Hot coffee may raise cancer risk
2000-11-13 11:42
New York - People who prefer their coffee
piping hot may have more to worry about than burning their mouth. According to recent study findings, drinking very hot tea or coffee with milk appears to raise the risk of oesophageal cancer.
The study in the November 15th issue of the International Journal of Cancer found that drinking these beverages raised the risk of cancer by as much as four times.
Heavy consumption of meat, animal fat and salt was
associated with an increased risk while eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and cereals and drinking green tea was found
to be protective. Regular fruit consumption, for example, appeared to lower the risk of cancer by 63%, the investigators found.
"This...adds evidence for a carcinogenic effect of chronic thermal injury in the oesophagus induced by the consumption of very hot drinks,'' according to Dr Xavier Castellsague from
L'Hospitalet de Llobregat in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues.
The investigators looked at the association of hot
beverages including mate, a tea served in parts of South America. Results show that heavy mate drinking, and consuming mate when it is very hot, was significantly associated with risk of oesophageal cancer in men and women regardless of smoking or alcohol consumption. However, the carcinogenic effect of temperature was heightened among heavy drinkers.
Drinking other very hot beverages, such as tea and coffee with milk, was also associated with increased risk. There was no association between coffee without milk and risk of cancer,
however, or any risk associated with drinking coffee or tea that was warm or slightly hot.
According to the authors, oesophageal cancer strikes certain geographical areas more heavily. One such cluster appears in South America and includes northeastern Argentina, southern
Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. People in these regions frequently drink mate, which is served hot and taken through a straw. Drinking through a straw brings very hot fluid to the
oesophagus.
To investigate whether mate and other hot beverages were associated with oesophageal cancer, Castellsague's team looked at results from five studies involving nearly 3 000 people.
The authors note that studies in other countries have found an association between hot drinks and oesophageal cancer.
"Despite this, tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking remain by far the most important risk factors for oesophageal cancer in these populations, accounting for 90% of its incidence,'' Castellsague and colleagues conclude.