Very hot tea can promote the development of esophageal cancer: Who regularly drink more than 0.7 liters of tea at a temperature of at least 60 degrees, suffer a significantly increased risk for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. This was the result of a study headed by Farhad Islami of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran (Iran), which is presented in the “International Journal of Cancer”.
Evidence of such a connection, there are already longer. Therefore, the International Agency for research on cancer (IARC) classifies the “Drinking very hot beverages at about 65 degrees Celsius”, as “possibly carcinogenic”. Also, the cancer information service, German cancer research center (DKFZ) warns on its website in connection with cancer of the oesophagus and in front of very hot drinks.
Study with 50,000 participants over 13 years
The researchers Islami present results on a very large data base: For your investigation, you collected between 2004 and 2017, data from more than 50,000 women and men in the Northern Iranian province of Golestan. What happened to the participants, was as follows, on average, ten years post. In addition to the exact circumstances of the Tea, the researchers socio-collected economic data and dietary habits.
Trained staff visited the study participants in their homes. To determine the preferred drinking temperature, two cups of tea were served. In a Cup, the employees stuck a Thermometer. If the temperature of the tea had fallen to 75 degrees Celsius, participants were asked to drink more of the tea. The tea was still too hot, have you been asked in 70, 65 and 60 degrees again, to drink it. The preferred drinking temperature was recorded. In previous studies, the participants had reported on how hot their tea is usually the case when you drink it – an error-prone procedure.
Risk Factor Smoking
Approximately 19 percent of all preventable cases of cancer are attributable to cigarette. Smoking is considered the most important preventable risk factor in the development of cancer. Also, passive smoke poses a risk.
Smokers develop more lung cancer than non-smokers. Around nine out of ten men with lung cancer have contracted the disease, probably from Smoking. For women, there are six out of ten people Affected. In addition, there are correlations with many other types of cancer, such as oral cavity, esophagus, or larynx cancer.
So you lower your risk:
Stop with the Smoking. A stop Smoking is worth it at any age. The following applies: The earlier in life, the greater the positive effect. Ten years after the last cigarette the risk of certain cancers, decreases diseases, such as the mouth, trachea and esophagus cancer. The risk to develop lung cancer, decreases in comparison to people who have smoked to the half.
During the investigation period there were among the participants of the 317 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, one of the two most common types of esophageal cancer. After adjustment for other possible factors, such as Smoking or alcohol consumption, a clear relationship between the temperature of tea and cancer risk were statistically. It’s fitting that the cancer risk was greater, the shorter the time between the Pouring and the Drinking of the respective tea drinkers.
Heat injury as a cause for increased risk of cancer
The possible cause, the researchers write, that the hot liquid could cause injury, the inflammatory processes in the tissues of the esophagus. This, in turn, the genetic material could be directly changed, or the formation of carcinogenic substances – with a Tumor as a possible consequence.
Stephen Evans of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, suspected heat injury as a cause. Also, in the microwave heated jam is known for the fact that it causes injury to the esophagus. “It is possible that the injury leads to cell changes and cancer”.
