Tea has been known as a healthy beverage for millenniums. Polyphenols in tea which act as antioxidants are known to reduce the risk of cancer. But a new study reveals that the consumption of tea in extremely hot form may double the risk of esophageal cancers.

As CNN reported (https://edition.cnn.com/)Researchers discovered that tea drinkers who prefers their tea warmer than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) and consumed more than 700 ml of tea per day — about two large cups– had a 90% more risk of esophageal cancer, when compared to those who drank less tea and at cooler temperatures. Esophageal is the muscular tube which conveys food from the mouth to the stomach.

More than 50,000 people in Golestan, a province in northeastern Iran were considered for the study.”Many people enjoy drinking tea, coffee, or other hot beverages. However, according to our report, drinking very hot tea can increase the risk of esophageal cancer, and it is therefore advisable to wait until hot beverages cool down before drinking,” said Dr. Farhad Islami, of the American Cancer Society and the study’s lead author.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Esophageal cancer is the 8th most common in the globe and is often fatal, about 400,000 people die each year, . It is usually caused by repeated injury to the esophagus due to alcohol, smoke, acid reflux and — maybe — hot liquids.

The American Cancer Society projects that 13,750 new cases of esophageal cancer will be diagnosed in men and 3,900 new cases in women in the United States this year. The research team collected date from 50,045 people, aged between 40 and 75, for an average of 10 years. Between 2004 and 2017, the researchers detected 317 new cases of esophageal cancer.

The study suggested that more research is needed on why exactly drinking very hot tea is associated with the higher risk of esophageal cancer. In North America and Europe, tea is hardly consumed at temperatures above 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit) — but in countries like Russia, Iran, Turkey and South America, it is quite common to drink tea in extreme hot form.

In Turkey (The nation which has got the highest per capita tea consumption in the world), A considerable amount of oral cancer patients are reported mainly due to the consumption of tea in extreme hot form.

Therefore, it’s always wise to consume tea once it reaches 60 degrees Celsius.

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References

1.Original Research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijc.32220

2.Also Reported on: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/20/health/hot-tea-linked-to-higher-cancer-risk-study-intl/index.html

3.Preview image downloaded from: https://istanbulonfood.com/how-to-cook-turkish-tea/