Chinese herbal tea brand's life extension claim doubted

Zhang Jin China Plus Published: 2017-12-07 15:37:16
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Chinese healthcare experts have doubted popular herbal tea brand Wong Lo Kat's claim that drinking the beverage will extend a person's life by about 10 percent, reports thepaper.cn.

Cans of Wong Lo Kat herbal tea for sale at a supermarket [File photo: IC]

Cans of Wong Lo Kat herbal tea for sale at a supermarket [File photo: IC]

Questions have emerged after Li Chuyuan, chairperson of Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, the holding company of Wong Lo Kat, also known as Wanglaoji, made the claim at the ongoing Fortune Global Forum held in Guangzhou.

Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Company responded on Wednesday that the conclusion was drawn from two years of experiments involving samples from 576 rats. The findings showed rats that drank Wong Lo Kat herbal tea enjoyed a better survival rate than those who did not, according to the company.

However, Sun Shuxia, president of the Food Nutrition and Safety Committee under the China Health Care Association, said the credibility of the claim is low, and there's no scientific evidence supporting it.

In addition to its herbal ingredients, Wong Lo Kat tea also contains a lot of sugar, which discounts the health effects of the herbal elements, said Sun.

Wang Fengzhong from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said the ingredients that affect animals may not have much influence on humans as our structure is more complex.

Healthcare experts also pointed out that long-term herbal tea drinking is not suitable for everyone as the human body conditions vary.

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