If you drink your tea very hot, that may increase your risk of cancer, according to a World Health Organization research agency.
How hot is “very hot?” The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) defines it as any beverages consumed at a temperature above 65 degrees Celsius/149 degrees Fahrenheit. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius/ 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
IARC said it found “limited evidence” that showed positive associations between drinking very hot beverages and developing cancer of the esophagus, the eighth most common form of cancer worldwide. A summary of the study was published in The Lancet Oncology.
“These results suggest that drinking very hot beverages is one probable cause of esophageal cancer and that it is the temperature, rather than the drinks themselves, that appears to be responsible,” IARC director Christopher Wild said.
But are you likely to be drinking tea at such hot temperatures? If you live in China, Iran, Turkey or in South America — yes. People in those parts of the world, usually drink beverages at temperatures above 70 degrees Celsius/158 degrees Fahrenheit.
Westerners, especially those who add milk, tend to drink their tea at lower, safer temperatures.
