Very Hot Tea May Raise Risk Of Throat Cancer

[The Straight Story]

Very Hot Tea May Raise Risk Of Throat Cancer

Wait Four Minutes After Boiling, Doctor Says

Drinking freshly boiled tea can increase the risk of cancer of the esophagus, according to a new study conducted in Iran.

Researchers studied 300 people with the most common kind of throat cancer and compared them to 571 similar people.

But an accompanying editorial says these findings are not cause for alarm and the general advice is to allow foods and beverages to cool a little before swallowing.

Researchers found that people who drank tea between 65 and 70 degrees Celsius (149 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit) had twice the risk of throat cancer as those who drank cooler tea. Those who had it hotter than 70 degrees Celsius had eight times the risk.

http://www.clickorlando.com/health/19027179/detail.html#-

[ThomWV]

1. Shoving a red-hot poker up your ass would probably cause hemorrhoids too.

Everything in moderation.

[etherealtruth]

4. i'm not about to try either

[geckosfeet]

2. This is in the "Poke in eye with sharp stick raises risk of blindness" vein.

[JaneQPublic]

3. You generally allow tea to steep 4 min. anyway!

Apparently these researchers don't know how to brew a proper cup of tea. You don't "boil" the tea; you boil the water. Then you put the tea in the water to steep -- usually 4 minutes. Then, by the time you add sweetener, lemon, or milk, it has cooled down even more.

I would think a greater risk exists with drinking hot coffee, as no time must elapse after removing it from the heating element to allow for steeping.

[LisaL]

9. Yes tea shouldn't be boiled because that ruins the taste.

[Warpy]

11. Eeew, only if you're fond of tannins

My own version uses cheap, loose PG Tips tea. Preheat pot, pour boiling water in, add spoonful of tea, stir twice, grab the bagel out of the toaster and slap some cream cheese on it, pour tea. I generally do let the tea cool a bit before I start to sip.

That first cup with all the flavor and few tannins is always the best.

[JaneQPublic]

14. I'm a big fan of PG Tips, as well. (nt)

[crispini]

16. Milk cuts the tannins

and green doesn't have many. :hi:

[nashville_brook]

5. my Peace Studies advisor died of throat cancer (20 yrs ago), and his docs said his tea drinking

was "associated" with his cancer. yikes. loves me some hot tea.

[anigbrowl]

15. My uncle, too.

It was his drinking tea, but the fact that he preferred to drink it scalding how. I don't know why, maybe some people get an endorphin rush from it or something. He used to keep the pain at bay with medication, but insisted on having his tea piping hot.

[Silent3]

6. I don't know that I would have ever specifically imagined cancer...

...as a risk from drinking a very hot beverage, but like someone else said in this thread, I'm left thinking "Poke in eye with sharp stick raises risk of blindness".

I'm amazed when I try a tiny sip of something which I discover to be way too hot, mouth-damaging hot, and then I see someone else with a cup of tea or cocoa or coffee or whatever from the same very hot source casually chug back a huge gulp of the same thing as if their mouth and esophagus were lined with asbestos.

Is it machismo?
Is it nerve damage from have already burned themselves many times before?

[laundry_queen]

13. I'm the same way.

If I have coffee out with people, generally, mine's just getting cool enough to start sipping when everyone else's is finished.

[d_b]

7. seems like everything puts you at risk for cancer

so fuck it. Drink your hot tea, folks.

[LisaL]

8. I have a question. How did these people know at

what temperature did they drink their tea? I don't stick a thermometer at mine every time I have a cup.

[petronius]

12. I saw a more detailed article on this a few days ago - first they surveyed

people to estimate the temperature (I think based on the length of time between brewing and drinking), but they followed up by actually sampling tea drinkers cups while they were drinking (i.e. the researchers did the thermometer thing).

This article has more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7965380.stm

[acmavm]

10. Every foreign substance you put in your body has an effect, for good or

for bad. Food, medicine, poison.

It's the bodies reaction to those things that causes the problem. Some people can eat cheese and drink all the milk they want. I envy them, I LOVE MILK, I LOVE CHEESE, I LOVE DAIRY PRODUCTS! But if I try to indulge even a little, I get extreme headaches, disgustingly upset stomach (to where if I even burp it smells like a ruptured septic tank), and other unpleasant problems.

It's a crap shoot (please excuse the pun) on what's good for you and what isn't .

[Silent3]

21. There are some things that are bad for everyone, however.

When it comes to drinking scalding hot tea, that may be something some people get away with without ever noticing any ill effects, but I doubt that it's actively good for them to do so, and it be more luck than individual sensitivities that make up the difference.

Imagine two people being shot at. One lives, the other dies. The difference is the luck of where the bullets hit, not a matter of one person having better "bullet immunity" than the other.

[orleans]

17. well, thank god i'm a coffee drinker!

:P

[DemBones DemBones]

18. Oh, they'll study coffee next. Right now, I think

coffee is supposed to be good for you. So is green tea, but only the real stuff. But stay tuned for new completely contradictory studies!

[blogslut]

19. No problem

I can't drink tea anyway. None of it. Doesn't matter if it's hot, cold, with milk, without milk, sweetened, unsweetened, full stomach, empty stomach, not even herbal teas that have no tea whatsoever - none of it stays down. I have no idea why but it makes me sad because I used to love tea.

As for extra hot beverages, I don't like tongue ouchies. I always ask for a couple of ice cubes when I order hot coffee.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

20. I drink tea with milk so no problem here.

[MagickMuffin]

22. How do they "know" it's the tea's fault and not the water's?.?.?

You know there is a lot of depleted uranium floating around those parts of Iran and Iraq.

Were the studies done with purified water?.?.?

The article didn't state whether or not the water was the factor, but jumped to the conclusion it HAD to be the tea. :shrug: