For generations, the ritual of a hot cup of tea or coffee has been woven into daily life across cultures, yet a study of nearly a million British adults now asks us to reconsider not what we drink, but how we drink it. Researchers drawing on two of the largest health cohorts ever assembled found that a preference for 'very hot' beverages was associated with more than three times the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma — a cancer that claims hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide each year. The finding, which held even among non-smokers and light drinkers, points toward thermal injury
Very Hot Tea and Coffee Linked to Threefold Higher Esophageal Cancer Risk
The study identified 1,045 participants who developed esophageal squamous cell carcinoma during follow-up, highlighting the disease burden that could be reduced through behavioral modification.