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Column<Report from overseas office> [Hong Kong] The secret to longevity! Health drinks in Hong Kong
- Release date: Aug 20, 2019
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According to 2017 data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the average life expectancy for men is 81.70 years in Hong Kong, versus 81.09 years in Japan. The average life expectancy for women is 87.66 years in Hong Kong and 87.26 years in Japan. The average life expectancy of women in Hong Kong is 87.66 years, while that of women in Japan is 87.26 years, which is longer than that of Japan, the world's longest-living country.
Since Hong Kong is one of the special administrative regions of China, it is not included in the ranking of countries.
In recent years, Hong Kong's average life expectancy has maintained the top level in the world.
I have seen comments from Hong Kong people that the reason for this is that "Hong Kong has a well-developed medical system, and because of its dense population and well-developed transportation system, the time required for emergency rescue is short, and many lives are saved.
However, from the perspective of a foreigner like me, besides the reason for the great urban functions, I feel that the Hong Kong people's commitment to health in their daily lives is also a reason why they are extending their life expectancy.
I can feel the commitment to health in the sight of old people doing qigong early in the morning, which symbolizes traditional Hong Kong, but the number of people going to fitness clubs seems to be increasing in the past few years. In the Kun Thong area, which is undergoing redevelopment, many of the commercial facilities that were renovated from logistics warehouses have opened fitness clubs one after another. Recently, there have been reports of pushy solicitors taking advantage of the overheated popularity of fitness clubs among young people.
In addition, Hong Kong people are particularly particular about healthy food. Walking around the city, you can see many Chinese medicine shops, and in Chinese restaurants, you can often see Hong Kong people drinking soup with Chinese medicine ingredients. For example, snake soup is famous, and some of you who have been to Hong Kong may have heard of it. Turtle jelly is another traditional health food that is considered to be good for your health.
These foods are especially popular among middle-aged and older people who are concerned about their health.
On the other hand, health drinks, which are an easy way to have a healthy diet, seem to be gaining popularity among the younger generation. In this article, I will report on such health drinks.
Health drink made with Chinese herbal ingredients
Here are two particularly major health drink brands in Hong Kong.
Hung Fook Tang is a well-established company that has been in business since 1986 and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is the company with the highest sales value and volume in Hong Kong in the health drink category (according to Nielsen). It has more than 100 directly operated stores in Hong Kong, and the stores are mainly located in busy subway lines. It is also sold in convenience stores.
The exterior of the PET bottles sold at directly-operated stores is very simple, with just a label over the top.
The bottles are 500 ml and range in price from HK$22 to HK$26. In Japanese yen, it is approximately 308 to 364 yen (converted at 14 yen to 1 Hong Kong dollar).
Kenko Kobo was established in 1989. There are more than a dozen directly managed stores in Hong Kong.
Like Hung Fook Tang, the exterior of the PET bottles sold at Health Studio's directly operated stores is very simple. The price range is from HK$26 to HK$32, or about ¥364 to ¥448 in Japanese yen.
There is no particular difference between these two brands in the efficacy and flavors of the health drinks they sell.
The efficacy lineup includes about 10 different types, such as detoxification, liver function enhancement, lung cleansing, skin beautifying, and anti-hyperlipidemia. The “lung cleansing” is to cleanse the lungs. This is a good thing in a city that has environmental problems such as air pollution.
There is no particular difference in the clientele, with a wide range of customers, mainly women, from their teens to their 60s. When we observed several stores in subway stations and office districts, we noticed a wide range of customers in their teens to thirties, who are working or going to school.
The fact that no sugar is used and no coloring is added is also common. As a result, the drink tastes almost like the ingredients themselves. In addition, the appearance is murky, and as mentioned above, the exterior is simple and unfashionable, giving the impression of murky water in a plastic bottle.
In the CSG Hong Kong office where I work, I see staff members who buy these health drinks and bring them to the office when they go to work. They drink them at their work desks or while eating lunch. This accumulation of prioritizing healthy over fashionable and consuming them on a daily basis certainly seems to lead to good health.
Cold-pressed juice sold at high prices
New drinks are being introduced to the fruit-based drinks we drink on a regular basis. Cold-pressed juices, in particular, are surprising in their high prices.
A 1000 ml bottle of orange juice costs 52 HKD (about 728 yen), while a drink designed to detoxify the body costs 98 HKD (about 1,372 yen). You can understand the high price of orange juice concentrate, which you can find next to it in the supermarket, at HK$19 (about 266 yen) for 1,000 ml.
According to the vendor, it takes more than 10 oranges to make 1000ml of orange juice, which is cheaper than squeezing oranges to make juice by yourself. He also said that the key to purchasing the product is that it contains no additives. In Hong Kong, most of the vegetables and meat sold are imported from China, and because of this environment, pesticides and chemicals that keep vegetables fresh are often used, many people value avoiding food risks by adopting natural products as much as possible.
Nevertheless, cold-pressed juices are expensive. Sales channels are expanding from high-end supermarkets to regular supermarkets, but the customer base seems to be limited to high-income families with children who want "something tasty and healthy for the family, even if it is expensive.
Finally, when we asked our Hong Kong friends what they think of as a healthy drink, they replied, "Yakult. One of them said, "Yakult! One said, "Yakult! Yakult entered the Hong Kong market in 1969 and has been sold for half a century. They said it was because their parents had been drinking it since they were children and they themselves had been drinking it since childhood. So it has been familiar to me since childhood and has taken root in my life just like Chinese medicine.
Translated by DeepL, AI Translator
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Author profile
Hideo Mukai
He is an accountant living in Hong Kong. She has lived in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong for a total of 10 years. She has been living in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong for the past 10 years and has been following the rapid changes in Hong Kong's cosmopolitan society.
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Editor profile
Intege.inc
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