapshot of the mindset of Chinese in their 20s who are in love with nightlife, but are intent on preserving their physical health, including looks, even as they burn the candle at both ends.

Young people have now staked out a large claim for the attentions of the health-preservation industry, one that used to be the preserve of the elderly, so it is not surprising that old brands have changed their activities to include crossover health products.

"Since COVID-19 appeared, traditional Chinese medicine has taken center stage, and in line with public health needs and awareness the trend has been to the Chinese quintessential health regime," says Shi Xuyang, of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine.

The 351-year-old brand Tong Ren Tang has got into diet coffee, but it is not alone among health companies. Last year the cafe chain Pacific Coffee and China's largest donkey-hide gelatin producer, Dong'e Ejiao, launched their Coffee So Gummy drinks line. Ejiao is a traditional medicinal tonic made of donkey glue. According to Pacific Coffee, after the series was launched in stores in seven cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, sales of the new products were more than 30 percent higher than those of their conventional new products.

In April Dong'e Ejiao also launched an ejiao gold bar that is claimed to enhance immunity. It uses low-temperature vacuum continuous drying technology to turn traditional ejiao blocks into individually packaged ejiao in small bags. The powder in the bag can be dissolved instantly in water and mixed with other beverages.

According to research by Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, from January to June this year the sales of bagged traditional tonics rose 60 percent, not far behind the rise in sales of natural herbal powder tonics, nearly 70 percent, last year.

Bubble milk tea, which young people commonly call kuai le shui (happy water), is also a product on which many companies are lavishing their attentions. Last year the owners of the popular Wong Lo Kat drinks brand launched two healthy milk tea products: lotus leaf milk tea and green sugarcane crunchy milk, keen on solving the problem of milk tea that tastes good but is too high in calorie content.

As much as the milk tea fad has swept young people off their feet, the popularity of older food and beverage traditions such as hotpot shows no sign of waning. In fact when COVID-19 had full sway in China in the first half of the year a Weibo survey that asked people what food or drink they were most looking forward to once the epidemic ended came up with hotpot ahead of milk tea and barbecue food.

The toothpaste brand Leng Suan Ling has long eyed toothpaste with a hotpot taste, and in May it finally hit the market, the first 4,000 tubes selling out within 12 hours.

Spicy particles are added to the crystal toothpaste, and the first taste is slight sweetness. After that, spiciness takes over, and one claim made for the toothpaste is that if you have trouble getting up in the morning it may act as an all-day pick-me-up.

As with the usual a la carte choices in hotpot restaurants, the toothpaste comes in three flavors: standard moderately spicy, Sichuan-Chongqing slightly spicy and rumored kinky spicy.

However, some experts have poured cold water on any enthusiasm that this toothpaste may hold for the young.

"Young people know full well that milk tea is high in calories and that hotpot is greasy and unhealthy, but because eating these things can give them emotional satisfaction even if there are many downsides, they still can't help but want them," says Jiang Wenxiu of the Department of Psychiatry, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University in Jiangsu.