Drinking Hot Tea May Cause Throat Cancer

Drinking hot tea may increase the risk of developing throat cancer, a study published in the March 26, 2009, issue of the British Medical Journal suggests.

The study showed that those who drank tea at temperatures higher than 70 degrees Celsius were at an eight-times higher risk of throat cancer as compared to those who only drank warm or lukewarm tea cooler than 65 degrees Celsius.

The study was based on a survey of 300 people with esophageal cancer and 571 people without the disease in Golestan Province, northern Iran, where throat cancer rates are the highest in the world.

It is not clear why drinking hot tea was associated with increased risk of throat cancer, but Reza Malekzadeh of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and colleagues, authors of the study, suggested that repeated injury to the esophagus may be the cause for the increased risk.

Written by Dr. David Liu and edited by Heather Kelley