Why Does Green Tea with Rock Sugar Relieve Sore Throat?

Taiwan's "CTS News" website recently reported that "green tea with rock sugar" can effectively relieve discomfort caused by sore throat. What is the medical basis for this combination?
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), sore throat primarily results from lung and kidney yin deficiency, yin deficiency with internal heat, rising false fire, or external invasion of wind-heat and heat toxins scorching the throat. Green tea has a cool nature and functions to generate body fluids, quench thirst, clear heat, and detoxify; rock sugar has a neutral to slightly cool nature and helps tonify the middle energizer, invigorate qi, nourish yin, moisten the lungs, stop cough, and resolve phlegm. Additionally, rock sugar is often added to traditional herbal medicines to enhance their efficacy. When consumed together, this combination allows green tea’s heat-clearing and detoxifying properties to be fully utilized, alleviating throat pain while also promoting yin-nourishing, lung-moistening, and fluid-generating effects to improve local dryness and discomfort in the throat. Moreover, among all types of sugar, rock sugar has the strongest tonic effect—its restorative power can boost human immunity and fundamentally strengthen the body’s resistance to sore throat. Therefore, patients with acute or chronic sore throat may consider adding rock sugar to their green tea. However, to avoid raising blood sugar levels, diabetic patients should avoid it.
In addition to regularly drinking rock sugar green tea, those with sore throat should pay attention to the following dietary tips in daily life:
First, focus on cooling and neutral foods; limit or avoid spicy items such as garlic, chili peppers, and white wine. These foods easily trigger or worsen mucosal congestion, which is like pouring oil on fire for the throat.
Second, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables with heat-clearing and fluid-generating properties, such as pears, sugarcane, watermelon, radishes, loofah, figs, water chestnuts, lotus root, winter melon, bananas, and lilies.
Third, moderately increase protein intake to enhance immunity. The level of human immunity directly relates to the recurrence of sore throat, so patients should appropriately increase consumption of high-quality proteins like fish, shrimp, meat, and dairy products. When supplementing protein, avoid excessive intake of overly warming foods like lamb and dog meat, as these may worsen throat discomfort.