If you like your morning coffee or tea piping hot enough to drink immediately, a new study suggests you may want to change that habit slightly.
Researchers at the University of Oxford analyzed data from nearly 980,000 British adults. They found that people who reported drinking beverages “very hot” had about three times the risk of developing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a specific type of esophageal cancer, compared with those who preferred their drinks “warm.”
Published in the International Journal of Cancer on September 9, the study followed participants for more than a decade, and its authors describe it as the largest investigation of its kind.
The results, however, are more nuanced than the headline suggests. The association applies to one cancer subtype, drink temperatures were based on personal reports rather than direct measurements, and researchers are not suggesting people give up coffee or tea.
The takeaway is much simpler: if a drink is too hot to sip, waiting a little longer may matter.
What the Study Found, in Precise Terms
The headline risk number gets more revealing when you look at the full gradient.
Study author Keren Papier, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, explained to Fox News that the risk changed depending on how participants described their preferred drink temperature. “Compared with people who reported drinking their beverages ‘warm,’ those who drank them ‘hot’ had around a 1.7 times higher risk of SCC, while those who drank them ‘very hot’ had around a three times higher risk.”
Frequency mattered too. People who drank six or more hot beverages each day had a 71% higher SCC risk than those consuming fewer than six, after researchers accounted for temperature preference. The two patterns appeared to overlap: both the heat of the drink and how often someone consumed it were linked with risk.
Researchers estimated that if people who currently drink beverages “very hot” changed to “hot,” roughly one in seven SCC cases might potentially be prevented. That estimate depends on the relationship being causal, something observational research cannot establish on its own.
Related: Why Your Coffee Leaves You Tired Instead of Energized
Why the Cancer Subtype Is the Most Important Detail
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma share a name and an organ, but they are different diseases with different risk profiles.
SCC begins in the flat cells lining the esophagus, while adenocarcinoma develops farther down, near the stomach. The Oxford study found no similar connection between very hot drinks and adenocarcinoma. That distinction is especially important for readers in the United States.
Aaron Sasson, chief of surgical oncology and co-director of the gastrointestinal oncology team at Stony Brook Cancer Center, noted to Fox News that about 85 percent of esophageal cancers diagnosed in the U.S. are adenocarcinomas rather than SCC. He estimated the lifetime risk of SCC for Americans is under one percent.
The finding remains meaningful in places where SCC is more common. But for many American readers, the type of esophageal cancer most likely to affect them is not the one highlighted by this research.
The Likely Mechanism, and What Remains Unconfirmed
The thermal-injury explanation is biologically plausible. The Oxford study did not prove it.
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One possible explanation is that repeated exposure to extremely hot liquids could damage the cells lining the esophagus over time, creating conditions where cancer may develop. Sasson compared the idea to repeated burns elsewhere on the body.
That comparison explains why researchers consider the mechanism plausible, but the study did not directly demonstrate those cellular changes. It identified an association between reported drink temperatures and later cancer diagnoses.
The research also builds on earlier concerns about beverage temperature. In 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified beverages consumed above 65 degrees Celsius as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” specifically in relation to esophageal cancer.
The Key Limitation: No One Knows What “Very Hot” Actually Means
Nearly one million participants, yet no one measured what they were actually drinking.
The study asked participants how hot they preferred their drinks, but researchers did not record the actual temperature of the coffee or tea they consumed. Papier acknowledged this limitation: “A limitation of our study was that although we examined associations by self-reported preferred drink temperature, we did not have data on directly measured drink temperatures, and therefore cannot determine how self-reported drink temperature is likely to relate to absolute drink temperature.”
That means the research does not establish a specific temperature cutoff or a precise amount of cooling time that reduces risk.
Muy-Teck Teh, a professor of molecular oral oncology at Queen Mary University of London, raised another possibility: people who prefer very hot drinks may differ biologically in ways that affect the esophagus, such as having reduced sensitivity to heat.
The Simple Advice at the End of a Very Large Study
Papier summarized what nearly a decade of follow-up across almost a million people ultimately recommends: wait a few minutes.
“These findings don’t mean people need to stop drinking tea or coffee, just let your drinks cool down a little before drinking them,” she said to Fox.
Fiona Osgun, Cancer Research UK’s head of health information, added that the research cannot provide an exact waiting period. “It’s difficult to put an exact time on how long a hot drink should be left to cool. But if you’re worried, we’d suggest just waiting until it’s comfortable to drink rather than drinking it while it’s still very hot.”
Science has not yet determined the exact temperature at which risk changes or how long cooling needs to continue. Future studies using measured drink temperatures may help answer those questions.
For now, the practical advice is less dramatic than the headline: enjoy the coffee, enjoy the tea, but let the steam settle before taking that first sip.
Has a health study ever actually changed a daily habit for you, or does the advice tend to get lost somewhere between the headline and the morning cup?
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