A hot cup of tea or coffee is part of the daily routine for millions of people, but drinking it while it is still extremely hot may have a health risk. A new large-scale UK study has found that people who prefer their beverages "very hot" may have nearly three times the risk of developing oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), which is a type of cancer affecting the food pipe. The research, involving nearly 9,80,000 people, adds to previous evidence that repeatedly exposing the oesophagus to very high temperatures can damage its lining.

It is important to note that these findings do not mean that tea or coffee itself causes oesophageal cancer. Instead, the concern is the temperature at which these drinks are consumed. The researchers found that the risk increased with hotter drinks, while drinking them more frequently was also associated with higher risk. The researchers also highlighted that the study did not find the same association between hot drinks and oesophageal adenocarcinoma, another major type of oesophageal cancer.

What Did The Study Find?

Researchers from the University of Oxford analysed information from almost 9,80,000 adults in the UK, including participants from the UK Biobank and Million Women Study. They followed participants for more than a decade to examine whether their preferred beverage temperature was linked to oesophageal cancer.

The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, found that people who described their drinks as "hot" had about 1.7 times the risk of developing oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma compared with those who preferred warm drinks. Those who preferred "very hot" beverages had about three times the risk.

The research also found that frequency mattered. People drinking six or more hot beverages a day had a 71 per cent higher risk compared with those drinking fewer hot drinks. However, the researchers stressed that the temperature was more important.

According to the study, "Consumption of drinks at a 'very hot' versus 'warm' temperature was associated with a threefold greater SCC risk but not with adenocarcinoma (AC) risk, after adjustment for consumption frequency."

Why Can Very Hot Drinks Affect The Food Pipe?

The oesophagus is the muscular tube that carries food and liquids from the mouth to the stomach. Its inner lining can be injured by repeated exposure to very high temperatures. When a person regularly drinks extremely hot beverages, the heat can cause repeated minor injuries to the cells lining the oesophagus. Over time, this may lead to inflammation and cellular changes. These repeated injuries are thought to make the tissue more vulnerable to cancerous changes.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) previously classified drinking very hot beverages, generally defined as those above 65 degrees Celcius, as "probably carcinogenic to humans". The new findings provide further evidence for this association.

It Is The Heat, Not Tea Or Coffee

The study should not be interpreted as a warning against drinking tea or coffee. The researchers were examining the temperature at which these beverages were consumed rather than identifying tea or coffee as cancer-causing drinks. In fact, previous research has not established that coffee itself causes oesophageal cancer. The concern is that consuming a beverage while it is hot enough to repeatedly injure the food pipe may increase cancer risk.

This distinction is particularly important because tea and coffee are widely consumed and can be part of a healthy diet for many people when consumed appropriately. The researchers said, "The fact that we observed a clear trend in risk across self-reported temperature categories suggests that further limiting the temperature at which individuals consume their drinks to something well below average for this population may well avoid an even greater proportion of SCC cases.

"This large UK study of middle-aged adults, amongst whom hot drinks are widely consumed, provides clear evidence that temperature and frequency of hot drink consumption represent useful targets for SCC prevention."

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