Why Letting Your Tea Cool Could Matter: Very Hot Drinks Linked to Tripled Risk of One Esophageal Cancer

.

What the Study Found

Researchers at Oxford Population Health combined data from two big UK health projects, the UK Biobank and the Million Women Study. In total, 977,282 adults took part. The results were published in September 2026 in the International Journal of Cancer.

Participants were asked how they usually drink tea and coffee: "very hot," "hot," or "warm." They also reported how many cups they drink per day. Researchers then followed them through NHS health records for an average of 11 to 14 years.

People who preferred "very hot" drinks had roughly three times the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) compared with "warm" drinkers. Those who chose "hot" had about 1.7 times the risk.

Quantity mattered too. Drinking six or more hot drinks a day was linked to a 71 percent higher risk. About 15 percent of participants said they prefer their drinks very hot, and just under half drank six or more cups daily.

.

Only One Type of Esophageal Cancer Is Affected

Esophageal cancer comes in two main forms. SCC starts in the thin cells lining the esophagus (the tube connecting throat and stomach). Adenocarcinoma, more common in the United States, is tied mainly to chronic acid reflux and excess weight.

The Oxford team found the heat link only for SCC. Neither drink temperature nor the number of cups was materially linked to adenocarcinoma. During follow-up, researchers recorded 1,045 SCC cases among the participants.

The study also suggests that the drink itself is not the problem. Tea drinkers and coffee drinkers showed similar patterns, and adding milk made no difference as long as the drink stayed hot. This points to temperature as the likely factor.

.

Why Heat Might Matter

Experts believe very hot liquids may repeatedly damage the cells lining the esophagus. Over time, this cycle of injury and repair could raise the chance that cancer develops. This is a working explanation, not something the study directly observed.

The idea is not new. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, the World Health Organization's cancer research arm) classifies drinking very hot beverages, above about 149°F (65°C), as "probably carcinogenic to humans." That rating was based mainly on research into maté, a tea traditionally drunk piping hot in South America.

.

Keeping the Numbers in Perspective

A tripled risk sounds alarming, but it applies to a rare disease. In the UK, the lifetime risk of esophageal SCC is about 1 percent, according to Cancer Research UK. Even with the increase, cases occurred in only about 0.1 percent of participants during the study period.

The authors estimate that about 14 percent of SCC cases, roughly 440 a year in the UK, could be avoided if "very hot" drinkers switched to "hot." That assumes the link is truly causal.

Several limits apply:

• It is an observational study, so it cannot prove that hot drinks cause cancer.
• Participants described their own habits. Nobody measured actual temperatures.
• Researchers say more work is needed to pinpoint which temperatures carry the risk.

.

Not Everyone Agrees on the Evidence

The question is still being debated. An older Swedish study from 2001 looked at about 167 SCC cases and found no link between very hot drinks and esophageal cancer. That study was small compared with the new one. The Oxford authors say large studies in Western populations were lacking until now.

Cancer Research UK also stresses that smoking and heavy drinking remain the biggest controllable risk factors for this cancer.

.

What You Can Do

You do not have to give up tea or coffee. The advice is to let a drink cool until it feels comfortable before sipping. Cancer Research UK calls this a simple step. Western tea and coffee are typically drunk at around 140°F (60°C), well below the 149°F level IARC flags.

Doctors also advise getting checked if you notice swallowing problems, especially a feeling that food is getting stuck, that are new or do not go away.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence on everyday habits and cancer. A little patience with your morning cup costs nothing.

.

Sources

1. University of Oxford, Cancer Epidemiology Unit: https://www.ceu.ox.ac.uk/news/study-of-almost-one-million-adults-links-very-hot-drinks-to-threefold-increase-in-oesophageal-cancer-risk
2. Papier K. et al., "Hot Drinks and Oesophageal Cancer: Prospective Analyses in Around 1 Million UK Adults," International Journal of Cancer (Wiley): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.70654
3. Cancer Research UK: https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2026/09/09/link-between-hot-drinks-and-type-of-oesophageal-cancer-in-the-uk/
4. CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/health/hot-beverages-cancer-study-scli-intl
5. Fox News Digital (syndicated via WFMD): https://www.wfmd.com/2026/09/11/very-hot-coffee-and-tea-linked-to-higher-cancer-risk-in-nearly-1-million-adults/
6. RTÉ News: https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/0909/1590728-hotdrinksoesophageal-cancer/
7. Earlier UK Biobank analysis (PMC, with IARC background): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11961563/
8. Swedish case-control study (counter-evidence), British Journal of Cancer, 2001: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2363606/

.