Very hot drinks linked to tripled risk of oesophageal squamous cell cancer
Oxford-led UK cohort tracks almost 980000 people over 14 years, self-reported temperature categories stand in for thermometers
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Experts say people should let very hot cups of tea and coffee cool down until they are comfortable to drink in order to reduce risk of the disease. Photograph: Alextype/Getty Images/iStockphoto
theguardian.com
Drinking very hot tea or coffee is linked to a markedly higher risk of one specific form of oesophageal cancer, according to a large UK study reported by The Guardian. Researchers analysed self-reported hot drink habits from almost 980,000 people and followed participants for 14 years. Those who said they drank beverages at “very hot” temperatures had around a threefold higher risk of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma than those who preferred “warm” drinks, the study found.
The split by cancer subtype is the detail that turns a familiar warning into something more clinically legible. The association appeared for squamous cell carcinoma, but not for oesophageal adenocarcinoma, another major type of oesophageal cancer. The study also linked heavier intake to higher risk: people reporting six or more hot drinks a day had higher squamous-cell risk than those drinking fewer, while adenocarcinoma again showed little relationship. That pattern is consistent with a mechanism that depends on repeated heat injury to the oesophageal lining rather than a general “hot drinks are bad” effect.
The study’s limitations sit in plain view. Participants were not asked to measure temperatures; they chose among categories — “very hot”, “hot”, “warm” — which are personal and culturally shaped. Even so, the UK findings echo earlier work from other regions where researchers have used explicit thresholds, including studies that have flagged tea or mate consumed at about 70°C or above. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified very hot beverages as “probably carcinogenic” in 2016, and the Oxford-led analysis adds scale and follow-up time in a Western European population.
Public-health messaging around oesophageal cancer tends to orbit smoking and alcohol, which remain major risk factors. Temperature is a different kind of exposure: it is not a substance to ban or tax, but a habit that can be altered at near-zero cost by waiting a few minutes or adding cold milk. The Guardian reports the researchers estimate that a meaningful share of squamous-cell cases could be avoided if people who currently drink at “very hot” temperatures shifted down one category.
The study does not require anyone to stop drinking tea or coffee. It suggests that, for the oesophagus, the difference between “very hot” and merely “hot” is large enough to show up in cancer registries over a decade.