Drinking Really Hot Tea Could Increase Chance of Esophageal Cancer

Wellness

According to my wife, when she is chilled or cold, there is nothing like a cup of hot tea to warm her up on the inside. Over the years, I’ve known many others who literally huddle their hands around a cup of hot tea or coffee, when they are cold.

Okay, so I’m weird, but throughout my entire life, when I’m cold, I still like a glass of ice water, which according to the information below, is possibly helping to reduce my risk of developing esophageal cancer.

Simply stated, esophageal cancer is a cancer that starts in the esophagus. It only makes up about 1% of all cancers in the United States, but it also makes up 2% of cancer deaths in the United States.

For 2019, it is estimated that about 17,650 Americans will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer. The scary part is that it is estimated there will be about 16,000 deaths this year due to esophageal cancer. Of that 16,000 deaths due to esophageal cancer, about 13,000 of them will be men with only about 3,000 of them being women. The current 5-year survival rate is only about 19.2%.

The exact cause of esophageal cancer is not fully understood, but it is thought that use of tobacco and alcohol play an important role. It has also been suggested that being overweight could also contribute. Additionally, the chances of developing esophageal cancer is higher for people over 50 and those who eat diets high in processed meats and low in fruit and vegetables.

Years ago, I developed acid reflux, also known as GERDs. My doctor insisted on using a scope to look at my esophagus because he said that uncontrolled acid reflux can damage the lining of the esophagus which in turn could develop into cancer. Fortunately, my throat was fine, but if any of you have chronic acid reflux or heartburn, you would be wise to take something to control it, especially since esophageal cancer has a such a low 5-year survival rate.

A new study suggested that drinking really hot drinks, like hot tea or coffee, can increase the risk of developing esophageal cancer:

“Researchers, led by Dr. Farhad Islami, the strategic director of Cancer Surveillance Research at the American Cancer Society, also wanted to study tea drinking habits prospectively rather than retroactively.”

“Dr. Islami and colleagues used data on over 50,000 people included in the Golestan Cohort Study — a “population-based prospective study” — who were 40–75 years old at baseline.”

“The researchers clinically followed the participants for an average period of 10.1 years, between 2004 and 2017. During this time, 317 people developed esophageal cancer.”

“The researchers divided tea temperature into ‘very hot’ — meaning a temperature of over 60°C, and ‘cold [or] lukewarm,’ that is, a temperature that is or falls below 60°C.”

“In their analysis, the researchers also considered a ‘reported shorter time from pouring tea to drinking’ it — that is, on a scale between 2 and 6 minutes’ wait, as well as ‘reported preference for very hot tea drinking’.”

“Overall, the study found that drinking 700 milliliters (ml) of ‘very hot’ tea per day increased the chances of esophageal cancer by 90 percent compared with drinking the same daily amount of cold or lukewarm tea.”

For those of you not into the metric system, 700 ml is equal to 23.7 ounces or about 3 8-ounce cups.

It only makes sense that the hotter the tea, or even coffee, that one drinks the greater the chances of developing esophageal cancer. The very hot liquids will damage (burn) the lining of the esophagus and repeated damaging is what increases the chances of cancer.

Fortunately, even though my wife loves her hot tea, she always adds some milk, which will cool it down enough to lower to risk of developing esophageal cancer.

If you like your tea or coffee really hot, think twice about it.

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