Alternative Health Blog

How you take your morning tea or coffee might be hazardous to your health for one surpising reason: You are drinking the beverage while it is still too hot. A new study from Iranian researchers at Tehran University of Medical Sciences shows hat drinking hot tea may cause throat cancer.

Drinking very hot tea—more than 158 degrees Fahrenheit—is associated with eight times the risk for throat cancer compared to sipping your tea closer to warm (150 degrees) or lukewarm. For reference, boiling water hits 212 degrees and the typical tea drinker in Great Britain likes his or her tea between 132 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

The researchers studied a region in northern Iran known for its high rate of throat and esophagus cancers, despite an extremely low incidence of smoking or alcohol consumption (both are habits that can lead to throat and esophagus damage). Nearly all of the some 900 volunteers (roughly a third had esophageal cancer) drink black tea in amounts averaging more than a liter each day.

Practical info here: The study showed people who drank their tea less than two minutes after pouring it were at five times greater risk to develop cancer than individuals who poured their cups after at least a four-minute cool-off wait.

Scientists have not determined why hot tea or coffee might lead to cancer. One theory is there is a repeated themal assault to the throat lining without enough time for the skin and cells to recover.

Some health practitioners caution their patients to avoid using straws in their espresso and coffee drinks (a strategy that some people use to keep teeth whiter, especially after whitening them). The reason is because our lips serve as natural protectors of too-hot liquids, while a straw not only hits the throat by surprise it even reaches down to what might argued as the hottest part of the drink.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.