Revealed: Very hot tea increases risk of esophageal cancer

According to BBC, in a research conducted in UK, about 1 million middle-aged people were examined for about 14 years.

Researchers compared those people who like to drink their tea or coffee 'very hot' with those who described their drinks as 'warm'.

Research revealed that people who drink very hot drinks have almost three times higher risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Esophagus is the tube that connects mouth to stomach.

Researchers set temperature of 65 degrees Celsius or more for very hot drink. This is same limit International Agency for Research on Cancer also uses to count very hot drinks among possible carcinogenic factors.

In comparison, temperature of tea and coffee is generally between about 50 to 60 degrees Celsius. However, this may vary due to preparation of drink and ways of drinking in different regions.

According to experts, this research shows that along with nature of drink, temperature of drinking it can also affect health, so instead of drinking extremely hot tea or coffee immediately, letting it cool down for some time can be a more cautious behavior.