Bubble tea consumption and its association with mental health symptoms: An observational cross-sectional study on Chinese young adults.

BACKGROUND: Bubble tea has become enormously popular in China in recent years. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between bubble tea consumption and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a population-based sample. METHODS: Self-report questionnaires were used to assess bubble tea consumption and mental status. Symptoms of depression were assessed using the self-rated Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and anxiety using the self-rated Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 (GAD-2). Logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the association between the frequency of bubble tea consumption (cups/week) (FBTC) and psychological symptoms, adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Path analysis was used to investigate the possible meditating effects of confounding factors. RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounding factors, high frequency of bubble tea consumption was observed to be significantly associated with high risk for depression in the regression model (p for trend = 0.045); no significant association was found with anxiety (p for trend = 0.332). In path analysis model, education mediated the association between FBTC and depression. Unlike the result in regression model, with education, exercise time and occupation as mediating factors, anxiety was found to be indirectly associated with FBTC. LIMITATIONS: Symptoms of depression and anxiety were self-reported. And the cross-sectional nature of the study does not allow inferring causality. CONCLUSIONS: Bubble tea consumption was associated with an increased risk of experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety in Chinese young adults. Additional longitudinal research is required to elucidate the possible reverse causation from bubble tea consumption on symptoms of depression and anxiety.

A Rapid Tricolour Immunochromatographic Assay for Simultaneous Detection of Tricaine and Malachite Green.

In this research, we designed a rapid tricolour immunochromatographic test strip with double test lines (TS-DTL) and two-colour AuNP probes, which realised the simultaneous detection of tricaine mesylate (TMS) and malachite green (MG). Through a distinct tricolour system (red T1 line, blue T2 line and purple C line), a visual identification of TMS (0.2 µg/mL) and MG (0.5 µg/mL) was quickly achieved on site, which improved the accuracy of naked eye observations. The LODs of TMS in aquaculture water, fish and shrimp were 11.0, 29.6 and 61.4 ng/mL, respectively. MG LODs were 47.0 ng/mL (aquaculture water), 82.8 ng/mL (fish) and 152.4 ng/mL (shrimp). The LOD of MG was close to the similar TS methods. However, visual detection of TMS could meet the requirements of the residue limit (1 µg/mL) of TMS in the USA, and the quantitative detection of TMS was over 16 times lower than the USA standard. The developed platform was rapid (~20 min, HPLC~3 h) and accurate, which was verified using a traditional HPLC method. The recovery rates ranged from 82.2% to 108.6% in three types of real samples, indicating a potential application in on-site fast screening or multiple detection for TMS and MG residues in aquatic products.