Love a steaming hot cup of Joe? You might want to let it cool a bit first.
New research from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, says drinking very hot beverages – those hotter than 149 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celsius) – probably causes esophageal cancer. The findings are based on research published in the June 15 online edition of The Lancet.
The IARC classified very hot beverages as a probable carcinogen after a group of 23 scientists from 10 different countries analyzed data on the effects of coffee, mate – a type of very hot tea consumed in South America, Asia, and Africa -and other hot beverages. The findings corroborated previous research that showed extremely hot liquids can cause significant scald burns in the esophagus that ultimately increased the risk of cancer.
Although most consumers in the United States drink coffee below the 149-degree threshold, there are other risk factors they need to avoid, says Dr. Lawrence V. Brennan, an OHC medical oncologist.
“In the U.S., tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption – especially in combination – are significant risk factors for esophageal cancer,” he says. Untreated reflux, obesity and a diet low in fruits and vegetables can also be factors. This year, an estimated 16,910 Americans will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
But the IARC offered some good news, too, by taking coffee off its list of possible carcinogens. Twenty-five years after the agency classified coffee as a possible carcinogen, after research linked it to bladder cancer, the IARC says new research has called those findings into question. As a result, coffee is “not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans.”
That’s good news for coffee drinkers, but don’t go overboard. “Too much caffeine, not to mention cream and sugar, just aren’t healthy,” Dr. Brennan says.
