The Boba Mania

For the past one year, many Malaysians have fallen into some state of mania where bubble teas (boba) are concerned. If you're wondering what the craze is all about, don't ask me. I have no idea. All I know is that people have been paying a lot of money to guzzle sugar.

This drink originated from Taiwan during the 1980s. The word 'boba' in Thai means chewy little pearls which are made from tapioca. Tapioca is derived from the cassava root. It is tasteless.

This bubble tea drink has a tea-base which is combined either with milk or fruit. It is then combined with the sweetened little tapioca balls. If it is milk tea, then powdered milk is used although fresh milk is the more famous ingredient.

Since the pearls are gluten-free and tasteless, they are mixed with brown sugar to give it flavour and the distinctive black colouring. The texture of the pearls are similar to gummy bears.

*picture taken from HERE

Click on The Hidden Sugars in Bubble Tea

Click on Brown Sugar Milk Tea is the Unhealthiest Milk Tea

Click on Boba Tea Has 2x More Sugar than Coke - 20 teaspoons!

Click on What's in My Bubble Tea?

Boba Health Concerns

*Back in May 2011, DEHP (which is a chemical plasticiser and potential carcinogen which is used to make plastic) was found in drinks and juice syrups in Taiwan. It became a huge scandal where the manufacturers were fined heavily. DEHP was then found in a syrup which was used to make bubble tea in Malaysia. 

Then in August 2012, scientists from the Technical University of Aachen (RWTH) in Germany analyzed bubble tea samples in a research project to look for allergenic substances. The result of their search found that the products contain styrene, acetophenone, and brominated substances, which can negatively affect health.^[***] The report was published by German newspaper Rheinische Post. 

In May 2013, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration issued an alert on the detection of maleic acid, an unapproved food additive, in some food products, including tapioca pearls. The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore conducted its own tests and found additional brands of tapioca pearls and some other starch-based products sold in Singapore were similarly affected.

In May 2019, approximately about 100 undigested tapioca pearls were found in the abdomen of a 14-year-old girl in Zhejiang province, China after she complained of constipation.

In July 2019, Singapore's Mount Alvernia Hospital warned that the sugar content of the bubble tea was too high. The risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease was high if one were to consume these drinks frequently. 

*taken from here

*picture taken from HERE

The boba mania at Sunway Pyramid. 

Buckwheat Tea

8 years plus of not being able to have tea can really cause one misery.

Tea is high in salicylates. Even when I could have tea (before I had the anaphylaxis), they caused me to be wide awake the whole night! Some even gave me migraines from the bowels of Hades.

So I did some research recently.

Buckwheat is negligible in salicylate. And one can make tea out of it.

YAY!

I washed 500gm of buckwheat groats and baked them at 180C for 1/2 hour. You can also bake them until golden brown.

I got a tea infuser.

Once they were cool, I poured them into a jar. 

I placed about a teaspoon of the buckwheat groats into the infuser. 

Then I dunked it into a cup of boiling water. 

Voila! Buckwheat tea!

Alternatively, you could buy these tea bags and use them instead if you do not have an infuser. 

Salicylate Part 4 - Cross Sensitivity

Definition of cross sensitivity:

A sensitivity to one substance that predisposes an individual to sensitivity to other substances that are related in chemical structure. Cross sensitivity with allergic reactions may develop between antibiotics of similar chemical structures.

Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. 2009, Elsevier

The Penicillin and Cephalosporin antibiotics are cousins. Some people who are allergic to Penicillin may react to antibiotics from the Cephalosporin group.

Thus, it is the same where natural compounds in food are concerned.

People who are sensitive to salicylates, may develop sensitivity to natural benzoates and natural gallates. 

Food that contain natural benzoates are cinnamon, tea and berries.

Food that contain natural gallates are tea leaves, sumac, witch hazel, and oak bark. 

* However, food chemical intolerant individuals appear to react to a diverse range of plant derived aromatic chemicals, not merely to salicylates. This is called cross-reactivity and occurs when chemicals are similar enough in structure that they fire the same receptors in the body. What this range of chemicals have in common is that they exhibit the ability to interfere with arachidonic acid metabolism and prostaglandin production, and a tendency to increase inflammatory leukotriene production through the inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX) I/II and/or the induction of lipoxygenase (LOX). Many of these chemicals also suppress the production of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The group includes relatively strong COX II inhibitors like salicylates, and also weaker COX I/II inhibitors from a broad range of polyphenols and flavinoids. Even some carotinoids are weak COX II inhibitors that may affect those with extreme sensitivities (however vitamin A in the form of all-trans retinoic acid actually induces COX II enzymes). While salicylates act as selective COX II inhibitors, some polyphenols also inhibit COX I, an enzyme whose activity is required by the whole digestive system for normal function and protection. Other polyphenols simultaneously suppress COX I/II and LOX production. Though LOX induction is problematic and leukotrienes are involved in a number of food chemical intolerance syndromes such as asthma and eczema, COX inhibition in and of itself appears to be problematic too, as prostaglandins are responsible for regulating autonomic neurotransmitters and interact with dopamine in the brain.

Polyphenols that intolerant individuals probably also react to include the following COX inhibitors (not an exhaustive list):

• Anthocyanidins
  • Cyanidin (cherries, berries)
  • Proanthocyanidins (chocolate, broad beans, nuts, wine)
  • Delphinidin (berries, wine)
• Flavinoids
  • Hesperetin (citrus fruits, peppermint)
  • Naringenin (citrus fruits)
  • Apigenin (parsley, peppermint, thyme, salad vegetables)
  • Luteolin (thyme, parsley, peppermint, peppers, rosemary, citrus, leafy green vegetables)
  • Isorhamnetin (parsley, dill, chives, onions) Kaempferol (capers, dill, kale)
  • Myricetin (parsley, berries, broadbeans, tea, citrus)
  • Quercetin (capers, dill, buckwheat, cocoa, onions, peppers, berries)
  • Rutin (grapes, buckwheat)
• Gallates and catechins
  • Catechin (broadbeans, fruits)
  • Epigallocatechin (broadbeans, tea)
  • Epicatechin (broadbeans, fruit, tea, wine)
  • Theaflavin (tea, buckwheat)
  • Gallates (tea)
• Other polyphenols
  • Curcumin (turmeric)
  • Tannins (tea, coffee, wine, fruits, wild rice)
• Carotinoids
  • Beta and alpha carotene
  • Lutein/zeaxanthin
• Glycoalkaloids (nightshades e.g. potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum, tobacco)
  • Solanine
  • Chaconine

* taken from http://failsafediet.wordpress.com

It has always been my belief to take everything I read with a pinch of salt. Before I came across these interesting facts on the Internet, I was already experiencing the 'sick' sensation whenever I came across certain smells. And some of those smells are not synthetic chemicals. 

Some of the smells from the list above that bother me are wine, citrus fruit (especially oranges), coffee and (occasionally capsicum). I was thinking that maybe the reason that I am not bothered by some of the smells above is that because they differ slightly in their chemical structures? I am not sure. 

Maybe any of you who have the same ailment as I do could share about what makes you sick and what are the things that you can tolerate? And if you have any good articles/websites, please feel free to share.

Salicylate Part 1

Salicylate Part 2

Salicylate Part 3