Scientists have found that people who regularly drink beverages hotter than 65 °C have a three times higher risk of developing this disease compared to those who consume drinks at slightly lower temperatures, according to the “Daily Mail”.
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Meanwhile, drinking more than six hot beverages a day increased the risk of this cancer by 71% compared to those who did not drink hot beverages at all – regardless of their temperature.
A team of scientists from Oxford University specifically linked these drinks, consumed daily by millions of Britons, to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma – one of the most aggressive forms of this disease. More than 3,000 new cases of this disease are diagnosed annually in the United Kingdom.
Researchers estimated that about 14% of the cases diagnosed annually in the UK could be prevented if people cooled their hot drinks before consumption. Experts said these data add to the evidence that regular consumption of very hot drinks may contribute to the development of esophageal cancer. It is believed that the heat emitted by the drinks damages cells at the top of the esophagus, where the cancer is found.
“Although the risk of developing this type of cancer remains relatively low in the UK, this study adds to the existing evidence that consuming very hot drinks may increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,” said Fiona Osgun, head of the health information department at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study. “However, there is a simple step people can take – let their cup of coffee cool down a bit before sipping.”
Oxford University scientists analyzed data from nearly 980,000 UK adults who were monitored for more than a decade. Participants reported how hot they liked their drinks – “warm,” “hot,” or “very hot” – and how many they drank each day. Researchers then compared this data with cancer diagnoses, taking into account other risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, and obesity.
During the study, 2,348 people developed esophageal cancer, including 1,045 cases of squamous cell carcinoma. Those who drank “hot” drinks were 1.7 times more likely to develop the disease than those who drank them “warm,” and the risk was more than three times higher among those who drank “very hot” drinks. No increased risk was observed for adenocarcinoma, another major type of esophageal cancer.
Importantly, scientists did not measure the actual temperature of participants’ drinks. However, previous studies generally described drinks at about 70 °C as very hot, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies drinks hotter than 65 °C as “probably carcinogenic.” Researchers said that cooling drinks could prevent some cases of the disease.
Dr. Keren Papier, senior researcher at the Oxford Population Health research center, said: “It was less clear whether this also applies to the temperature at which hot drinks are typically consumed in Western countries. This is the largest study of its kind conducted with UK residents. More research is now needed to determine the exact drink temperature associated with this increased risk.”
In the UK, about 9,500 people are diagnosed with esophageal cancer annually, and 7,900 die from the disease.
This disease is often diagnosed late because its early symptoms can be confused with ailments such as indigestion. Smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption are also major risk factors. F. Osgun said that the “most important” ways to reduce risk remain “not smoking and reducing alcohol consumption.” Professor Muy-Teck Teh, an expert in molecular oral oncology at Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the study, also urged caution in interpreting the results.
He noted that people’s perception of drink temperature may vary and emphasized that the study revealed an association but did not prove that hot drinks directly cause cancer.
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