Study Links Hot Drinks to Food Pipe Cancer

The researchers count any drink at 65 degrees Celsius or above as very hot. That is the same temperature at which the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) calls drinks probably carcinogenic. Heat is believed to harm the cells at the top of the food pipe. Tea from a kettle that has just boiled is close to 100C, and about 90C in the cup, so a little milk does not cool it much. The team did not measure real temperatures; they used what people said they preferred.

The authors think about 14 per cent of British cases each year could be avoided if people let their drinks cool. Around 9,500 people in the United Kingdom are diagnosed every year and 7,900 die. Only about one in five is alive five years later, partly because early signs are mistaken for indigestion. Cancer Research UK said the risk is still fairly low and advised waiting until a cup is comfortable to drink. Professor Muy-Teck Teh of Queen Mary University of London warned that people judge "hot" differently, and that the study shows a link, not proof.