Health trend

More milk tea brands have started trying to produce "healthy" drinks, with many advertising that their beverages either have "zero sugar" or use a sugar substitute.

According to a Xinhuanet survey of more than 3,700 people, 75 percent of respondents said they would pay closer attention to whether their milk tea is "sugar free" or "low sugar" when ordering a drink. Almost 80 percent of the respondents said milk tea brands should publish the ingredients and sources of their product.

In March, Shanghai started a pilot program involving four tea milk companies that requires them to list their products' nutritional content and sugar levels.

Each drink is graded from A to D based on the amount of sugar and fat it contains, with A being the most recommended and D the least.

Xu Hongtao, deputy head of the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, said more consumers are now paying attention to milk tea drinks' ingredients and whether they are healthy to consume.

While there are no national or industry standards imposed on milk tea drink companies, the trend is for them to provide healthier products to meet consumer demand, he said.

Xia Mu, 34, said he used to drink milk tea every day, but has stopped completely and only drinks coffee because of the health risks involved.

He used to work at a milk tea store in Changsha, Hunan province. A standard 650-milliliter cup of milk tea usually contains 40 ml of sugar. For lemon tea, it usually has 70 to 80 ml of sugar for the same volume to counter the sour taste of lemon, he said.

Xia said he has learned a lot about the harm too much sugar has on people's health, so he decided to cut out the beverage completely. As a result, his complexion has improved, he said.

Yang Cheng, a media professional in Changsha also stopped drinking milk tea because he found himself quickly gaining weight after he started working and began overindulging in the drink.

He gained 10 kilograms in a year and the caffeine from tea also kept him awake until 3 am in the morning.

Yang also watched videos online of people evaluating how much sugar a cup of milk tea actually contains. He said he was surprised to learn it contained so much sugar.

So, he stopped drinking the beverage and turned to coffee. He also stopped eating other food products with a lot of sugar.