Very Hot Tea or Coffee Triples Esophageal Cancer Risk, Oxford Study Finds

A growing body of research links drinking very hot tea or coffee with a higher risk of esophageal cancer, and a new analysis published in the International Journal of Cancer, from the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Population Health, shows the pattern also holds in Western populations, not just the Asian, Middle Eastern, African and South American groups studied previously.

The researchers drew on health data from the UK Biobank and the Million Women Study, a survey of women aged 50 to 64, tracking diagnoses of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a type of esophageal cancer. In a separate UK survey of just under a million people, about 15% said they preferred their tea or coffee "very hot."

People who liked their drinks very hot were three times more likely to be later diagnosed with esophageal SCC than those who preferred a "warm" drink, regardless of whether they drank tea or coffee. The researchers estimate that about one in seven SCC esophageal cancers could be avoided if people let their drink cool for a few minutes before the first sip.

Around 10,000 esophageal cancers are diagnosed in the UK each year, according to Cancer Research UK, about a third of them SCCs — meaning roughly 500 fewer cases a year could be possible. The five-year survival rate for the disease is just under 30%.

A separate study of tea drinkers in China found men who drank it daily at warm, hot or burning temperatures had a 17%, 30% and 55% higher risk of esophageal cancer, respectively, compared with those who did not drink tea daily.