Enjoying your piping hot breakfast cuppa? Well, get a thermometer and a timer. Because the latest cancer scare comes in the form of overly hot tea (or other liquids), sipped too soon.

From the LA Times:

Residents of Golestan province in northern Iran have one of the highest rates of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in the world. They don’t drink alcohol or smoke — the two primary risk factors for the disease in the West — but they do consume tea. Lots of it.

Recent research from the remote Iranian province has shown that people who drink tea that is 158 degrees Fahrenheit are more than eight times as likely to get esophageal cancer than those who drink “warm” tea (140 degrees or under).

And those who don’t wait before slurping really need to reconsider their patience levels. Because if you wait less than two minutes before imbibing then you are nearly five and a half times more likely to get esophageal cancer. You should wait the full four minutes. Or simply add milk!

Tea and cancer? Depends how hot [Los Angeles Times]
(Photo: drsuparna)

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