Consuming hot drinks at very high temperatures is associated with a significantly higher risk of oesophageal SCC, a study involving nearly 980,000 middle-aged UK adults found. The research, the largest of its kind, followed participants for an average of 14.2 years and recorded 2,348 cases of oesophageal cancer.

Temperature and Consumption Linked to SCC Risk

Researchers from the University of Oxford reported that individuals who preferred their drinks “very hot” had almost three times the risk of developing SCC compared to those who drank them warm. The study also found that consuming six or more hot drinks daily was associated with a 71% increase in SCC risk.

Approximately 15% of participants reported preferring their drinks very hot, and nearly half consumed six or more hot drinks per day. The study used self-reported preferences for drink temperature and did not measure exact temperatures, but the findings mirrored similar global studies from Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Those studies found that consuming tea or mate at or above 70°C increased oesophageal cancer risk.

Global Implications and Preventable Cases

According to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there were about 604,000 new cases of oesophageal cancer and 544,000 deaths worldwide in 2020. The IARC estimates that global cases could rise by over 50% to nearly a million new cases per year by 2040.

In the UK, around 9,500 new cases of oesophageal cancer are diagnosed each year; Researchers estimate that 14% of new SCC cases in the country could be prevented if people drank their tea and coffee at lower temperatures. This suggests that modifying drinking habits could have a meaningful impact on cancer prevention in the UK and other Western European countries.

Different Cancer Types Affected

The study found that the increased risk was specific to oesophageal SCC and not adenocarcinoma (AC), the other main type of oesophageal cancer. “After adjustment for consumption frequency, consumption of drinks at a ‘very hot’ versus ‘warm’ temperature was associated with a threefold greater SCC risk but not with AC risk,” the researchers wrote.

Dr. Keren Papier, a senior nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, led the study; the findings provide long-term insights into the health effects of hot drink consumption habits, with participants’ health data collected over 14 years. The research adds to a growing body of evidence linking high-temperature food and drink consumption to oesophageal cancer risk.