Most coffee chain stores in metropolitan Taipei were found to be unhealthy, with many being smoky or noisy, or their coffee products coming with creamer containing health-threatening trans fats, a survey released by the Common Health monthly journal showed yesterday.
The survey was conducted between May 25 and June 8 among branches of eight large cafe chains in Taipei, including McCafe, Dante Coffee, IS Coffee, Barista Coffee, Mr. Brown Coffee, Ikari Coffee, Starbucks and Doutor Coffee.
Whether the establishment had banned smoking was the leading indicator in determining whether a healthy dining environment was provided, the magazine said.
The survey shows that only Starbucks and McCafe had a comprehensive "no-smoking" ban, while Mr. Brown allows smoking in semi-open spaces on its smoking floor, which is separate from its non-smoking customers.
As for Doutor, IS, Ikari and Dante, the survey found that they enclosed a smoking zone in the innermost corners of their shops. Such measures ultimately allow tobacco smoke to cover the entire shop, said Han Po-cheng (韓柏檉), a professor at Taipei Medical University who was invited to review the investigation.
The poll showed that Starbucks has the best no-smoking spaces, while Mr. Brown has the most comfortable space for customers and Ikari provides the greatest variety in meals.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching