Very hot drinks triple oesophageal cancer risk: study — SkimNews
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- Oxford-led study tracking nearly 980,000 UK adults over 14 years — the largest of its kind globally — found drinking tea or coffee at "very hot" temperatures triples the risk of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), but shows no link to adenocarcinoma, the other form of oesophageal cancer.
- Dr Keren Papier, senior nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, led the study published Wednesday in the International Journal of Cancer, which also found that consuming six or more hot drinks daily was associated with a 71% increase in SCC risk after controlling for temperature.
- Cancer Research UK, which funded the research, estimated that one in seven UK SCC cases could be avoided if people who drink at "very hot" temperatures instead consumed drinks at "hot" temperatures — though the charity said it does not believe cafes, coffee shops or restaurants should lower serving temperatures.
- The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified hot drinks as "probably carcinogenic to humans" in 2016; the Oxford findings mirror studies from Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East linking tea and mate consumed at or above 70°C to oesophageal cancer.
- Professor Muy-Teck Teh of Queen Mary University of London flagged a key limitation: the study relied on self-reported temperatures, and people who tolerate very hot drinks may have altered mucosal sensitivity that itself signals biological predisposition to squamous cell carcinoma.
Why it matters: With the largest-ever dataset — 980,000 UK adults followed for 14 years — this Oxford study gives the clearest evidence yet that very hot beverages specifically drive squamous cell carcinoma, distinct from adenocarcinoma. The practical lever is individual behaviour: Cancer Research UK estimates one in seven UK SCC cases could be avoided if drinkers shifted from "very hot" to "hot" — but the funder explicitly does not want cafes to lower serving temperatures.
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