For millions of people, the day does not properly begin until a scalding cup of tea or coffee is in hand.
But according to the BBC, a new study has linked drinking beverages while “very hot” to a significantly higher risk of oesophageal cancer, reviving questions about a habit most people never think twice about.
Researchers tracked close to a million middle-aged adults in the UK over some 14 years, comparing people who described their tea and coffee as “very hot” with those who drank theirs “warm”, the BBC reported.
Those in the very-hot group were found to have close to three times the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus, the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
The threshold researchers used for “very hot” was 65°C or higher, the same cut-off the International Agency for Research on Cancer uses to classify hot beverages as a probable carcinogen. By comparison, most people’s tea and coffee sits closer to 50–60°C, although this varies by region and by how a drink is prepared.
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Frequency mattered too. People who drank six or more hot beverages a day faced a further increase in risk compared with occasional drinkers, according to the BBC.
Experts cited by the BBC explained that repeatedly scalding the lining of the food pipe may injure its cells over time, potentially making them more vulnerable to becoming cancerous. Oxford researcher Keren Papier, a co-author of the study, was quoted as saying that the scale of the research strengthened the case that hot and very hot drinks raised the risk of this particular type of cancer.
Even so, the BBC noted caution from outside scientists. One physiologist who was not involved in the study pointed out that drink temperature was self-reported rather than measured, while people’s sensitivity to heat in the mouth varied widely. The findings, therefore, were best understood as a strong association rather than definitive proof of cause and effect.
It also noted that smoking remained the single biggest risk factor for oesophageal cancer overall. The disease is more common in parts of Eastern Asia and Southern and Eastern Africa, where heavy alcohol use and indoor air pollution are also thought to play a role.
Oesophageal cancer is relatively rare globally, and the BBC stressed that even a tripled risk from hot drinks started from a low baseline.
For now, the practical takeaway highlighted in the report is simple: letting tea, coffee or other hot beverages cool for a few minutes before drinking may be an easy way to cut down on unnecessary exposure. There is no need to give up the ritual altogether — just let it breathe a little before that first sip.
