Let hot tea, soup and coffee cool before drinking
Very hot tea was associated with eight times the odds of esophageal cancer compared with warm tea; even “hot” tea carried about twice the odds. Drinking within two minutes of pouring carried about five times the odds of waiting at least four minutes.
What it takes
Free. Wait another two or three minutes each time, even when eager to drink.
What you may gain
A population-based case-control study in a high-incidence region of northern Iran compared 300 cases with 571 controls. Versus warm tea, the odds ratio for esophageal squamous-cell cancer was 2.07 for “hot” tea (95% CI 1.28–3.35) and 8.16 for “very hot” tea (3.93–16.9). Drinking within 2 minutes of pouring versus waiting at least 4 minutes gave OR 5.41 (2.63–11.1).
Context & considerations
IARC classifies beverages above 65°C as group 2A, probably carcinogenic. The source describes the same assessment as finding coffee itself noncarcinogenic. It links high esophageal cancer incidence in China's Chaoshan and Taihang Mountain areas with the custom of drinking beverages while very hot.
Research & references
Islami F, Pourshams A, Nasrollahzadeh D, et al. (2009). Tea drinking habits and oesophageal cancer in a high risk area in northern Iran: population based case-control study. BMJ, 338, b929. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b929 ; Loomis D, Guyton KZ, Grosse Y, et al. (2016). Carcinogenicity of drinking coffee, mate, and very hot beverages. Lancet Oncology, 17(7), 877-878. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30239-X