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Q: "Milk tea makes you infertile"...What other health scares have you heard of in China?
So the other day I was contently sipping on a bubble milk tea when a Chinese friend rushed over with an expression of horror on her face: "You can't drink bubble milk tea if you ever want to have babies. Didn't you know that it makes you infertile, especially the milk tea with the pearls?!". Apparantly, there was a report on TV once that "exposed" the health risks associated with milk tea. I had never heard of that before but needless to say, the tea tasted a lot more bitter afterwards. Have you heard any similar things about every day foods or drinks?
10 years 27 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
'Drink hot water': not drinking cold drinks is the most common one i have heard. A beer drinking friend had to tell the local BBQ to put beer in the fridge for a while before he would drink it. What am i supposed to drink in hot weather if not a cold drink ??????? 
dom87:
they will give you boiling hot water if you are sitting in the sunshine while it is 45 degree
Scandinavian:
that water was once ice. if you believe in homeopathy that should help you cool down.
mjr862000:
hate to tell you this but your Chinese friend was right on this one...
Well, did you drink that bubble milk tea through a straw? Straws are re-used but either not cleaned very well leaving bacteria or cleaned using nasty chemicals.
Let me see..... Cola, Coffee, Ice-Cream, Chocolate, Western-Style candy, cheap fried noodles, bottled water, frozen dumplings, dishwashing soap, Chinese produced dog food, drinking too much tea, different problems with meats (e.g. floating pigs by Shanghai and Bird Flu), watermelons, baby formula, normal milk, cell phone radiation (yet no one gives a sh1t about the cell towers), microwave radiation, obviously fish caught anywhere near Japan.
Then there is a long list of misguided things due to TCM. E.g. "If you eat too many lychee you risk loosing your voice" this one was backed by a story of a person who ate more then 40 (me thinks) I LOVE lychee, and I have certainly proved this one wrong. If you put half a kilo og lychee in front of me, it will vanish. If you put 2kg of lycee in front of me it will vanish.
Strangely. This is from the people who cannot see through the thick polluted air, yet breathing seems to not be concerning as well as basic things like wearing seatbelts. Of course, going to the hospital getting a drip will cure almost anything.
It is an endless stream of ruthless greed combined with old BS wives tales. Sadly there is some truth to the stories about commercially available products being made under such horrible conditions or with ingredients not fit for human consumption that it's a game of Russian roulette. In the "old wives tale" category, applying a scientific view on things makes all that go away.
Are you sure your Chinese friend did not say "infantile" ?
Damn, and I love bubble milk tea so so much. I even had to look up on google if it was bad for me to try and put me off it's delicious taste, but it did not work, and I had one about an hour ago. Honestly, I wouldn't mind being infertile if it meant I could continue drinking bubble tea.
Mmmm Bubble tea 
I heard one that scared me: my wife said if I keep sipping her coffee when she's not looking, she's going to kick me in the happy-sacks.
Scandinavian:
so you can only sip coffee when she is looking ?
I've done plenty of compromising, but coffee stays
How about "Eating Oreo's will make your unborn baby black" said by a pregnant (Chinese) friend of my wife.
Scandinavian:
that is why now you can get white oreo's. A black friend of mine was just about to blow when he saw his newborn was white, but luckily his wife's white dude friend was there with a pack of white oreo's and a sound explanation.
"if you eat too much snails, you will have insects in your brains"
heard from several people here, lol
Coffee make you fat ...
ironman510:
Really? It won't it makes you take CRAP FASTER, THUS KEEPS YOU FIT.
Nessquick:
they don't know it. they know coffee only the 3in1 sweet sh1t . this really will help you gain weight faster. starbucks is also full of sugar and you may add any possible qty, so ... I never use sugar in my coffee, just milk :)
eating ma la tang every day for a year will kill you
Nessquick:
It will, at least i will kill you, if you are my wife and eat that dirty mix everyday 
True story, my first month here, I got prostatitis (Infected prostate) after drinking water from the schools water Fountain jug thing, after we looked inside there was some kind white mildew crap in it, took 1 year and 5 months to cure, God bless Philippines for real doctors, yeah China couldn't cure me, Philippines did. That says alot.. My Body has had to adjust to a lot of new things in Shenzhen, China, Although its cleaner here then in Beijing.
Air pollution makes men infertile. That's pretty scary but probably true.
Scandinavian:
you don't find it more scary that for every 10microgram/m3 the PM2.5 value goes up, the risk of lung-cancer goes up by 6% ? why would you want children if they are sure to suffer one of the most painful deaths.
