Drinking Hot Tea and Coffee Linked to Increased Risk of Throat Cancer

Are you one of those people who have to drink their tea or coffee practically boiling in order to enjoy it? New medical research suggests you may want to let those hot beverages cool down a bit before you start sipping.

Scientists in Iran have found that drinking hot beverages may increase the risk of developing esophageal cancer, much the same was as tobacco and alcohol. The study found that drinking hot tea at greater than 158 degrees Fahrenheit makes the drinker eight times more likely to develop cancerous throat tumors than people who drink their coffee or tea lukewarm at or below 149 degrees Fahrenheit.

Most people prefer their tea at an average temperature of between 133 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, the researchers said. The new study, conducted by researchers at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, is published in the British Medical Journal.

The Middle East has one of the highest rates of throat cancer in the world, despite low rates of smoking and alcohol consumption. However, drinking hot black tea is common in the region, leading researchers to suspect it as the culprit in causing throat cancer.

How Soon You Drink is a Factor

For the study, researchers looked at the tea-drinking habits of 300 people with esophageal cancer and another 571 healthy men and women from the same region of northern Iran that has a high rate of the cancer. Nearly all people who volunteered for the study drank black tea on a regular basis, consuming an average of more than one liter each day.

Researchers found that people who frequently drank tea less than two minutes after pouring were five times more likely to develop the cancer compared to those who waited four or more minutes to start sipping.

While a clear answer as to why drinking hot beverages might cause esophageal cancer, it is suspected that repeated thermal injury to the lining of the throat caused by drinking hot tea or coffee may be to blame, according to the researchers.

Throat Cancer is a Leading Killer

Cancers of the esophagus account for thousands of deaths in the United States each year. There were about 25,000 new cases of the cancer diagnosed in the U.S. in 2008 and nearly 6,000 deaths associated with the disease. Worldwide, esophageal cancer kills more than 500,000 people each year, mostly in Asia, Africa, and South America. The tumors are particularly deadly, with just 12 to 31 percent of people diagnosed surviving for five years.

Recently, researchers in U.S. and Japan reported that about a third of East Asians — Chinese, Japanese and Koreans — have an enzyme deficiency that puts them at higher risk of developing esophageal cancer when they drink alcohol.

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