Scientists working on a World Health Organization project have found no conclusive evidence that drinking coffee can cause cancer, although drinking very hot beverages probably causes cancer of the oesophagus, commonly known as food pipe.
“These results suggest that drinking very hot beverages is one probable cause of oesophageal cancer and that it is the temperature, rather than the drinks themselves, that appears to be responsible,” said Dr. Christopher Wild, Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Moreover, studies in places such as China, Iran, Turkey and South America, where tea or maté is traditionally drunk very hot (at about 70 °C), found that the risk of oesophageal cancer increased with the temperature at which the beverage was drunk, the UN reported on Wednesday.
“Smoking and alcohol drinking are major causes of oesophageal cancer, particularly in many high-income countries,” Dr. Wild emphasized.
Photo Credit : World Bank
“However, the majority of oesophageal cancers occur in parts of Asia, South America, and East Africa, where regularly drinking very hot beverages is common and where the reasons for the high incidence of this cancer are not as well understood.”
Oesophageal cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer worldwide and one of the main causes of cancer death, with approximately 400,000 deaths – or five per cent of all cancer deaths – recorded in 2012. The proportion of oesophageal cancer cases that may be linked to drinking very hot beverages is not known.
According to a UN report, the working group’s evaluation is in line with the WHO Technical Report Series 916 on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases, which states that people should not consume drinks when they are at a scalding hot temperature.
