Calories and sugars in boba milk tea: implications for obesity risk in Asian Pacific Islanders
Open Access
- 29 March 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Food Science & Nutrition
- Vol. 5 (1), 38-45
- https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.362
Abstract
In the last several decades, obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions, and increases the risk for a host of comorbidities, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain kinds of cancers. Boba milk tea, first became popular in the 1990s throughout Asia, and has gained more popularity in the United States and in Europe since 2000. Currently, available nutrition data from online sites suggest this beverage contains high amounts of sugar and fat. One published nutrition study suggests that boba tea drinks are part of the larger group of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) because these beverages are usually sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). This study experimentally determined the sugar composition (sucrose, fructose, glucose, and melezitose) and calorific values of boba milk tea drinks and their components. Results suggested that boba drinks fit the US Dietary Guidelines definition of a SSB. One 16-ounce boba drink exceeds the upper limit of added sugar intake recommended by the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The high caloric and sugar content of boba beverages pose public health concerns as they have the potential to further exacerbate the childhood obesity epidemic. Nutrition education targeting Asian populations should give special attention to boba tea as a SSB. Also, prudent public health recommendations should be suggested for moderate consumption of these beverages. With the growing popularity of boba beverages in the United States, the findings from this study provide public health practitioners with valuable data on how boba beverages compare with other SSBs.Keywords
Funding Information
- Seaver Research Council of Pepperdine University
- Flora Laney Thornton Endowment for Nutritional Science
This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- Isolation of saccharides in dairy and soy products by solid-phase extraction coupled with analysis by ligand-exchange chromatographyTalanta, 2012
- The medical care costs of obesity: An instrumental variables approachJournal of Health Economics, 2012
- Deriving Ethnic-Specific BMI Cutoff Points for Assessing Diabetes RiskDiabetes Care, 2011
- Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: Epidemiologic evidencePhysiology & Behavior, 2010
- Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Cardiovascular Disease RiskCirculation, 2010
- Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular HealthCirculation, 2009
- The calorie delusionNew Scientist, 2009
- Diet, nutrition and the prevention of excess weight gain and obesityPublic Health Nutrition, 2004
- Thermogenesis associated with fermentable carbohydrate in humans, validity of indirect calorimetry, and implications of dietary thermogenesis for energy requirements, food energy and body weightInternational Journal of Obesity, 2002
- Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat per cent relationshipObesity Reviews, 2002